According to the book The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson: the Path of Power by Robert Caro, the Little Congress was "formed in 1919 to provide congressional secretaries with experience in public speaking and knowledge of parliamentary procedures, modeled on the House of Representatives and held debates under House rules& but it degenerated into little more than a social club& attended by no more than a few dozen secretaries." (pg. 261).  In a New York Times article on 23 December 1923, A Congress in Embryo: Secretaries of Senators and Representatives Debate National Issues Weekly, the then Sergeant of Arms of the House, Kenneth Romney, who also is a member of the Little Congress recalls the first meeting on 19 December 1919, "a number of us employed around Congress felt we needed to know each other better, assembled as we were her in Washington from around the country.  We felt there would be both social and business opportunities presented to us in this way."  This marks what appears to be one of the goals of the Little Congress institution.

The first article to mention the organization came from a City Brief section in the Washington Post on 3 April, 1920.  The article states that, "Suffrage for the District of Columbia will be discussed by the Little Congress at 8 o' clock tonight in the caucus room of the House office building." At that time, the Cannon House Office Building was referred to as the House Office Building since it was the only one that existed that held members of the House.  The same article by the New York Times on 23 December 1923 describes meetings at the Little Congress whereas, they learn the fundamentals of Government matters and how to express their views.  Republican members discover that Democratic members have their good points even though they may not agree in matters of politics & some of the members of Congress wish they were as free to speak their minds as we [The Little Congress] are.  Articles such as this as well as others give the sense that the Little Congress was a forum for Secretaries and Staff of Representatives and Senators to have open discussion about the topics that the "Big Congress" will be dealing with.  It appears that these meetings were very cordial amongst party lines and allowed better cooperation at the staff level to affect maybe even the level of the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.  Gathering more information from newspaper articles, the Little Congress held these meetings in order to educate themselves more on issues at hand.  This is evident in another article from the Washington Post, Congress Employees Hold Debate Tonight, on 20 December 1927 which states, Whether Washington should have a Baumes law will be debated at a meeting tonight of the Little Congress. Other articles suggest they took trips to learn more about issues including trips to Military Academies, annual trips to New York City to study the economic infrastructure, as well as many others.

The Little Congress also had its own officers that they elected, much like the House of Representatives or the Senate.  In another Washington Post article, Little Congress Selects Officers, on 26 April 1933, Lyndon B. Johnson was elected speaker, Jack Frost was named clerk, and Ray Johnson sergeant at arms. These staffers, as is apparent with the appearance of Lyndon B. Johnson, went on to become members of Congress oftentimes and even President.  Although Johnson is the only example of President, many went on to become members as well.

The demise of the Little Congress is uncertain, yet from what can be determined from additional newspaper articles, it appears it slowly faded and became either merged or replaced with the Congressional Secretaries Club.  The last mention of the Little Congress comes from an article in the Washington Post on 26 July 1942 called The Federal Diary noting its annual trip to New York, but curiously mentions, at the end of the article, the Congressional Secretaries Club.  In a 1970 publication on the Congressional Secretaries Club, it describes its beginnings to be in 1935 and it has served to meet the professional, cultural, social and recreational needs of its members and is, in fact, the so called "Voice of Capitol Hill."  The club also began making its trips to New York City around the time that Little Congress was no longer being mentioned in the newspapers.  In an article from the New York Times on 11 June 1949, Congressional Aides on Visit to This Area, "The club started its annual excursions in 1941."  It can only be assumed that the tasks and trips undertaken by Little Congress were adapted by the Secretaries Club and continued over the years.

Other such clubs and groups that have existed include the Congressional Staff Club and the Bull Elephants.  These two no longer exist, however some, not much of their material was recently saved and is in the possession and currently being reviewed by the Library of Congress.