Royal Commissions are created by the Crown to investigate controversial problems. The commissions are advisory and have no executive or administrative authority. The commission reports are issued as Command Papers. Command Papers include State Papers, Policy Papers, Annual Reports, Reports of Royal Commissions, Reports of Departmental Committees, Reports of Tribunals and Commissions of Inquiry, and Statistical Reports.
These papers and reports provide a wealth of historical information. The following are useful indexes:
A Finding-List of British Royal Commission Reports: 1860 to 1935 DBW govt BRIT PARL Z 2009.C68
Royal Commission Reports are listed by broad subject areas.
A Numerical Finding List of British Command Papers Published 1833-1961/62 DBW govt BRIT PARL Z 2009.D5 1971 and
British Command Papers: A Numerical Finding List 1962/63 - 1976/77 DBW govt BRIT PARL Z 2009.D5 1971 Supp.
These two sources list Command Paper numbers along with session, volume, and beginning page of the corresponding British Sessional Papers.
PLEASE NOTE: Western Libraries has recently acquired the full-text database, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers which includes:
18th century (1688-1834)
19th century (1801-1900)
20th century (1901-2003/04 session)
Current (2004/05 session onwards)
For Royal Commissions, other Command Papers and British documents in general, begin your search with House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. There is a limit to Command Papers feature on this database.
