Home - Government Documents - Department of Commerce - Research Guides at University of Hawaii at Manoa

The Department of Commerce and Labor was established in 1903. In 1913, the Department of Labor was established as a separated Cabinet-level agency. The Department of Commerce is responsible for promoting American business interests in the world. It also manages the collection and dissemination of economic statistics, and it handles a surprising variety of other functions.

Government Documents holds an extensive collection of Department of Commerce publications, mostly from the 1910s to the present, including the following series:

Annual report of the Secretary (C 1.1:)

Commerce today/Commerce America/Business America (C 1.58/2:)

Foreign direct investment in the United States (C 59.2:F 76/6/)

Older Department of Commerce documents are available in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (UHM login required).

Additional documents covering 1910-1932 are available in the Executive Branch Documents microfiche set. Approximately 25% of our holdings are listed in OneSearch. Please contact a government documents librarian if you have questions about our holdings.

We also have a variety of general publications, pamphlets, and other Commerce materials, as well as Congressional hearings, documents, and reports about the commercial relations and activities of the U.S., weather, climate, fisheries, trade policy, and other matters handled by the Department of Commerce.

Dept. of Commerce records at NARA
From lighthouses to laserbeams
History of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Commerce Research Library

Librarian's guide to trade data, part 1: USA Trade Online
This webinar teaches viewers the simplest ways of searching USA Trade Online. These strategies will meet 90% of research requests in USA Trade Online.
Librarian’s Guide to Trade Data, Part 2 – Dataweb and other resources of the U.S. International Trade Commission
This webinar will teach viewers how to use the import/export tool of Dataweb. Viewers will also learn how to use the Tariff Search Tool, Tariff Database, Harmonized Tariff Schedule, Quick Lookup, Future Tariffs Lookup, and more.
Librarian’s Guide to Trade Data, Part 3 – U.S. International Trade Administration
This webinar will teach you how to use TradeStats Express, TradeStats Express Plus, Top Trade Partners, Free Trade Agreement Trade Tables, and more.
Librarian’s Guide to Trade Data Part 4 – Export.gov, U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board, and Other Agencies
This webinar teaches you how to use the Export.gov metasite, find the texts of Free Trade Agreements, look up foreign-trade zones, and more.

The Department of Commerce has published trade data in a variety of formats. Government Documents provides access to the following resources:

Access to import and export data from 1992-present is through USA Trade. Access is free, but you must sign up for a free account to use the database. We also have access to USA Trade through the Federal Depository Library Program. A librarian must type the password in for the user, so users must come to Hamilton Library to use the database and it is not possible to access USA Trade remotely unless you sign up for a personal account.
U.S. imports of merchandise and U.S. exports of merchandise are CD-ROM/DVD databases of import and export data.
National Trade Data Bank CD-ROMs contain trade data such as imports and exports of commodities and market research reports. It was superseded by STAT-USA, an online database that was discontinued in 2010.

Historical statistics about commerce, trade, and industries can be found in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set.

NewsBank Readex
Congressional Serial Set - Search or browse the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, originally published in approximately 13,800 bound volumes for the period 1817-1980. Access UN - The premier index to United Nations documents including Official Records, masthead documents, draft resolutions, meeting records, UN Sales Publications, and the UN Treaty Series citations.