The National Archives
National Archives and Records Service
General Services Administration
Washington : 1966
National Archives Publication No. 67-2
Reprinted 1985
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. A66-7740
Foreword
GSA through the National Archives and Records Service is responsible
for administering the permanent noncurrent records of the Federal
Government. These archival holdings, now amounting to about 900,000
cubic feet, date from the days of the Continental Congresses; they
include the basic records of the three branches of our
Government-Congress, the courts, and the executive departments and
independent agencies. The Presidential Libraries-Hoover,
Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower-contain the papers of the those
Presidents and many of the their associates in office. Among our
holdings are many hallowed documents relating to great events of our
Nation's history, preserved and venerated as symbols to stimulate a
worthy patriotism in all of us. But most of the records are less
dramatic, kept because of their continuing practical utility for the
ordinary processes of government, for the protection of private rights,
and for the research use of students and scholars.
To facilitate the use of the records and to described their nature
and content, our archivists prepare various kinds of finding aids. The
present work is one such publication. We believe that it will prove
valuable to anyone who wishes to use the records it describes.
LAWSON B. KNOTT, JR.
Administrator of General Services
Preface
The first step in the records-description program of the National
Archives is the compilation of preliminary inventories of the material
in some 380 records groups to which the holdings of the National
Archives are allocated. These inventories are called
"preliminary" because they are provisional in character. They
are prepared as soon as possible after the records are received without
waiting to screen out all disposable material or to perfect the
arrangement of the records. They are compiled primarily for internal
use, both as finding aids to help the staff render efficient reference
service and as a means of establishing administrative control over the
records.
Each preliminary inventory contains an introduction that briefly
states the history and functions of the agency that accumulated the
records. The records themselves are described series by series, that
is, by units of records of the same form or that deal with the same
subject or activity or that are arranged serially. Other significant
information about the records may sometimes be given in appendixes.
Several finding aids that give an overall picture of materials in the
National Archives have been published. A comprehensive Guide to the
Records in the National Archives (1948) and a brief guide, Your
Government's Records in the National Archives (revised 1950),
have been issued. A guide devoted to one geographical area-Guide
to Materials on Latin America in the National
Archives (1961)-has been published. Forty-four Reference
Information Papers, which analyze records in the National Archives
on such subjects as transportation, small business, and the Middle East,
have so far been issued. Records of the Civil War have been described
in Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War (1962) and
Civil War Maps in the National Archives (1964), those of World
War I in Handbook of Federal World War Agencies and Their Records,
1917-21 (1943), and those of World War II in the two-volume guide,
Federal Records of World War II (1950-51). Genealogical records
have been listed in Guide to Genealogical Records in the National
Archives (1964). Many bodies of records of high research value have
been edited by the National Archives and reproduced on microfilm as a
form of publication. Positive prints of this microfilm, many of which
are described in the List of National Archives Microfilm
Publications (1965), are available for purchase.
ROBERT H. BAHMER
Archivist of the United States