Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection White House Central Files (WHCF)
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Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection White House Central Files (WHCF) Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum National Archives and Records Administration Processed by Nixon Presidential Materials Staff, Yorba Linda, California, 2007 Contact Information Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum ATTN: Archives 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard Yorba Linda, California 92886 Phone: (714) 993-5075 Fax: (714) 528-0544 E-mail: [email protected] 2 Table Of Contents Descriptive Summary [pg 3] Administrative Information [pg 3] Administrative History [pg 4] Scope and Content Summary [pg 5] Folder Title List [pg 7] 3 Descriptive Summary Title: Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection: White House Central Files (WHCF) Creator: Office of the White House Central Files National Archives and Records Administration Extent: 101 boxes, Approximately 43 Linear Feet Repository: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard Yorba Linda, California 92886 Abstract: The Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection: White House Central Files consist of materials returned to the estate of former President Richard Nixon by archivists from the Nixon Presidential Materials Project. The archivists considered certain documents to be ‘Returnable’ to the Nixon estate if the subject matter of the documents were viewed as personal or personal/political. The Nixon estate began to receive the returned materials in April 1994. Administrative Information Access: Open, exceptions for Personal Privacy Publication Rights: The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation has deeded all copyrights which it has in the materials to the United States of America and those materials are in the public domain. Copyright restrictions may exist for commercial materials included in the collection. Preferred Citation: Folder title. Box #. Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection: White House Central Files. Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation, Yorba Linda, CA. 4 Administrative History The White House Central Files was the main filing system used by White House staff members and offices to maintain all records created by the Nixon Administration. The staff of the White House Central Files divided all records created into four main file groups. These file groups consisted of the Subject Files, Staff Member and Office Files (SMOF), Alphabetical Names Files, and Oversized Attachments (OA). In September 1972, the White House staff created an additional filing system called the White House Special Files. The Special Files used the same file groups as the Central Files, but was created to store materials of a secured or sensitive nature. All records created prior to September 1972 that would have been classified as Special Files, were removed from the Central Files and relocated to the Special Files. All sensitive records created after September 1972 were automatically filed in the Special Files. After President Nixon resigned from office on August 9, 1974, all records created by the administration were placed in the custody of the National Archives and Records Services (NARS). The United States Congress then passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) which President Ford signed in December 1974 to govern all materials created during the Nixon Administration. The policies outlined in PRMPA still determine the handling of the Nixon Administration records. Guidelines stated in PRMPA and later in 36 CFR, Part 1275 mandated that as archivists from the National Archives and Records Administration reviewed materials from the Central Files any documents determined to be personal or personal/political (campaign materials) would be withdrawn from the collection and returned to President Nixon. This process of withdrawing materials was also applicable to the White House Special Files and later the Contested Materials (for more information, please see the finding aids for the other Nixon Presidential Returned Materials collections). In April 1994, the first shipment of the withdrawn materials was returned to the Nixon estate. The materials returned to the Nixon estate were stored at the private Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California. In October 2006, the Nixon Foundation allowed the archivists of the Nixon Presidential Materials staff to review, process, and release the materials in the returned collections. The review began in November 2006. The review and processing of the White House Central Files portion of the returned materials began in January 2007 and was completed in April 2007. 5 Scope and Content Summary The White House Central Files was the original filing system used by the White House staff at the beginning of the Nixon Administration (1969). The Central Files staff used four main filing groups to file the records created. These four filing groups included: Subject Files: Consists of non-sensitive documents arranged according to subject matter. Each of these files is subdivided into Executive (EX) and General (GEN) materials. Executive materials are from senior administrators and government officials, and General materials are from lower level government officials and the public. Staff Member & Office Files (SMOF): Consists of office files of specific individuals from the Nixon Administration. The Staff Member and Office Files (SMOF) also contain the records of numerous Presidential advisory offices as well as the President's Daily Diary. Alphabetical Name Files: The White House Central Files: Alpha Name Files contains correspondence filed alphabetically by the name, the writer, or his/her company or organization. Oversized Attachments (OA): The White House Central Files: Oversized Attachments (OA's) are records that were sent to the White House Central and Special Files for separate storage by the White House staff. Due to limited storage space, materials such as publications, posters and bumper stickers were removed from the White House Central and Special Files, and assigned a unique OA number. The Nixon Presidential Returned Materials Collection White House Central Files (WHCF), contain materials from all the main file groups. When the staff of the White House Central Files created the Subject File group, they created a base of 60 individual subject categories. The materials in this collection contain documents from 20 of the 60 subject categories including 4 boxes from subject category SP (Speeches). There are materials from the files of 26 White House staff members (SMOF) and 1 box from the Alphabetical Name File. Files for high ranking White House staff members such as H.R. Haldeman or John Ehrlichman were completely removed from the White House Central Files and placed in the White House Special Files. These materials consist of personal or personal/political documents and do not pertain to the duties or the policies of the Office of the President. Personal materials consist of nonpolitical correspondence to or about President Nixon’s family or personal friends. The materials primarily involve the immediate family of the President (Patricia Nixon, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, David Eisenhower, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Edward Cox) but also contain items from the extended Nixon/Milhous family. The collection includes items on the White House wedding of Tricia Nixon to Edward Cox in June of 1971. Included are the SMOFs of Gwendolyn King and Susan Porter which contain personal materials from the Office of the First Lady, Patricia Nixon. The collection also contains personal materials from other members of the White House staff. 6 The personal/political materials focus primarily on the presidential campaigns of 1968 and 1972. There are 29 boxes from Len Garment’s SMOF entitled “1968 Political Campaign File.” These materials include correspondence, speeches, appearance schedules, polling data, and campaign strategies for different policies, ethnic groups and political opponents. There are also materials on the planning, scheduling, and implementing of both the 1968 and 1972 Republican National Convention. In addition, the collection contains materials from the Nixon Foundation, the Republican National Committee, and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. As outlined in Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) and 36 CFR, Part 1275, archivists from the National Archives and Records Administration reviewed the materials from the White House Central Files and withdrew any documents considered to be personal or personal/political. The archivist would place withdrawal sheets in the folders in which documents were removed, and the withdrawal sheets included a brief description of the document and used the restriction code ‘G’ (“Withdrawn and returned private and personal matter,” as defined in PRMPA) as the reason for the removal of the documents. In January 2007, archivists from the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff in Yorba Linda, California, began to review all the materials from the White House Central Files returned to the Nixon Estate for personal privacy issues. These archivists used the same withdrawal sheets and the same restriction code ‘G’ if a document was removed. Therefore, some folders in this collection may include two withdrawal sheets, the original withdrawal sheets indicates the document’s original origin and a second if the document was removed for privacy issues. 7 Folder Title List Box 1: Subject File – AG WHCF: Subject Files: EX AG 5-1 Pest Control [1969-70] Box 2: Subject File – AR WHCF: Subject Files: EX AR