APPENDIX V REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES COUNCIL FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1939 The National Archives Council is an agency of the Government created by the National Archives Act, approved June 19, 1934. Its functions are to "define the classes of material which shall be transferred to the National Archives Building and establish regulations governing such transfer"; to "advise the Archivist in respect to regulations governing the disposition and use of the archives and records transferred to his custody"; and to approve before they are transmitted by the Archivist to Congress all lists or descriptions "of the papers, documents, and so forth (among the archives and records of the Government), which appear to have no permanent value or historical interest, and which, with the concurrence of the Government agency concerned, and subject to the approval of Congress, shall be destroyed or otherwise effectively disposed of." The membership of the Council is composed of the Secretary of each executive department or his alternate, the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on the Library, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Archivist of the United States. There were four changes in the membership of the Council during the year. Two resulted from the resignations of the Honorable Homer S. Cummings as Attorney General, and the Honorable Daniel C. Roper as Secretary of Commerce, and the appointments of the Honorable Frank Murphy and the Honorable Harry L. Hopkins, respectively, as their successors. Dr. Herbert Putnam retired as Librarian of Congress and was succeeded by Mr. Archibald MacLeish. The fourth change was occasioned by the death of the Honorable Claude A. Swanson, Secretary of the Navy, who was succeeded on the Council by the Honorable Charles Edison, Acting Secretary of the Navy. No meeting of the Council was held during the year, but 85 lists of useless papers submitted by the Archivist to the individual members of the Council were approved by them for transmittal to Congress by the Archivist. 92 THAD PAGE. APPENDIX VI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS COMMISSION FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1939 The Commission lost two of its original members during the year with the retirement of Dr. Hunter Miller, Historical Adviser of the Department of State, and Col. Oliver L. Spaulding, Chief of the Historical Section of the Army War College. Dr. Miller's place on the Commission was taken by Dr. Cyril Wynne, Chief of the Division of Research and Publication of the Department of State, who was designated by a departmental order of August 1 as Historical Adviser of the Department "for the purpose of representation on the National Historical Publications Commission." Col. Spaulding's place on the Commission was vacated with his retirement from the Army effective June 30 and will be filled by his successor as Chief of the Historical Section of the Army War College, Col. Robert Arthur. The recommendation of the Commission for the compilation, editing, and publication of documentary material relating to the ratification of the Constitution and the first ten amendments thereto, which was submitted to Congress on March 17, 1936, moved a few steps closer to consideration in both Houses of Congress. Representative Kent E. Keller introduced in the House of Representatives on February 9 a bill, H. R. 4010, to authorize the Archivist of the United States, under the supervision of the Commission, to cause to be collected, edited, and issued as a Government publication, in not more than six volumes, the material considered by the Commission to be appropriate for inclusion in the proposed work. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate as S. 1410 on February 16 by Senator Elbert D. Thomas. The bills were referred to the respective Committees on the Library. In anticipation of hearings on the project, the secretary of the Commission distributed copies of H. R. 4010 to a number of libraries and scholars throughout the country. As endorsements were received they, together with earlier endorsements of the proposed publication by scholars and others, were copied and listed by the States of the endorsers. Meanwhile, at the suggestion of the clerk of the Joint Committee on Printing, a new bill was drawn to provide for the compilation but not the publication of the proposed work, and this bill was introduced in the House as H. R. 5024 on March 14 by Representative Keller. Hearings on this measure were held by the House Committee on the Library on March 22, with the Commission represented by its chairman, the Archivist of the United States, its secretary, and Dr. St. George L. Sioussat. Mr. Thad Page, Administrative Secretary of The National Archives, was also present. A stenographic record of the hearing together with a list of endorsers of the project and extracts from some of the endorsements was printed under the title, "Compiling of Manuscript Containing Contemporary Matter Relative to the Constitution" (20 p.); and on June 29 the Committee on the Library reported the bill to the House and recommended its passage. Copies of the hearing were distributed just before the end of the year to the members of the Commission and to all endorsers of the project, and copies of the printed report (76 Cong., 1 sess., H. Rept. 997) were sent to the members of the Commission. The bill was placed on the Union Calendar as No. 415 and no further action was had on it during the fiscal year. Another historical publication was suggested to the Commission during the year. On April 17, Representative Lawrence Lewis, of Colorado, recommended that certain original maps and papers of Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, which were confiscated by Spanish authorities in 1807 and were returned to this country a century later, be reproduced in facsimile in the original size and issued as a Government publication. Some correspondence concerning this proposal was carried on during the year and the matter will be referred to the Commission at its next meeting. Provision has been made in the budget of The National Archives for the fiscal year 1939-40 for the appointment in the Office of the Director of Publications of a "research expert" whose duties will include the making of general studies and surveys of the historical value of material in the archives of the Federal Government from the point of view of suitability for publication; the making of studies and surveys of the historical publication projects of the Federal Government and of others insofar as they may include Federal archival material; and the planning and directing of the compilation of bibliographies of documentary historical publications. and lists of Federal archival material available in printed form. It is expected that this appointment will enable the Archivist to comply with the request of the Commission "to bring up to date the survey of 1908 of the historical publications of the Government" and to assemble information "on methods of distributing historical publications and on the future plans for the publication of historical documents by the Government departments." SOLON J. BUCK. INDEX Accessions, 8-18, 25, 70-82; procedure, Accessions Division, 9, 42 Accounts and Deposits Office records, 71 Administrative Secretary, 46, 92, 93 Aeronautics Bureau records, 75 Agricultural Economics Bureau records, Agriculture Department records, 9, 10, Appropriations, 49, 51, 62 Archives, Federal (see also specific sub- Arthur, Stanley C., 90 Atlases. See Maps and atlases. Authentication of documents, 29, 57 192245-40-8 Barkley, Alben W., 39 Biographical studies, use of records for, Bituminous Coal Commission records, Bontz, Lillie A., 46 Bookkeeping and Warrants Division, 71 Buck, Solon J., 37, 46, 47, 48, 83, 94 Building. See National Archives Build- Butler, Burridge D., 16, 81 Cataloging: records, 25; library, 35 Children's Bureau records, 79 Civil War studies, use of records for, 33 Civilian Conservation Corps records, 11 Coal Commission records, 11, 19, 76 Coast Guard records, 71 "Code of Federal Regulations," 40, 50, 61 Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 81 Commerce Department records, 11, 12, Commissary General of Prisoners Office Committee on Public Information rec- Comptroller of the Currency records, 71 95 Congress (see also Legislation and Sen- Exhibits, 48, 49 ate): authorization for disposal of Expenditures and obligations, 50 Connor, R. D. W. See Archivist of the Farm Credit Administration records, 16, Conservation and Administration of the proposed documentary Consular posts records, 10, 70 Council of National Defense records, 12, 79 Farm Security Administration records, Federal agencies (see also names of Federal Board for Vocational Education Federal Board of Surveys and Maps, 37 Courts, Federal, records, 9, 10, 12, 81, 90 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Diminution of records, 18 District court records, 12, 81 records, 11 Federal Emergency Relief Administra- Federal Fire Council, 37 Federal Fuel Distributor records, 11, 76 Federal Music Project records, 15, 81 62; Division, 39, 41, 42; Administra- Federal Reserve System records, 15, 16, District of Columbia Commissioners rec- Federal Trade Commission records, 11, ords, 10 Douglas, Jesse S., 83 Documents, authentication, 29, 57 Duniway, David C., 84 Early Imprints Survey, 37 East, Robert A., 47, 84 79 Film, motion-picture: surveys, 3; acces- Film, still. See Pictures, still. Economic history studies, use of records Finance and Accounts Division, 42 for, 33 Edison, Charles, 92 Fiscal affairs, 40, 49-51, 62 Education Advisory Committee records, Flattening of records, 2, 20, 37, 50 11, 79 Flippin, Percy S., 84 Food Administration records, 11, 14, 16, Food and Drug Administration records, Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administra- Foreign and Domestic Commerce Bu- Foreign relations studies, use of records Foreign Service records, 10, 70 Forest Service records, 78 Forker, Harry M., 44 Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, 38, 63- 66 |