State Department Records in the National Archives
Zimmermann Telegram as Received by the German Ambassador to Mexico, 01/19/1917.
ARC Identifier: 302025. (NARA's Textual Archives Services, College Park, MD)
- Introduction
- I. Central File (Record Group 59)
- II. Office Files, or "Lot Files" (Record Group 59)
- Finding Aids for RG 59
- III. Foreign Service Post Files (Record Group 84)
- IV. Other Record Groups (for specialized topics)
- How to Access the Records
Finding Aids for Record Group 59
All of the records in the first two categories (Record Group 59), as of 1985, are described in Inventory No. 15, Inventory of the General Records of the Department of State, 1789-1949. The Inventory is divided into the following sections:
Central Files-
Records of Organizational Units
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Records Relating to Various Functions
-
Records Relating to Special Subjects and to Individuals
Records not described in Inventory 15 (accessioned after 1985).
Decode Worksheet for a Portion of the Zimmerman Telegram by Edward Bell of the American Embassy in London, 03/02/1917.
ARC Identifier: 302024.
(NARA's Textual Archives Services, College Park, MD)
- eight new segments of the central file covering the period 1950-1974
- hundreds of different record series, which the State Department identifies as "Lot Files," continuations of the records of organizational units, various functions, special subjects, and individuals.
Other finding aids. Although there are finding aids for the filing systems used for the central files, there is no way of knowing how many documents (if any) or how many pages are in each file for each time period. For the records of lot files accessioned after 1985 there are databases listing over 1700 records series and there are folder lists available for many of the series. These finding aids are available at the National Archives, and eventually they will also be available on ARC. Some of the finding aids have been microfilmed. Filing manuals from 1910 - 1973 are available online.
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