Origin of the National Archives

The establishment of the National Archives in 1934 marked the successful culmination of a movement that had begun more than a century earlier. Originating within the Federal Government, this movement had as its immediate objective the physical protection and preservation of those records no longer needed by agencies in the conduct of their current business. The ultimate success of the movement and the nature of the new institution that was created, however, were due largely to the efforts of historians and other scholars. It was the scholarly community community that helped to create an understanding and appreciation of public archives as a cultural resource, and that succeeded in gaining acceptance by the Government of its responsibility for not only preserving that resource but also for making it accessible to the people. To the initial objective of safekeeping records, the historians added the objectives of centralization of the Government's permanently valuable records and the application to them of professional archival principles and techniques to facilitate their use. The new institution was intended to be preeminently a service agency; its mission, according to one of its earlier statements, was "to make the experience of the Government and people of the

United States as it is embodied in records of the Federal Government and related materials available to guide and assist the Government and the people in planning and conducting their activities."

The National Archives, 1934-49

The National Archives began operations late in 1935, and during the next decade and a half it laid the foundations for its future programs and activities. It began with a comprehensive survey of Federal records in Washington - approximately three million cubic feetand followed with a survey of other Federal records throughout the country, which totaled about four million cubic feet. Guidelines and techniques were developed for the appraisal of this material in terms of its continuing values - administrative, legal, fiscal, historical or other research values- and policies and procedures were established for the systematic disposition of noncurrent records of the Government. In these initial activities the National Archives was able to profit but little from the experience of older archival institutions. No other institution had ever been faced with such a quantity and variety of government records of relatively modern origin, and traditional archival principles and techniques had to be modified radically

to deal effectively with this unique situation.

Adaptation and innovation were also required in handling those bodies of records selected for preservation by the National Archives. New techniques for cleaning and fumigating were developed, and the new method of thermoplastic lamination replaced older and less effective preservation and repair techniques. Experiments with traditional classification and cataloging practices soon revealed their inadequacies for establishing effective control over masses of modern public records, and new techniques of collective arrangement and description were developed. Traditional concepts of reference service were critically examined and liberalized, and the launching of a microfilm publication program marked a radical departure from the proprietary attitude toward their holdings that had long characterized archival institutions.

It should be noted that all of these activities were conducted during a period of rapid governmental expansion and reorganization under the successive impacts of depression and global war, and that the war period in particular diverted necessary resources and deprived the institution of experienced professional personnel. On the positive side, the demand for offices and space generated by the war effort and its resulting records enabled the National Archives to achieve by 1949 the highest degree of centralization of national archives in one institution and building of any major country in the

world.

Paralleling these developments, and of equal importance for the future history of the National Archives, were its efforts to better serve the needs of Government agencies. With regard to every basic archival function involving modern records - appraisal, disposition, accessioning, preservation, arrangement, description, and reference service-it had early become evident that major improvements in recordkeeping by Government agencies would not only greatly facilitate the task of the archivist, but would also effect economies and increase efficiency in the conduct of current business. Thus the National Archives early in 1941 formally established "records administration program" intended "to assist in developing throughout the Government principles and practices in the filing, selection, and segregation of records" that would facilitate their disposal or transfer as they became noncurrent. This program continued to develop rapidly during World War II, particularly in the military departments departments and through the activities of former staff members of the National Archives. By the end of the war it had evolved into the broader concept of "records management," which included responsibility for records creation as well as for records maintenance and disposition.

The National Archives and
Records Service Since 1949
The obvious necessity for this
program and its early successes

prompted the First Hoover Commission the President's Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Governmentto recommend in 1948 that Congress take whatever action was necessary to coordinate the management of the great and rapidly growing volume of Federal records and to develop Government-wide programs that would improve and reduce the cost of managing records. The form congressional action took, when this recommendation was combined with those of other task forces of the Commission, was passage in 1949 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, which created the General Services Administration. To this agency was assigned the National Archives, which was then given new records management responsibilities as the National Archives and Records Service.

These records management responsibilities were were strengthened by the Federal Records Act of 1950, which also authorized the establishment of Federal records centers in several regions of the country. Within 2 years nine such centers had been established. The need for such centers is perhaps best illustrated by noting that the seven million cubic feet of Federal records the National Archives had surveyed in 1935-37 had increased by 1954 to more than 25 million cubic feet. By 1956, however, the Archivist was able to report that this longestablished trend toward ever larger accumulations of Federal records had at least temporarily been arrested. The nationwide

system now consists of 13 Federal records centers, whose total holdings in 1970 were more than 10.5 million cubic feet of records, and the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which has about 2.4 million cubic feet of records. In this system the Washington National Records Center at Suitland, Md., occupies a unique position; its General Archives Division serves essentially as an extension of the National Archives Building to contain the overflow of archival material the the National Archives Building cannot accommodate.

Although most of the records in Federal records centers are not of archival value and are scheduled for eventual destruction, some of their holdings merit preservation. For such records that relate primarily to the States or region in which they were created and accumulated, the National Archives and Records Service has developed regional archives branches in 11 Federal records centers. After adequate physical facilities were provided for archival storage, these records were accessioned; to them have been added records formerly maintained in Washington but more appropriately located, in terms of interest and use, in the regional archives branches. This program of selective relocation of "field-type" Federal archives is being supplemented by depositing in regional archives branches copies of National Archives microfilm publications of official records.

Another dimension to the responsibilities of the National Archives and Records Service

has been added by the emergence of Presidential libraries. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, N.Y., accepted by Congress in 1939 by joint resolution and placed under the Archivist of the United States for its administration, was a unique institution, but the effectiveness of the solution it offered to the many problems. relating to modern Presidential papers ensured that it would serve as a model for future Presidents. In 1955 Congress amended the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to provide for acceptance and maintenance of other Presidential libraries, and to the Roosevelt Library have since been added the Herbert Hoover Library at West Branch, Iowa; the Harry S. Truman Library at Independence, Mo.; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library at Abilene, Kans.; the John F. Kennedy Library temporarily located at Waltham, Mass.; and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library at Austin, Tex. The Presidential libraries contribute significantly to the nationwide system of research centers administered by the National Archives and Records Service and to the variety and value of the research resources it makes available to meet the needs and interests of the Government, the scholarly community, and the general public.

General Guides to the
National Archives

The basic tool in meeting these needs and interests is the guide to accessioned holdings. An earlier listing of Federal records, Claude H.

Van Tyne and Waldo G. Leland, comps., Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington (2d ed., Washington, 1907),' preceded the establishment of the National Archives by nearly 3 decades. By calling attention to both the research value and the neglect and losses of Government records, it contributed substantially to the success of the movement for a national archives. The new institution had been in operation less than 2 years when it published the first guide to its holdings-"Guide to the Materials in the National Archives, June 30, 1937" in the Third Annual Report of the Archivist of the United States, 1936-1937 (1937), app. VI, pp. 111-168. This preliminary listing, which covered about 250,000 linear feet of records accessioned since December 1935, was replaced 3 years later by the more comprehensive Guide to the Material in the National Archives (1940). The 1940 guide described in considerable detail the 320,000 linear feet of records accessioned by December 31, 1939.

Hereafter, unless otherwise indicated, the place of publication of all works cited both in the introduction and throughout the guide is Washington, D.C.

Unless otherwise indicated, all guides, preliminary inventories, other finding aids, and microfilm publications are publications of the National Archives before 1949 and of the National Archives and Records Service thereafter. The names of compilers and other staff members responsible for publications are given in this guide if they appear on the title pages of the publications.