stack space, which was completely bare both of steel floors to divide it into stack areas and of stack equipment of any kind, remained unchanged throughout the year; this space has an estimated capacity of 64,975 cubic feet of document area.

The rest of the storage space in the building, which is used for maps, motion-picture films, and sound recordings, was fully equipped at the beginning of the year under review. Stack areas for the storage of maps have a document area of 48,188 cubic feet and are equipped with large map cases, which rest on their own bases instead of on stack uprights. The motion-picture films and the sound recordings are stored in special vaults provided with elaborate equipment that has been described in previous reports. As a temporary expedient one of the stack areas equipped with shelves has been assigned for the storage of acetate, that is, noninflammable or "safety," motion-picture films, and another has been assigned for the storage of other photographic archives.

The installation during the year of the shelves referred to above completed the last existing contract for the provision of storage equipment for the building. This does not mark the completion of the equipment of the building, however. Of the total of 2,098,687 cubic feet of document area in the building, only 795,645 cubic feet or 38 percent has been fully equipped with shelves and containers; 1,077,151 cubic feet or 51 percent has been equipped only with shelves and therefore, until containers are provided, can be used for the permanent storage of bound volumes only, although the shelves can be used for the temporary storage of material in bundles and photographic archives; and 225,891 cubic feet or 11 percent, which has neither containers nor shelves and consists merely of floor space, is useful only for the storage of file cabinets, boxes, and the like. Thus, 62 percent of the storage space in the National Archives Building requires further stack equipment before it can attain more than a limited usefulness. The proportion of the storage area of the building filled with records and the proportions of the storage area unequipped, equipped with shelves, and equipped with shelves and containers are shown on the diagrams on the opposite page.

Some steps have already been taken toward obtaining the equipment needed. Plans and specifications were being prepared at the end of the year for the containers to be used in the stack areas now equipped with shelves. These new containers are being designed to open at the top and one side so that the records can be stored and removed more easily than is possible with the trays now in use, which open only at the top. In addition, plans and specifications have been drawn up for converting the unequipped stack space referred to above into dark rooms and storage areas for photographic archives of various

kinds. Funds now available are inadequate to provide completely for either portion of the equipment indicated above, but both must be provided in the near future if The National Archives is to continue to receive records in the future on the same scale as it has in the past and to provide adequate storage for them.

The equipment of additional stack areas during the year made it possible to shift to permanent quarters several custodial divisions that had been obliged to share storage and office space with other divisions and to provide other custodial divisions with much needed additional storage facilities for the records flowing in. The custodial divisions thus provided with new quarters or new storage space utilized the opportunity afforded by the moving of their records to rearrange many of them in order to bring together related records

UTILIZATION OF STORAGE AREA, JUNE 30, 1940

that had previously been separated for want of space, to move to more convenient locations records that are frequently used, and to allow space so that shipments of records expected in the future can be added with the minimum number of shifts of material already in the building.

Several special items of equipment for the storage or treatment of records were designed and ordered during the year. Among these were cabinets for the storage of disk sound recordings; a special recording amplifier; an optical printer for the copying of motionpicture film, which will make it possible to reproduce and thus to preserve the records on deteriorating film; and a humidifying and drying machine, which is designed to humidify and flatten documents in one continuous operation and with which at least as many as 20,000 pieces can be so treated in a single day.

To provide the records with optimum protection, the completion of the equipment of the building with special fire and burglar alarms

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was authorized and the work was well along at the end of the year. Various steps were also taken to eliminate potential fire hazards in the building and to assure the prompt and efficient control of any fire that might occur despite these precautions. The operation of the airconditioning system, which controls the temperature, humidity, and chemical content of the air, approached much closer to ideal conditions during the year than during any other previous period of operation, a fact attributable in part at least to the installation of new units for pre-heating the air taken into the building and the use of a more satisfactory type of air filter. To provide a more accurate check on the operation of the air-conditioning system, stack areas in which records are stored were equipped with recording hygrothermographs, which relieved members of the staffs of the custodial divisions from making periodic determinations of temperature and humidity.

SURVEYS OF FEDERAL ARCHIVES

With the filing at the close of the last fiscal year of summary reports concerning the records of many of the agencies of the Government in Washington, the preliminary survey of Federal records in the District of Columbia, which had been carried on during the preceding 5 years, may be said to have come to an end. This survey was designed to provide The National Archives with information on the volume of the records, the depositories in which they were stored, the state of their preservation and arrangement, the hazards to which they were exposed, the impediments to work in the depositories, and, so far as possible, the volume that would probably be transferred from time to time to The National Archives. It disclosed the existence in over 6,500 depositories or rooms of a total of nearly 3,000,000 cubic feet of Government records, many of which could not be readily used and some of which were seriously endangered because of the conditions under which they were stored. This survey provided the most adequate picture that has ever been obtained of the status of Federal records in the District of Columbia, and by focusing attention on them resulted in better care being given to some of them.

The Government record situation in Washington changes rapidly, however. New records are created and, together with old ones, are transferred to The National Archives or are disposed of as useless papers; and record-creating agencies are themselves established, reorganized, consolidated, or abolished. In one case, for example, 98 percent of the records of an agency are now in different depositories than those in which they were originally surveyed. Even so, the broad outlines of the record situation of the Government remain relatively constant, and the data recorded by the survey are of continuous and permanent value in connection with many phases of the work of The National Archives.

To keep current a survey as extensive as this one was would be unwise, not only because of the expense involved but also because many of the records will ultimately be disposed of as useless papers. The practice has been followed, therefore, of resurveying portions of the records when necessary in order to plan effectively for the future transfer and disposal of records or to administer and provide service on records already received. The most extensive resurveys for these purposes carried on during the year were of the records of the Department of Justice and of certain units of the Department of the Interior, including the General Land Office and the Division of Territories and Island Possessions. Because of their rapid increase in quantity, a complete resurvey of the photographic archives of the Government in Washington was also made. This resurvey revealed that the number of still-picture negatives in Government agencies in the District of Columbia, exclusive of The National Archives, had risen from 2,346,598 to 3,243,195, as of March 1, 1940, and that the running feet of motion-picture film had increased from 17,739,879 to 34,431,061.

Since 1936 there has been in progress a survey of Federal records outside the District of Columbia, which was undertaken by the Works Progress Administration at the request and with the cooperating sponsorship of The National Archives. This Survey of Federal Archives, as it is known, was operated as a WPA Federal project until June 30, 1937, and since that time its work has been carried on by State projects and by units of the WPA Historical Records Survey. Most of the actual surveying has now been completed, and effort is being concentrated on the editing and making available, primarily in mimeographed form, of a descriptive work entitled Inventory of Federal Archives in the States. Of the approximately 80,000 pages in this work, about 8,000 pages were either mimeographed or edited for mimeographing during the year, bringing to 52,000 the pages in this category, and 12,000 pages were typed in lieu of mimeographing and were deposited in the National Archives Library. The pages of the inventory have been closely examined by members of the National Archives staff in order to supplement their knowledge of records of the Federal Government and some of the staff have given editorial assistance in the preparation of the work. A more complete account of the activities of the survey during the fiscal year 1940 as well as descriptions of special projects undertaken is contained in the report of Philip M. Hamer, National Director of the survey during its existence as a separate project, who is now supervising the work as Associate Director of the Historical Records Survey Projects in charge of the project. His report is printed as appendix VIII to this report.

APPRAISAL AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS

The machinery of Government produces a seemingly endless flow of records,which, if allowed to accumulate indefinitely,would inevitably slow down the working of the machinery if they did not stop it altogether. Legislation regarding the disposal of public records is necessarily strict, however, to prevent the alienation or destruction of material of value, and The National Archives has, since its establishment, performed an important role by assisting in determining what records appear to be worth preserving.

The laws governing the disposal of Government records and the place of The National Archives in the process were more clearly defined during the fiscal year 1940 by the passage on August 5, 1939, of “An act to provide for the disposition of certain records of the United States Government," which is printed in appendix I of this report. This act requires heads of agencies having in their custody noncurrent records believed to have no administrative value or historical interest to the Federal Government to submit to the Archivist lists and samples of such records. If he finds that the records are appropriate for disposal, the Archivist, with the approval of the National Archives Council, reports the fact to Congress, which refers the matter to a joint committee for consideration. If the joint committee agrees with the findings of the Archivist, it so reports to Congress and its report, including the lists, is published. The head of the agency having the custody of the records may then dispose of them by sale, by destruction, or by transfer "to any State or dependency of the United States of America or to any appropriate educational institution, library, museum, historical, research, or patriotic organization therein, that has made application to him therefor, through the Archivist of the United States." If Congress adjourns before the joint committee has acted on any reports submitted by the Archivist 10 days or more before the end of a session of Congress, the Archivist is himself empowered to authorize the agency to dispose of the records in question, and he is further empowered to authorize the disposal of such records reported to him during a recess of Congress as "have the same form numbers or form letters or are of the same specific kind as other records of the same agency previously authorized for disposition by Congress." The act also contains provisions permitting the Archivist, under certain safeguards, to dispose of records in his custody that are "without permanent value or historical interest to the Federal Government," and to authorize the immediate destruction of any valueless records reported to him that "are a continuing menace to human health or life or to property."

Under the provisions of this act and those of the National Archives Act relating to the disposal of records, The National Archives