braced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. Other similar applications of microphotography made during the fiscal year included the copying of a file of 2,430 index cards to Indian treaties in the Department of State, from which photographic prints enlarged to the original size of the cards were prepared from the microfilm negatives, and the copying of the 17,000 cards of a reference file at the Library of Congress, which was needed in connection with the work of cataloging. Microphotography was also used in the internal work of The National Archives to copy certain out-of-print or otherwise unobtainable books and other reference material.

CLASSIFICATION

Some scheme of classification is essential to provide a basis for the definitive arrangement of the records in the stacks and to make them readily available for use. The scheme being developed by The National Archives provides for an organization of the papers that will show clearly their interrelationships and the fundamental development of the agency that produced or used them and for a numbering system that will identify each series of records.

The work of classification in The National Archives is still in an experimental stage, however. This is the first time that the task of developing a logical scheme of classification for such large masses of material as those produced during the twentieth century has been undertaken, and it differs greatly from that faced by archival establishments that administer smaller groups and fragmentary bodies of records originating for the most part before the nineteenth century. The complexity of modern governmental organization affects the scheme of classification that must be developed, especially in the matter of the organization of the records. Departments and agencies of the Government generally possess bureaus, divisions, sections, or other subdivisions, which ordinarily keep their own files. Furthermore, within each subdivision there is the problem of the multiplicity of files developed in the process of conducting the business of the office. There are agencies with well-developed central filing systems, but it is doubtful whether any present-day agency of the Government carries centralization to the point where all its records are included in one file under a single plan of classification. Coupled with the existence of this multiplicity of files is the use of many kinds of filing systems in the different offices. These include alphabetical, numerical, geographical, and many other arrangements. A further problem encountered in classification results from the more or less disordered condition in which many papers reach The National Archives, a condition that increases the difficulty of determining the original organization of the files.

Once the organization of the papers has been determined, a classification symbol is assigned to each series of records. This symbol consists of three parts: (1) A name or series of letters identifying the agency concerned; (2) a number indicating the basic division of the agency and, if necessary, a letter indicating the section or subdivision; and (3) a combination of a letter and a number, the former indicating the group of records of the subdivision of the agency and the latter indicating the series of documents within that group. A classification scheme is then drawn up for the entire body of records of each. agency. It embodies a brief history of the agency and of its records, lists the series of documents in accordance with the organization as determined, and shows the classification symbol assigned to each series.

During the fiscal year just concluded, 4,766 cubic feet of records, involving 5,162 series of documents, were classified, and the corresponding classification schemes were prepared and made available for use in typewritten or processed form. These include 4,813 series of documents of the Food Administration, chiefly records of its State organizations and of two of its subsidiaries, the Grain Corporation and the Sugar Distributing Committee. Two smaller groups of records, those of the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency (the Taft Commission) and of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission) were also completely classified. In addition, the ground work was laid and preliminary organizations were formulated for the classification of an additional 3,588 series of documents in the records of the United States Senate, the War Industries Board, the Committee on Public Information, and the Council of National Defense.

CATALOGING

With so large and diversified a body of material as that in The National Archives, a card catalog is needed to aid searchers in ascertaining what material is available and the classification symbols by which the records desired should be requested. The National Archives catalogs material by accession immediately after its receipt in the building. The cataloging of material in greater detail, that is, by the records of the divisions of the agency or by series of documents, is deferred until the material has been classified and it is possible to put the call numbers on the catalog cards. Only a very few extremely important documents are likely ever to be cataloged individually. Catalog entries are made on cards under the names of agencies and under subjects, and the cards are filed together in what is called the dictionary catalog arrangement. The unit-card system familiar to users of catalogs in American libraries

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has been adopted; but the information given on the card necessarily differs in amount and kind from that to be found on library cards because of the differences between archives and books.

During the fiscal year 1938, accession, division, and series cataloging was done. Some 104 units, comprising 54,415 linear feet of material, were cataloged by accessions. Division cataloging of the records of the Washington, D. C., and State offices of the Food Administration, the first large body of material to be cataloged in so detailed a fashion, was completed during the year. As a result of this work approximately 5,000 cards were added to the catalog, measurably increasing its size and providing an excellent example of the results obtainable from this type of cataloging. In addition to the work with the Food Administration records, 20 units of material in the State Department files relating to expositions were cataloged by division. This work was done as an experiment and its completion will be delayed until the material has been classified and call numbers can be added.

The first records to be cataloged by series were those of the Veterans' Administration. Sixteen units comprising 161,000 linear feet were cataloged and 465 catalog cards were made. Series cataloging was also done for the records of the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency and, experimentally, for certain records of the Railroad Wage Commission and of the Board of Railroad Wages and Working Conditions, which have not yet been classified. In the cataloging by division and by series, master cards are reproduced mechanically whenever this will facilitate the work.

Specialized types of archives require specialized cataloging. For this reason a separate catalog was begun during the year for motion pictures and sound recordings. This catalog will make it possible to list the material much more satisfactorily and to devise headings and descriptions that will fit the material more exactly than would have been possible in a catalog covering all classes of archives. While no detailed cataloging of maps and charts was done during the year, it is anticipated that work on this material will soon be undertaken, and it is not unlikely that still another special catalog for photographic archives will be required when the quantity of this material in the building begins to assume considerable proportions.

SERVICE ON RECORDS

Records in the custody of the Archivist of the United States are available for any proper use by officials of the Government and by private investigators, subject only to such restrictions as may be imposed by law or administrative regulations. A substantial increase was noted during the year in the requests for service received in

person, by mail, and by telephone. Many Government officials and private scholars come personally to The National Archives to use the records, and for their convenience three principal search rooms are maintained, as well as smaller search rooms in the Divisions of Department Archives where searchers using large quantities of material can work with even greater facility. Cards of admission to the search rooms were granted to 381 readers, who made 2,089 visits to The National Archives during the year; by contrast, only 118 cards of admission were granted and only 736 visits were made during 1937. The investigators came from 28 different States, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Canada, and Cuba. They represented 40 American and 2 foreign colleges and universities. Among them were 134 Government officials, 36 members of college and university faculties, 21 graduate students, 23 lawyers, 98 students of genealogy, and 69 others engaged in research. The 134 Government investigators (there were only 38 in 1937) came from all but 2 of the executive departments and from 14 independent agencies.

The large increase in services rendered by letter and by telephone stands out even more prominently. During the year 3,515 letters were written, 1,145 of them to Government officials, as compared with 2,343 letters written the year before, of which 389 were addressed to Government officials. The number of telephone inquiries, 4,657 in all, was more than treble those received in 1937. Of this number all but 207 were from Government officials. More than half of the letters answered during the year were inquiries for genealogical and military information obtainable from pension files in the Veterans' Administration archives, which cover service in the Mexican, Civil, Indian, and Spanish-American Wars. Of these inquiries, the greater part came from county and State agencies and from private individuals attempting to establish the birth dates of children of veterans to support applications for old-age pensions; most of the others were for information needed to support applications for membership in hereditary-patriotic organizations.

Photographic copies of records in the custody of the Archivist are furnished for Government use without charge and are supplied to the public at cost. During the past year 635 orders (475 from Government officials) were filled for copies of 9,632 pages of documents, and the sum of $344 was collected for photostats furnished to private individuals. A large proportion of these copies were certified under the seal of The National Archives, which the law requires to be judicially noticed, and the sum of $36 was received for certifications made for unofficial use. Microfilm copies of documents to the number of 3,035 were made during the year for the use of other Government agencies, scholarly institutions, and private research workers.

In cases where Government agencies find that using the records in the National Archives Building or having copies made of them will not meet their needs, they may withdraw them for official use. The Veterans' Administration withdrew 10,015 files during the year, more, as was the case in 1937, than any other Government agency; and 392 loans were made to other Government offices as compared with 44 during 1937. In some instances, as has already been pointed out in the section on diminutions, records were permanently restored to the office of origin.

Members of Congress made considerable use of the facilities of The National Archives. There were 47 requests from Senators and 131 from Members of the House of Representatives for copies of Executive orders and proclamations and for information from the records of the Senate, the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, and the National Recovery Administration. In addition, 26 pension files were sent to the House Committee on Pensions and 1 file was sent to the Senate Committee on Pensions.

The subjects upon which investigators consulted the resources of The National Archives during the past year were many and varied. The diplomatic correspondence, the treaties, the territorial and domestic papers, and the claims and exposition files of the Department of State were consulted for administrative purposes as well as for information concerning the diplomatic and domestic history of the Nation. Treasury files were searched by officials for fiscal and personnel data. The records of the Office of Chief of Engineers of the War Department provided the National Park Service with data for use in its work in restoring Fort Laramie in Wyoming, Fort Taylor at Key West, and the Civil War battlefields around Richmond; and private searchers derived from them information on such subjects as Captain Stansbury's expedition to the Great Salt Lake, 1849–50; the Clarence King geological survey along the the fortieth parallel, 1870-72; engineering activities under General Scott in Mexico; old Fort Jefferson on Garden Key, Dry Tortugas, Fla.; and the careers of various officers of the Corps of Engineers. The Justice Department made considerable use of its own records and of those of Federal courts in the custody of The National Archives. Navy records were studied for information on the wars with the Barbary States; inquiries relative to the public lands in Texas and to Spanish grants in California were answered from the General Land Office records. of the Department of the Interior; the Virgin Islands records of the same Department supplied information concerning Alexander Hamilton's background in St. Croix; and the records of the Office of Indian Affairs were used for studies of Indian relations and of the frontier.