Investigation and Trial Papers Relating to the Assassination of President Lincoln, M599, 16 rolls, DP; Records Relating to Army Career of Henry Ossian Flipper, 1873-1882, T1027, 1 roll; and General Court-Martial of Gen. George Armstrong Custer (1867), T1103, 1 roll. RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS (RECORD GROUP 105) The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established in the War Department on March 3, 1865, to supervise all activities relating to refugees and freedmen and to assume custody of all abandoned or confiscated lands or property-functions previously shared by military commanders and Treasury Department special agents (see RG 366). The Bureau, which operated in former Confederate States, Border States, the District of Columbia, Delaware, and parts of Kansas, was headed by a commissioner with headquarters at Washington. He supervised assistant commissioners in the States, who in turn supervised subordinate officials usually responsible for Bureau affairs in one or more counties. The Bureau was abolished by an act of June 10, 1872, and its remaining functions, relating chiefly to the settlement of claims, were continued by the Freedmen's Branch in the Office of the Adjutant General. After 1879 this claims work was assumed by the Colored Troops Division of the Office of the Adjutant General. Officers of the Bureau issued rations, clothing, and medicine to destitute refugees and freedmen; operated or leased abandoned or confiscated lands; established hospitals; and cooperated with benevolent societies in establishing schools. Beginning in 1866 the Bureau helped black soldiers and sailors collect claims for bounties, arrearages, and pensions. See Oliver Otis Howard, Autobiography (New York, 1907); and George Bentley, A History of the Freedmen's Bureau (Philadelphia, 1955). There are 711 cubic feet of records dated between 1865 and 1879 in this record group. RECORDS OF THE BUREAU WASHINGTON. 1865-72. 228 lin. ft. These consist of records of Commissioner Oliver Otis Howard and his adjutants, including annual and monthly reports from assistant commissioners, letter books, letters received and registers, endorsement books, and circulars and special orders issued. There are also station books of officers and civilians, appointment registers, and volumes of report synopses. Also included are records of the chief medical officer, 1865-71, chief disbursing officer, 1865-72, Land Division, 1865-71, Claim Division, 1866-72, Education Division, 1865-71, chief quartermaster, 186672, and Archives Division, 1869-72. Most of these consist of reports, letters received and registers, letter books and endorsement books, and volumes of report synopses or registers of claimants compiled in the Bureau. There are also records of Assistant Inspector General Whittlesey, relating to distribution of supplies to the South, 1867-68. RECORDS OF THE FREEDMEN'S BRANCH. 1872-79. 95 lin. ft. These include records created or received by the adjutant in charge of the Freedmen's Branch at Washington, D.C., and records of disbursing officers stationed in the Southern and Border States. They consist of letter books, letters received and registers, registers of claimants, and disbursement reports. RECORDS OF THE DISTRICT OR Included for each district are records of the assistant commissioner, staff officers, and subordinate officers. Most of the records are dated between 1865 and 1868 except those of superintendents of education, which are dated between 1865 and 1870, and those of the claims agents, dated between 1866 and 1872. There are also some records predating the Bureau that were created by military officers in charge of matters relating to blacks. Most of the records consist of letter books, letters received and registers, reports, and registers of marriages, complaints, and claimants. Microfilm Publications: Headquarters records that are available as microfilm publications consist of the general correspondence of Commissioner Oliver O. Howard and records of the Education Division. Field records of assistant commissioners and superintendents of education in some districts have also been filmed. For a complete listing see the current List of National Archives Microfilm Publications. RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU The National Guard Bureau serves as in the Office of the Secretary of War. In 1910 the Division was made responsible to the Chief of Staff; it became the Militia Bureau in 1916, and it was redesignated the National Guard Bureau in 1933. In 1942 the Bureau was assigned to the Adjutant General as one of the administrative services of the Services of Supply (later Army Service Forces). In 1945 the Bureau was transferred to the War Department Special Staff as a division. Since 1948 it has been a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It is headed by a chief who is adviser to the Army and Air Force Chiefs of Staff and directly responsible to them for matters concerning Army and Air Force units of the National Guard. There are 862 cubic feet of records (in WNRC except for nontextual records) dated between 1822 and 1954 in this record group. RECORDS. 1822-1954. 1,139 lin. ft. These include an incomplete series of annual returns of militia and abstracts of returns submitted by the States, 1822-1902; several series of correspondence and central files of the Bureau and its predecessors, 1885-1954; separate files of the War Department decimal classification system concerning State Guards organized during World War II to replace National Guard units called into Federal service; quarterly reports of Regular Army sergeants assigned to National Guard units, 1908-16; and account books, 1887-1941. CARTOGRAPHIC AND AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS. 18971936. 639 items. Cartographic records (7 items) consist of maps published by National Guard units in several States, 1897-1936. Audiovisual records (632 items) consist of photographs of U.S. Army personnel and activities in Cuba, 1898-99; the Oklahoma National Guard, 1924; and crests, coats-of-arms, and general Guard activities, 1922-35. RECORDS OF THE SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM (WORLD WAR I) (RECORD GROUP 163) The Selective Service System under the direction of the Office of the Provost Marshal General was authorized by the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917, to register and induct men into military service. Much of the management of the draft was left to the States, where local draft boards were established on the basis of one for every 30,000 people. These boards, appointed by the President on the recommendation of the State Governor, registered, classified, inducted, and delivered to mobilization camps men eligible for the draft. Legal and medical advisory boards assisted the local boards and registrants, and district boards were established to pass on occupational exemption claims and to hear appeals. The Provost Marshal General's Office worked with local and district boards through Selective Service State headquarters. Classification shortly after the Armistice, and by ceased May 31, 1919, all Selective Service organizations were closed except the Office of the Provost Marshal General, which was abolished July 15, 1919. The records of the Selective Service System were transferred to the Selective Service Division of the Adjutant General's Office, which remained in operation until 1939, furnishing information concerning the System and its records. There are 263 cubic feet of records (in WNRC) dated between 1917 and 1939 in this record group. RECORDS. 1917-39. 452 lin. ft. Most of the records are of the Provost Marshal General's Office, 1917-19, and include correspondence and other records designated as general, States, miscellaneous, and historical files. There are also a "local board experience" file, consisting chiefly of questionnaires completed by local boards; records relating to draft quotas; sample forms; newspaper clippings; and a "precedent" file of the Selective Service Division of the Adjutant General's Office, 1919-39, containing reports, correspondence, and related records. RECORDS OF THE CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE (RECORD GROUP 175) The Chemical Warfare Service, a technical service under the General Staff, was established as part of the National Army on June 28, 1918, to develop, produce, and test materials and apparatus for gas warfare and to organize and train military personnel in methods of defense against gas. By an act of June 4, 1920, the Service was made responsible for the development, manufacture, and procurement for the Army of smoke and incendiary materials, toxic gases, and gas-defense appliances; research, design, and experimentation connected with chemical warfare and its materials; administration of chemical-projectile filling plants and proving grounds; organization, equipment, training, and operation of special gas troops; and supervision of Army training in chemical warfare, including necessary schools. The Chemical Warfare School was organized at Lakehurst Proving Ground, N.J., early in 1920 and was transferred to Edgewood Arsenal, Md., later that year. As part of a War Department reorganization, effective March 9, 1942, the Chemical Warfare Service became part of the Services of Supply, later designated the Army Service Forces. When the Army Service Forces was abolished in 1946 the Service was again placed under the General Staff, and on Septem ber 6, 1946, its name was changed to the Chemical Corps. The Corps was abolished on August 1, 1962, as part of an Army reorganization. There are 923 cubic feet of records (in WNRC) dated between 1917 and 1963 in this record group. RECORDS. 1917-63. 1,108 lin. ft. These consist of records of the Office of the Chief of the Service, including general administrative files, 1918-54; organization charts, 1942-46 and 194950; special and progress reports about projects, 1942-53; budget and fiscal records, 1929-55; and record sets of publications, 1950-54. Also records of the Gas Defense Production Division, 191719, and the Chemical Corps Patent Agency and predecessor offices, 194054; the Technical Division, 1920-46; and the Training Division, 1942-43. Also minutes of the Chemical Corps Technical Committee, 1935-63; physical and personnel security files, 1944-50; investigative files of the Chemical Corps Inspector General, 1952-55; and records of the Edgewood Arsenal and other field offices, 1917-42. See Raymond P. Flynn, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Chemical Warfare Service, PI 8 (1948). RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF CHAPLAINS (RECORD GROUP 247) The Office of the Chief of Chaplains was established in July 1920, under terms of the National Defense Act of 1920, as an administrative unit of the War Department. Previously, Army chaplains had been assigned on a regimental basis and functioned only at that level. At different times the Office of the Chief of Chaplains has been an independent bureau of the War Department; under the Chief of Administrative Services, Services of Supply; under the Director of Personnel, Army Service Forces; and an administrative service under the Chief of Staff. The Office, which in 1950 became an independent administrative service of the Department of the Army, is now an Army Special Staff agency. The Chief of Chaplains provides and supervises moral training and religious ministration for the Army. His responsibilities include enlisting church cooperation in providing trained clergymen to serve as chaplains, maintaining liaison with religious leaders and groups and chaplains of other armed services, coordinating public information, preparing statistical reports, furnishing information to other Government agencies and representation on several interdepartmental boards and committees, administering personnel, and supervising the publication, procurement, and distribution of religious material. There are 1,090 cubic feet of records dated between 1902 and 1964 in this record group. CENTRAL RECORDS. 1920-53. 185 lin. ft. These consist of classified and unclassified central decimal files of the Administrative Office, including reports, corrememorandums, and spondence, messages relating to liaison with church bodies, securing assistance in obtaining qualified clergy for service as chaplains, providing for and supervising training, supervising chaplains' activities, and procuring, distributing, and disposing of supplies and equipment. CHAPLAINS REPORTS. 1917-55. 903 lin. ft. (in WNRC). These consist of monthly reports, with related correspondence and papers, reflecting services rendered and duties performed by chaplains in the field, services rendered by civilian clergymen at Army installations, and changes in status, duties, and addresses of Army chaplains, 1917-50, with an index, 192355; and reports reflecting morale and religious attitudes of military personnel at Army installations, 1917-19. OTHER RECORDS. 1902-64. 7 lin. ft. and 134 rolls of microfilm. These consist of general correspondence, 1920-23, chapel registers, 1902-23 and 1939-51, and microfilm copies (134 rolls) of records documenting services performed by Army chaplains, 1917-64. RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL, 1941 (RECORD GROUP 389) The Office of the Provost Marshal General (OPMG), an Army Special Staff agency and one of the major Army service organizations, has staff responsibility for developing and supervising plans, policies, and procedures related to protective services, preservation of law and order, Army-wide crime prevention, criminal investigations and law enforcement, traffic control, and military police and prisoner-of-war activities; maintaining security in privately owned industrial facilities important to national security; and planning and supervising the selection, training, and utilization of military government personnel. Before World War II a Provost Marshal General was appointed only in times of active military operations; the office and its functions were abandoned at the end of hostilities, and individuals and units were designated by installation. commanders to perform military police duties. An OPMG was established in 1941 and made directly responsible to the Chief of Staff. Successively, it became responsible to the Chief of Administrative Services, Services of Supply; the Deputy Chief of Staff for Service Service Commands, Army Forces; the Chief of Staff, Army Service Forces; and the Secretary of the Army |