RECORDS OF THE PRICE DECONTROL BOARD The Price Decontrol Board was established by an act of July 25, 1946. Its functions were to determine whether price controls should be reimposed after August 20, 1946, on grain, livestock, cottonseed, soybeans, and milk and on food or feed products made from these commodities; to pass on proposals made by the Price Administrator or the Secretary of Agriculture for reimposing controls on other commodities; and to review, on appeal, petitions for decontrol of commodities denied by the Price Administrator or the Secretary of Agriculture. From August 12 to August 15 the Board held public hearings on prices of commodities specifically named in the act; on August 20 it announced its decision to reimpose all such controls except those on dairy products and grain or grain products. In November 1946 the Price Administrator decontrolled all commodities except rice and sugar, and the following month the Price Decontrol Board transferred its remaining administrative affairs and records to the Treasury Department for liquidation. There are 9 cubic feet of records dated between 1946 and 1947 in this record group. RECORDS. 1946-47. 11 lin. ft. Minutes of Board meetings, September 1946-January 1947; transcripts of hearings, August 1946; briefs and statements of industry associations, State agencies, labor organizations, and other interested groups, 1946; correspondence maintained by the Board secretary, 1946; correspondence, reports, and other records relating to price control of dairy products, 1946; memorandums, reports, charts, and statistical data from other Government agencies, 1946; a file relating to commodities under consideration by the Board, 1946; and telegrams received, press releases, and a history of the Board, 1946-47. See James J. Fleischmann and Victor Gondos, Jr., comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Price Decontrol Board, PI 46 (1952). RECORDS OF THE PRISON INDUSTRIES The Prison Industries Reorganization Administration, established by Executive Order 7194 of September 26, 1935, was responsible for studying industrial operations and markets for products of State and District of Columbia penal and correctional institutions, minimizing competition between such products and those of private industry, recommending loans or grants to implement the program, and administering the program once approved by the President. The Administration, assisted by an advisory board, had no administrative connection with the Federal prison system. From June 30, 1938, to September 30, 1940, when its activities ceased, the Administration operated with funds provided by the Public Works Administration. Records about open-market competition for prison-made products are also contained in the Public Agencies Division files among records of the National Recovery Administration (see RG 9); records concerning the control of industrial operations in Federal penal and correctional institutions by the Superintendent of Prisons before 1930, by the Bureau of Prisons, 1930-34, and by the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., 1934-43, are among records of the Bureau of Prisons (see RG 129). There are 45 cubic feet of records dated between 1935 and 1940 in this record group. RECORDS. 1935-40. 54 lin. ft. Included are records of advisory board member Gustav Peck, the Assistant Executive Director, the Chief Clerk, the Legal Section, and a statistician; general correspondence; statistical reports from State institutions on consumption of food, clothing, and other supplies; Library Division reference materials; drafts of reports and publications; correspondence and reports relating to road construction and farm, forestry, and industrial work for prisoners; records of a survey of District of Columbia penal institutions, including 676 case histories; and architectural blueprints of penal institutions. RECORDS OF THE PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION (RECORD GROUP 135) The Public Works Administration (PWA), established originally as the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works by the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933, was to prepare and help construct and finance a comprehensive public works program. The agency administered a large field organization and established boards, committees, corporations, and divisions to carry out special functions. In 1939 the PWA became a part of the Federal Works Agency (see RG 162), and in 1943 PWA powers and functions were transferred for liquidation to the Office of the Federal Works Administrator. Most of the general classified correspondence before 1941 and some divisional records were inadvertently destroyed in 1943. Extant records of PWA boards, committees, and divisions are also in the following record groups: National Planning Board and the Mississippi Valley Committee in Records of the National Resources Planning Board (RG 187); Housing Division in Records. of the Public Housing Administration (RG 196); and National Power Policy Committee in Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior (RG 48), which also includes materials relating to allotments, appropriations, the Power Division, the Housing Division, and Harold L. Ickes' efforts in public works. The records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (see RG 75) include records of PWA projects sponsored by the Bureau. See Harold L. Ickes, Accomplishments of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, 1933-36 (1936). There are 284 cubic feet of records dated between 1933 and 1945, with some dated as late as 1948, in this record group. GENERAL RECORDS OF THE These consist primarily of general classified files (arranged for the most part by decimal classification systems), 1933-40 and 1941-43; minutes and reports of conferences; policy and general administrative records, including administrative orders, special orders, and other procedural issuances, 1933-42; press releases, bulletins, and processed copies of speeches and public statements of Harold L. Ickes, 1934-39, in his dual role as Secretary of the Interior and Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works; records relating to the Special Board for Public Works, 193335; and copies of some decisions rendered by the Board of Labor Review, 1934-36. RECORDS OF THE PROJECTS CONTROL DIVISION. 1933-47. 108 lin. ft. and 8,856 rolls of microfilm. The Projects Control Division established policy on priorities, handled applications, maintained project records, and prepared reports and statistics relating to Federal and non-Federal projects and resolutions affecting allotment actions. The records include administrative files of the Director and the Assistant Director, correspondence and related material concerning reclamation and other projects, status reports on nonFederal projects, and subject files, 193340. There are also justification data files, "change" letters, and "transfer" letters relating to allotment and reallocation of Federal project funds, 1933-43; and publications and statistical and research material created by the Division of Economics and Statistics, which was later merged with the Projects Control Division. Also included are microfilm copies (8,856 rolls) of docket files for non-Federal projects, 1933-47, and related indexes; and contracts, memorandums, correspondence, and related records of the Washington National Airport project, 1934-41. RECORDS OF THE ENGINEERING DIVISION. 1935-40. 5 lin. ft. The Engineering Division, established in 1933 to handle engineering and architectural aspects of all PWA projects, assumed the powers and functions of the Inspection Division in 1937 and remained in existence until 1942. Its records include orders and memorandums issued by the Division, correspondence and related records concerning equipment and materials used on PWA projects, and correspondence relating to non-Federal projects. RECORDS OF THE DIVISION OF INVESTIGATION. 1933-48. 95 lin. ft. and 824 rolls of microfilm. This Division was established by the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works to provide information on the manner in which agency functions were being executed. It remained in existence until 1941 when all its functions, records, equipment, and supplies (except those directly relating to personnel of the PWA) were transferred to the Inspection Division, consisting of three series of orders; of the Legal Division, including memorandums and orders, digests of decisions affecting the Division, special legal opinions, and bulletins; and of other divisions, consisting of orders, memorandums, copies of correspondence, processed volumes, blueprints, and lists of projects. CARTOGRAPHIC AND AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS. 1933-40. 15,505 items. Included are maps of the United States, showing PWA project locations, 1936; the Mississippi Drainage Basin, 1934; and national forests, flood control, drainage stations, fire control, and soil conservation districts in Florida, 1940. Audiovisual records consist of photographs (15,500 items) of complete and incomplete PWA projects in the 48 States, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, including a photographic report to the President entitled "Survey of the Architecture of Completed Projects of the Public Works Administration." See L. Evans Walker, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Public Works Administration, PI 125 (1960). RECORDS. 1944-47. 107 lin. ft. These include transcripts of policy board and advisory council meetings; correspondence, arranged by subject; a reading file; and bulletins, pamphlets, and catalogs issued by organizations that aided veterans. See Thayer M. Boardman, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Retraining and Reemployment Administration, PI 28 (1951). RECORDS OF THE SHIPBUILDING STABILIZATION COMMITTEE The Shipbuilding Stabilization Committee was originally established in the National Defense Advisory Commission on November 27, 1940; it was transferred to the Office of Production Management on January 7, 1941, to the War Production Board (WPB) on January 24, 1942, to the Civilian Production Administration (which succeeded the WPB in November 1945), and to the Department of Labor on November 15, 1945. Composed of representatives of labor, shipbuilding management, the Navy Department, and the Maritime Commission, the Committee's objective was to create an employment stabilization program in the shipbuilding industry to achieve maximum war production. To achieve this objective it sponsored the development of uniform voluntary agreements by Government, management, and labor specifying basic wage rates and working conditions for each of the Nation's major shipbuilding zones-Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Great Lakes areas. The Committee assumed responsibility for the administration, interpretation, and enforcement of these agreements. An Executive order of October 3, 1942, which provided that wage changes could be effected only through the National War Labor Board, canceled the power of the Committee to rule on wage adjustments. The Committee, however, continued to perform all functions not inconsistent with the order and administered the zone standards agreements until after World War II. In the fall of 1947 the organizations represented on the Committee voted unanimously to terminate the zone standards agreements. A letter of December 19, 1947, from the Secretary of Labor to leading members of the Committee announcing this decision in effect dissolved the Committee, although no formal action was taken. There are 53 cubic feet of records dated between 1940 and 1947 in this record group. RECORDS. 1940-47. 64 lin. ft. The records consist of a subject-classified central file (53 lin. ft.) that covers all aspects of Committee policy, programs, operations, and organization, with an index to incoming correspondence; letters, memorandums, and telegrams sent by the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, and staff aides; general office records relating to construction programs and manpower requirements in the shipbuilding industry, stabilization policy developments, conferences, labor relations, production, working conditions in British shipyards, and Committee procedural and budgetary matters; orders, rulings, and other issuances of the National War Labor Board's Shipbuilding Commission; records of the Chairman, accumulated through his participation in other war industry stabilization activities as Chief of the WPB's Stabilization Branch and its successor, the Shipbuilding Stabilization Board, relat |