THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES .. FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES .. For the Fiscal Year Ending june 30 1939 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1939 , CONTENTS Pag& v ·:~ Officers and staf-f . vii Letter of transmitt~u . R eport of the Archivist, 1938- 39 2 .The National Archivf.'s Building 3 Surv~~ys of Feder!l.l archives . 4. Appraisal and disposal of records . 8 Ac.cessiona . lS Diminutio ns . Punr..rc,\TlON No. 12 ]I) Reh.a.~ilitation of records . 22 Anangcroent and descrip tion of records . 27 Setvice on records . 3() Other services . :~8 The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library ag. The Federal Hegister . H Administmtive activities . 53 Appendixes . I. The National Archives Act, the Federal Register Ac·t, 1.Utd certain other legislation concerning The National Archives . II. Accesf!iOns of The . National Archives duriug t he fiscal ye~r ending J une 30, 1939 . III. Profession~tl publications by members of the Nat ional Archives 83. staff during the fisc~tl year ending June 30, 1939 . .. IV. Report on the work of the Survey of Federal Arcl1ives for the fiScal year ending June 30, 1939. V. Report of t he secretar}' of the Nt1tiona.l Archives Council ror the fiscal year ct~ding June 30, 1939 . .. VI. 'Report of t he secretary of the National Historical Publications Commission for the .fiscal year ending June 30, 1939 . Index . • 0 •• ••••• • • • ••• •• • • • •••• III OFFICERS AND STAFF (As of December 1, 1039) GENERAL ADMINISTRATION R. D. W. CaNNon-Archivist of the United States. DonsEY w. HYnE, J r.- Director of Archival Service. SoLON J. Bucr<:-Director of P ublic!ttions. Cor~s G. B Aaazs - Execntive Officer. THAD PAo~'-Admiuistrative Secretary. ILLUSTRATIONS BI!R.NARD R. KENNEDY-Director of the Divisiou of the ])' ecleral Register. .Page Mt~..ncus W. PniCE-A.ssistaut Director of Archival Service. The National Archives Building from Constitution A veuue Frontispiece JAMES D. J>ru:sToN-Assistaut Administrative Secretary. The siege and surrendet· of Yorkt<Jwn . 52 MARJORY B. Trnru:u:r-Secretary to the Archivist. Sea letter attesting to the neutrality of a n American Hhip . 52 PROFESSIONAL DIVISIONS The engagement between the ConsWvl'ion M lcl the Ouerrie-rl) 52 The battle of New Orleans . 52 .Rcpai;· a.nd Pre8CI'VIttUm-Arthur E. Kimberly, Cll ief. D ocuments relating t<J the Indian wars . 52 Classificat-Ion- Roscoe R. Hill, Chief. The assumption of control in California by the United States Navy 52 Oatalog ing-Joh o R. Russell, Cbief. Col. Robert E. Lee's report of the capture or ,John Brown . : 52 R et erence-PbiliP M. Earner, Chief. T elegraphic report'l of t wo Civil War events . 52 L egislative ArcMvcs-FraoJ, D. McAlister, Acting Chief. Portions of the story of t,he ;llabama . 52 State Depa·rtme-nt Arch·i·l!es-Fred W. Shipman. Chief. "'I . .. propose to fight it out on this line if it t.akcs all SLimmer" 52 T1·easu·rv Departmen:t .Ll.I'Chi~Jes-Westel .R. ·wmongh by, Cbief. 'Pension declaration of President Lincoln'>l "representativE~ recruit" 52 Wm· Department Archi'ves-Dallns D. I rvine, Chief. "'Remember the Maine" . 52 JusUce Department A1'CMves-Frank D. McAlister, Cbief. T he eud of the battle of Manillt Bay . 52 Po.H Of{lC(i Depm·tm.ent Archi!!es- Artllm· H. Leavitt, Acting Chief. President Wilson and the Preparednf'..ss D1~y parade . 52 Navy Dep1u·tment Archives-Nelson M. Bluke, Chief. Posters of the United State~ Food Administratiou . 52 Inter:·io1· D epa·t·.trneut Anll:i,ves-OliVin· W. Holmes, Chief. Ratification of the Kellogg-Briand Pact . 52 Auricttltm·e Depar·tnwnt ArcMveB- Ttteodore R. Schellenberg, Chief. 52 T he proclamation of neutrality of September 5, 1939 . O.ommer.ce DetJa·rtment .tirchtvc.s-Arthur H. Lenvltt, Chief. IV Labor Depat"lment A1·ch·i'ves-PitU1 Lewinsou, Chief. Imlependen·t AgertCies Arch-i!;es- Percy S. Iflipp.in, Clrief. Vete·rans' Admin·istratio-n A:rclt·it;es-- 'J:bomas l\'1. Owen, Jr., Chie:f. Motion Pictn1'C8 mHl Sounll Reconli·nu.s--John G. Bradley, Chief. Maps and Char' /8-W. L. G. Joel'g, Clllcf. P7wto(lraphie A ·rch'i'VCS (IU.<l R el<earch- Vemon D. Tute, Chief. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVI SIONS Personnel 1Wcl Pa11 RolZ- Isane McBride, Chief. Finance mtd ...'lcco·ltnls-Ailen 11'. J ones, Chief. P1t1·chase Ct'JHl SuJ)IJly- Fl'imk P. \VIl!>on, Chief. Pl'intin(; and Proceii.~i'ltg- Han y 1\I. Forl\E~ r, Cbie·f. Cent~·al Files-Virginia M. Wolfe, Cblef. y LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL TuE NxnoNAL AncHrn:s, Washinpton, D. 0., Nouc1nber 15, J{);JD. 1'o the Congress of the United States: In compliance with section~) of the National Archives Act, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1122-112,1), which requires the Archivist of the United States to make to Congress "at the beginning of each regular session, a report for the preceding fiscal year as to the N atiomtl Archives, the said report indncling a detailed statement of all aeces.· sions and of all receipts and expenditures on account of the said estab­ lishment," I have the honor to submit herewith the fifth annual report of the Archivist of the United States, which covers the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939. Respectfully, R. D. vV. CoNNOn, Archi'uist. VII FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES The National ArchiYes has three major objectives. The first of these is the concentration and preservation in the National Archives Building of all noncurrent records of the Government of the United States of such administrative value or historical interest that they must be preserved over a long period of years or permanently. Progress toward this objective has been made during the year by the maintenance and further equipment o:f the National Archives Building as a repository where the records are safe from fire, theft, and deleterious atmospheric conclitiollS; by the continuance of sur­ veys begun in preceding years to ascertain the location, nature, volume, and condition of storage of Federal records; by the ap­ praisal of thousands of cubic feet of Government records reported as having no value; by the transfer to the National Archives Building of large quantities of Governrnent records having administrative value or historical interest, including maps and atlases, motion pic­ tures and sound recordings, and still pictures; and by the fumigation, cleaning, and repair of records received. Obviously the mere prt>,servation of Govermnent records is not enough, and hence the second major objective of The National Ar­ chives is the administration of the records received so as to facilitate. their use in the business of the Government and in the service of scholarship. Great strides have been made toward the attainment of this objective during the year. N mnerous important groups of records have been studied, arranged, and described in such a fashion that they may be used readily, and increasing numbers of officials and scholars have used more and more bodies of records for a surprisingly wide variety of purposes. The third major objective is the filing and preservation of all current Presidential proclamations and Executive orders, and rules, regulations, and the like issued by Federal agencies, the immediate publication of all those having general applicability and legal effect, and the publication of codes of all such documents remaining in effect. Current documents of this character have been published in the daily issues of the Federal Register, and a codification of those in effect on June 1, 1938, has been compiled in preparation for publication. 1 3 FU'TH ANNUAL .HRPOlrl' Ol'' AHOHlVIST . SUR\,.~:YS OF FEbERAL ARCHIVES THE NATIONAl, ARCHIVES BUILDING SURVEYS OF FEDERAL ARCHIVES . · . a1 Ietion of the survey of On Juno 30, 1938, stack areas in t.he National Archives Building The year under revrew saw the vutu, ~omp . b . Th containing 752,747 cubic feet of <locument tLrea (that is, space :for .Tt'ederalrecords in the District of Co1mnbi~, ":hJch wa~ begun .y -~ records and thf} stack equiprnent in which they are stored) were :N t' lal Ar·clli.ves in 1935 in oTCler to obbun mformatlOn abou~ the~I . a 101 · · l tl t· te of thm equipped either with coutainers or shelves for the stornge of rec01:ds T 1 me the depositories in which they were stort"IC , te s a and were ready for use, and additional !treas containing 163,818 ,'lio: n ',,t·r·on "n.cl arrang·em ~ nt the hazards to which they wel'e ex­ preserv<,. •• ' · -· ' . · ... , , d as far as cubic feet of document arNt were p1trtiaJly equipped and ~Lvaihtble . .oscd the impediments to work l11 the deposltones, an ' . for l'estrictecl use. During the fiscal year ending J nne 30, 1939, p , ··b\e the volume that would probfl.bly be transferred £rom tune to poss1 , · Th' 1 ·tended over a the status of thH partiitlly equipped m·eas rHmained unchanged; other time to The National Archives. 1S survey las ex d . ll • areas, contajning 191,892 cubic feet of document area, of which , . d thou<>'h the bulk of the work was done urmg, .1e 148,994 cubic feet were equipped with shelves and 42,898 cubic feet 5fi·Y:~r perllo93·'6 ar1cl'"'1tas· covered the records of the legislative bt·nt~ch. lSCtu ye1U ' .l , .. ' . f tl with cases for the stornge of maps and charts, were tumecl over to ·of the Government, all the executive departments, the ma]or1ty o... b;e The National Archi·ves. Thus, at tlu~ close, of the year a total of independent agencies, a.nd most of the courts.