ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, WHITE HOUSE OPERATIONS: Records, 1981-1989 – REAGAN LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
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ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, WHITE HOUSE OPERATIONS: Records, 1981-1989 – REAGAN LIBRARY COLLECTIONS Material noted in bold within this collection is currently available for research use. If a folder is available for research use it may still have withdrawn material due to Freedom of Information Act restrictions. Most frequent withdrawn material is national security classified material, personal privacy, protection of the President, etc. Any non-bolded folder is closed for research. The non-bolded folders are subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests under the provisions of the Presidential Records Act (PRA). If you are interested in submitting a FOIA request for access to any of the unavailable records or have any questions about these collections or series, please contact our archival staff at 1-800- 410-8354, outside the US at 1-805-577-4012, or email [email protected] ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, WHITE HOUSE OPERATIONS: Records, 1981-1989 The Administrative Office provided for a wide variety of administrative functions including accounting, budget, equipment, expense reports, parking permits, purchasing, the ordering of supplies, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines for White House staff, duplicating machines, and the issuance of travel advances and the processing of travel vouchers both official and political. The White House Administrative Office is one of the sub-offices of White House Operations. Other sub-offices include the Correspondence Office, the Executive Clerk, Records Management, the Telephone Service Office, the Transportation and Telegraph Office and the Visitor’s Office. The Library currently has no records for the Transportation and Telegraph Office and the Telephone Service Office. The Administrative Office and the remaining sub- offices have been treated as separate individual collections within the presidential papers at the Library. In 1978, Congress authorized the creation of an Executive Office of the Presidency entity whose purpose was to provide efficient and cost-effective administrative services to the Executive Office. This became the Office of Administration which is a wholly separate unit, treated as a federal agency within the Executive Office of the Presidency. The Office of Administration provided messenger service, a print shop, personnel and payroll processing, data processing and information technology, library services, facilities management, etc. for Executive Office personnel and offices. One of its largest customers is the Administrative Office. Early in the Reagan Administration, John F.W. Rogers joined the administration as Deputy Assistant to the President for Management. All of the sub-offices within White House Operations reported to him, including the Administrative Office. In addition, he requested that he also be assigned the Director of the Office of Administration post in order to settle problems that had arisen between these two entities since the creation of the Office of Administration. In August 1981, he was also appointed Director of the Office of Administration. 3/11/2021. Bolded folders are available for use today. No need to FOIA. Administrative Office-2 This arrangement of dual functions remained in place for every succeeding head of White House Operations and the Office of Administration until the very end of the administration. In August 1987, Claire O’Donnell was appointed Director, White House Operations, and John Riggles became the Director of the Office of Administration. In keeping with White House Records Management practice, the Library treats the Director of the Office of Administration and their respective office files as presidential records. The small amount of non-Director Office of Administration files is treated as federal records. The Director’s material is the Office of Administration, Director’s Office. Because of this long duality, the records of the Office of Administration and the Administrative Office are often inextricably integrated together. For a true reflection of administration and management at the White House, researchers are advised to look at both of these collections. At the beginning of the Reagan Administration, Arthur Pettipas was the Acting Administrative Officer at the White House. In July 1981, Richard White was appointed Administrative Officer. He moved to Financial Officer in September 1982 and Theresa Elmore became the Administrative Officer. Elmore came to the Administrative Office from her post in the Office of Administration Director’s Office. We currently have only an Administrative Office collection for her. In September 1984, Jean Lamb became the Administrative Officer and remained in that position until the end of the administration. The Library has individual collections for all of these officers except Arthur Pettipas. The Library has one other staff collection for this office. Betty Ubbens handled accounts payable for the entire administration and has a chronological and small subject file in her collection. The Administrative Office collection is divided into five series: SERIES I: Administration; SERIES II: Finance; SERIES III: Personnel; SERIES IV: Purchasing; and SERIES V: Travel. There are numerous subseries in each series. See the series descriptions for full information about the subseries. SERIES I: ADMINISTRATION (76 l.ft., Boxes AD1101-AD1805) This material consists of correspondence, memos, expense account forms, contracts, budget reports, invoices, payment forms, order forms, timecards, and manuals. The series has eight subseries, dividing the material by the various administrative functions of the office. They are: Subseries A: Expense Accounting; Subseries B: Service by Agreement (SBA); Subseries C: Subscriptions; Subseries D: Parking; Subseries E: Invoices; Subseries F: Payroll; Subseries G: Conference Rooms; Subseries H: Subject File. SUBSERIES A: Expense Accounting (Boxes AD1101-AD1111). This material consists of expense account forms, particularly for entertainment. It was filed by the determination of who was covering the cost of the entertainment – the Republican National Committee or the White House. The material is arranged by fiscal year and then generally alphabetically under the year. SUBSERIES B: Service by Agreement (SBA) (Boxes AD1201-AD1202). Service by Agreement is the White House terminology for contracted personnel working on a per diem basis. This 3/11/2021. Bolded folders are available for use today. No need to FOIA. Administrative Office-3 material consists of correspondence, contracts and invoices. The material is arranged by fiscal year and then alphabetically by the contractor’s name. SUBSERIES C: Subscriptions (Boxes AD1301-AD1305). This material covers the subscriptions for White House offices, staff members and the Library. The material consists of order correspondence, memos, order form, invoices, lists and reports. The material is arranged by fiscal year and then alphabetically by office or staff name. SUBSERIES D: Parking (Boxes AD1401-AD1410). The issuing of parking permits for the executive complex and employees was traded back and forth between the Administrative Office and the Office of Administration four times during the administration. We have left the material within the Administrative Office because it was transferred there in 1987 and remained there until the end of the administration. This material consists of correspondence, memos, forms, reports, parking permits, and parking vouchers. This material is arranged by the general information first, and then the parking permit information is arranged chronologically. SUBSERIES E: Invoices (Boxes AD1501-1510). This material consists of invoices and payment request forms. Material is filed by fiscal year and then alphabetically. SUBSERIES F: Payroll (Boxes AD1601-AD1610). This material consists of two printed computer database report forms: Payroll by Account and Leave Reports. It also includes a box of microfiche White House pay rolls by pay period. It is nearly complete for 1981-1982 and contains 5 dates for 1983, 1 date for 1984 and 6 dates for 1985 and 5 dates for 1986. The material is arranged by chronologically. SUBSERIES G: Conference Rooms (Boxes AD1701-1702). This material consists of reservation forms, reports and calendars for each room. SUBSERIES H: Subject File (Boxes AD1801-AD1805). This material consists of correspondence, memos, reports and forms. It is arranged alphabetically. SERIES II: FINANCE (10 l.ft., Boxes FI2101-FI2304) Financial matters were handled by White House Operations Financial Officer, Richard White. White has a staff collection and researchers should see his files for more information about financial matters at the administrative level. White left in October 1987. He was replaced by Chris Vein. The material in this series is divided into three subseries. They are: Subseries A: Subject File; Subseries B: Budgets; and Subseries C: Year-End Reports. SUBSERIES A: Subject File (Boxes FI2101-FI2102). This material consists of correspondence, memos, and reports. It is arranged alphabetically. SUBSERIES B: Budgets (Boxes FI2201-FI2202). This material consists of memos and reports regarding travel and entertainment budgets for each department. The Library only has 1984-1986 budget files. The material is arranged by fiscal year. 3/11/2021. Bolded folders are available for use today. No need to FOIA. Administrative Office-4 SUBSERIES C: Year End Reports (Boxes FI2301-FI2304). This material consists of printed computer database reports regarding budget outlays versus budgeted