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Finding Foreign and International Sources

This guide is intended to assist researchers with finding foreign and international sources.

Official U.S. Sources (T4.1)

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (U.S.T.) 

Treaties and agreements that entered into force between 1950–1984 were published in these bound volumes. The GPO no longer publishes the UST in print. The last volume published was Vol. 35, Part 6, 1983–1984.

Statutes at Large (Stat.) 

Treaties and international agreements were printed in the U.S. Statutes at Large before 1950. 

Treaties and Other International Acts Series (T.I.A.S.) 

This is the slip form for a treaty or international agreement. The GPO no longer publishes the TIAS in print, but continues to publish it electronically. Because the last volume of the U.S.T. was published in 1984, this is often will be the best official U.S. source for treaties. 

Treaty Series (T.S.) 

The Treaty Series merged with the Executive Agreement Series in 1946 to form T.I.A.S. 

Executive Agreement Series (E.A.S.) 

The Executive Agreement Series merged with the Treaty Series in 1946 to form T.I.A.S. 

Senate Treaty Documents and Senate Executive Documents (S. Treaty Doc. No. / S. Exec. Doc. No.

These include the text of treaties submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification by the President of the United States. Executive Documents became known as Treaty Documents beginning with the 97th Congress in 1981. 

Intergovernmental Treaty Sources (T4.2)

United Nations Treaty Series 

The UNTS includes all treaties and international agreements registered or filed and record by the Secretariat of the United Nations since 1945.

League of Nations Treaty Series 

The LNTS included all treaties registered with the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations. 

Pan-American Treaty Series & Organization of American States Treaty Series

The Pan-American Treaty Series is the former name for the OAS Treaty Series. The OAS Treaty Series began in 1957 and continued the consecutive numbering of the Pan American Union Treaty Series. 

European Treaty Series & Council of Europe Treaty Series

The European Treaty Series contains conventions and agreements opened for signature between 1949 and 2003. The Council of Europe Treaty Series continued the European Treaty Series starting in 2004. 

Unofficial Treaty Sources (T4.3)

U.S. Treaties on LEXIS 

This source contains all un-ratified and ratified treaties and international agreements from 1776–present.

International Legal Materials 

This source reproduces selected primary international legal documents. 

Parry's Consolidated Treaty Series 

This is a comprehensive collection of bilateral and multilateral treaties from 1648–1919.

Hein's United States Treaties and Other Agreements 

Treaties and agreements not yet published in UST or TIAS may be found in this set. Each treaty or agreement is assigned a KAV number (named for Igor I. Kavass, the law librarian who identified and compiled these agreements). 

Bevans 

This is a collection of treaties and agreements that the United States entered into from 1776 to 1950.

Additional Treaty Resources

These resources compiled information about frequently used treaties