Congressional Quarterly (aka, CQ) publications have long been great sources of information on the activities of Congress. Political science scholars and others in the social sciences know CQ all too well. But, is it possible that the CQ publications would be useful to humanities scholars? Arts enthusiasts and advocates? Dancers and musicians? You might be surprised to know the answer is “yes!” Arts and humanities don’t exist in a vacuum – knowing how our government shapes our cultural heritage can be a vital part of the research puzzle.
Do you want to see what happened on Capitol Hill last week that affected, say, arts funding or music education? Keep an eye on CQ Weekly for the most current activity of interest to you.
Looking for more historical data? Try the CQ Almanac, a great place to get summaries of congressional activities back to 1945. The CQ Congress Collection gives even more information, including a history of congress membership and voting records on key topics of public interest.
CQ Researcher is a very interesting CQ Press publication that compiles reports on a number of topics pertinent to humanists – to see examples, browse under Arts & Humanities, Popular Culture, and Historic Preservation. It also has great sections called Pro/Con and Issue Tracker that help you put your topic in its political and social context.
The umbrella interface to all of the CQ Press databases is called the CQ Electronic Library. Through this one interface, you can search across all of the other portions as an inclusive alternative to searching them independently. The choice is yours!