GPO Director Names General Counsel

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Hugh Halpern names Kerry Miller as GPO General Counsel. Miller has 40 years of experience handling legal issues for the Federal Government. As General Counsel, Miller will continue to serve as chief legal officer for the agency. He will provide legal opinions and advice to GPO’s Director, and represent GPO in all legal matters involving Government and non-Government organizations. In addition, the Office of the General Counsel represents GPO before all Federal administrative forums, including the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Government Accountability Office.

“Kerry’s counsel has been invaluable as I have begun my tenure as Director of GPO,” said GPO Director Hugh Halpern. “His institutional knowledge of GPO and Federal government legal issues is an asset to the agency. I congratulate Kerry on his promotion and look forward to working with him in this permanent capacity.”

Miller began his career at GPO in 1980. During his time at GPO, Miller primarily served as GPO’s senior procurement law attorney. He also served as a Board of Contract Appeals judge and was GPO’s first Chief Acquisition Officer. Miller left the agency in 2006 to serve as Assistant Chief Counsel for the Federal Transit Administration. He returned to GPO in 2012 as Deputy General Counsel. He was named Acting General Counsel in 2017.

Miller earned his law degree from Catholic University and his undergraduate degree from George Mason University.

GPO Digitizes Historical Editions of U.S. Government Manual

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has digitized historical editions of the U.S. Government Manual (the Manual), the Government’s official handbook of agency organization for all three branches of Government. Years 1935–1994 of the Manual are now freely accessible and available on govinfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published Government information. Listings include the legislative authority, programs, activities, and a brief history of each agency; officials heading the major units of operation; and agency contact information. Recent editions of the Manual (1995–Present) are already available; the new historic editions complete the digitization of the collection.
Years 1935–2019 of the Manual can be accessed at: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/GOVMAN
“The Government Manual was one of the first resources I learned to use as a young congressional staffer,” said GPO Director Hugh Halpern. “The completion of this digitization represents GPO’s ongoing commitment to provide the public with free access to Government information.”
The Manual includes organizational charts for various agencies, boards, commissions, and committees. Readers can discover how and when both large agencies and smaller offices were first established, how they changed, and whether they were assimilated into other agencies in the Government, or became obsolete. Some examples of information members of the public can expect to find in the Manual:

• The Sugar Division of the Department of Agriculture required the Secretary of Agriculture to determine annually “the sugar requirements of consumers in the continental United States and to fix marketing or import quotas for the various sugar-producing areas, domestic and foreign, supplying this market.” (1939 edition)
• There was no Vice President of the United States from November 1963 until January 1965. The 1964–1965 edition lists the position as vacant. When President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the Presidency after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, there was no provision for appointing a new Vice President. The 25th Amendment, passed in 1967, addressed the issue of succession. (1964–1965 edition)
• The vital statistics functions performed by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, were transferred to the U.S. Public Health Service, which was once a division of the Federal Security Agency. (1953 edition)

This is one of a series of recent projects in which GPO has worked to expand free public access to congressional information in digital formats. Previously the agency digitized the Congressional Record back to 1873, the Federal Register back to 1936, and the Public Papers of the Presidents back to 1929. In collaboration with the Law Library of Congress, GPO has begun a large multi-year effort to digitize and make accessible volumes of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set back to the first volume, which was published in 1817. GPO is also currently working to digitize a collection of nearly 15,000 congressional hearings.

Donald E. Pray Law Library, College of Law at the University of Oklahoma Partners with GPO to Provide Access to Native American and Alaskan Native Documents

The Donald E. Pray Law Library, College of Law at the University of Oklahoma is now a Digital Access Partner for their digitized versions of Native American and Alaskan Native documents contained in volumes of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set from 1817-1899. These documents contain contemporaneous documentation of political, military, and governmental activities related to indigenous peoples of the continental United States and Alaskan territory during the 19th century.
Digital Access Partners make a commitment to make publicly accessible digital resources within scope of the FDLP at no fee. GPO directs users to these resources via bibliographic records in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and PURLs.

• Title: American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1899
• SuDoc: Y. 1.2:IN 2/25
• CGP System Number: 001111314
• PURL

GPO thanks the Donald E. Pray Law Library for sharing this digitized content with the Federal depository library community and the public.
Learn more about partnering with GPO, and contact our Partnership Team with questions or to propose a partnership.