The Veterans' Administration index, a file of some 2,600,000 cards, is being reproduced because the transfer to The National Archives of a portion of the indexed records, while the remainder is retained by the Administration, makes it imperative that a copy of the index be available in both places. It was economically undesirable to reproduce these cards by other than photographic methods. A rotary, highspeed, card-copying, microphotographic machine, specially equipped for photographing multicolored cards, was purchased for The National Archives and later three similar machines were rented. It was determined to use 16mm single perforate film and to reproduce the cards at a ratio of reduction of 17 diameters to 1. As the film is to be used in reading machines, a fairly elaborate coding system for card location was devised. With the cooperation of the Division of Cataloging, numbered "guides", which are projected on the screen of the reading machine as brief flashes of light, were placed at intervals of about every 100 cards throughout the file. The numbers of the flashes on each roll of film and the names that immediately follow each of them are typed on slips of paper affixed to the container that holds the roll. This makes it possible to determine between which flashes the desired entry will be found. When the film is placed in a reading machine, the reader can quickly turn to the desired name by counting the flashes as they pass over the reading screen. Cataloging experts state that this method of locating cards on film is as rapid as the use of an ordinary card index. The "refer from" cards at the Library of Congress presented a somewhat different problem. The file is unique and cannot be removed from the Library; hence, personnel from this Division was sent with a portable camera to make film copies of approximately 17,000 cards. The copies are to be enlarged on special photographic paper and duplicate prints are to be made in order that two sets of the cards (one for the Division of Cataloging and one for the Division of the Library) will be available in The National Archives. Photostatic work. An increasing volume of photostatic work has been required during the year, including the making of copies of documents in The National Archives for official purposes and for private use. The photostat machine was also used for making copies for the National Archives library of material which could not be procured by purchase and of borrowed notes and manuscript reports pertaining to materials in the custody of The National Archives. PHOTO-MECHANICAL AND MECHANICAL SERVICES It has been possible during the year virtually to complete a small but well-rounded duplicating unit. Duplicated materials include form letters, forms, memoranda, reports on useless papers, and similar intra-organization materials. The process of duplicating should not be confused with printing, however, as all the printing for The National Archives is done at the Government Printing Office as provided by law. One entirely new system of duplicating has been inaugurated. This process, known as "direct image" duplicating, requires a special typewriter and a carbon-paper ribbon for preparing metal plates from which copies are made on the multilith machines. The resultant product is similar in appearance to typewritten material and is far more permanent than hectograph or mimeograph copies, which cost approximately the same amount. The operation of the plan-copying machine is another phase of photo-mechanical activity. The machine includes a three-tube, mercury-vapor, continuous printer and a continuous-developing machine. Tracings, photographic negatives, and typewritten materials may be duplicated at a cost of about 2 cents a square foot. Direct positive copies are made without an intervening negative step; and, as ammonia vapor instead of water is used in developing the image, paper shrinkage is reduced to a minimum. The paper is not highly sensitive, and the entire process may be performed in an ordinary lighted room. CONDITIONING AND STORAGE OF NEGATIVES FOR STILL PICTURES In view of the large amount of film and other negatives for still pictures in Government depositories, space has been allocated in the National Archives Building for the establishment of conditioning laboratories and for the installation of suitable storage vaults and containers for negatives of different types, but no equipment has been installed as yet. As nitrate film offers decided fire, gas, and explosion hazards, and as glass negatives are extremely fragile, suitable containers must be designed for them, and this work has been undertaken. Meanwhile, through the cooperation of the Division of Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings, it has been possible to accept 287 rolls of aerial-mapping film and 204 mosaic 20′′ x 24′′ nitrate negatives, which have been stored temporarily in the vaults of that Division. A new process of film duplicating may make it possible to duplicate dangerous nitrate film directly on a nonexplosive safety film base for long-time storage and use. RESEARCH PROBLEMS Research has been carried on continuously throughout the year, and much of it has been integrated and correlated with work proceeding in other parts of the country. The most important investigations were those dealing with photography and documentation. An inquiry into the merits of particular photographic emulsions, bases, developing and fixing formulas, and printing paper was made in an effort to ascertain and classify the possible uses of the various materials in The National Archives. In the acquisition of equipment, it was necessary to investigate thoroughly the offerings of various manufacturers. Among the larger pieces of equipment acquired were a highintensity, mercury-vapor lamp, a circular, cold-quartz lamp, a rotary card-copying machine especially designed for photographing multicolored cards, a projection reading machine, a miniature camera and accessories, an 8" x 10" enlarger, a paper cutter, a paper-drilling machine, a direct-image typewriter, a plan-copying machine, a boundvolume copying camera, and a reflex camera. The reproduction of colored documents in monochrome and in color has been investigated, and the data accumulated may also be applied in reproducing faded and washed-out documents. The use of infrared sensitive materials in the reproduction of charred and burned documents was studied with some success, and the investigations are being continued. Studies were undertaken in low-cost methods of producing a limited number of copies of documents needed for current use by the staff of The National Archives. Several methods were tested and samples were procured, but no definite decision has yet been made as to the most suitable process. OTHER ACTIVITIES As a member of a committee of the Federal Fire Council, the Chief of the Division attended several conferences and prepared material on fires and on the photographic restoration of damaged documents. He was appointed on the committee on photographic equipment and mechanical techniques of the Society of American Archivists, and he represented the Society at the organization meeting of the American Documentation Institute. He was also appointed adviser to the committee on terminology and to the committee on photographic reproduction of library materials of the American Library Association. The latter committee is actively engaged in investigating microphotography and its application to the work of libraries, archival establishments, and similar institutions. A large number of conferences were held with members of this committee to discuss equipment, procedure, and results; and in addition a report on reading equipment for microcopies was prepared for the committee and assistance was rendered in compiling a vocabulary on microcopying. The Chief of the Division read papers on microphotography before the New York Chapter of the Special Libraries Association and at the annual meeting of the American Library Association, and he gave an extemporaneous talk on microphotography and The National Archives before the Harvard University Library Club. From October 19 to November 7, 1936, he made an inspection tour of the libraries of Yale, Brown, and Harvard Universities, where documentary problems ap RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTAS TIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS That the following Articles be propofed to the Legillature of the feveral ARTICLES in addition to, and amendment of, the Conflitution of ARTICLE THE FIRST. After the firft enumeration, required by the firft Article of the concurring fand, until the number thall, amount to one hundred, after which amendment ARTICLE THE SEC for the hroud of the Pindes & Representation ofl. No law varying the compenfation to the member of Congrele, fhall take effect, until an election of Reprefentatives fhall have in tervened. a ARTICLE THE THIRD het or Lough, ir Proper Congrefs fhall make no law establiking THE FIRST AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AS PROPOSED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The House of Representatives of the First Congress proposed a series of amendments to the Constitution in the nature of a bill of rights and submitted its proposal, containing 17 articles, to the Senate for consideration. A printed copy of this proposal, showing notations written by an unknown hand, is repro. duced on this and the two following pages. The document is from files of the United States Senate now in the custody of the Archivist of the United States. |