Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Council of National Defense [CND]


(Record Group 62)
1915-37 (bulk 1916-21)
385 cu. ft.

OVERVIEW OF RECORDS LOCATIONS

Table of Contents

  • 62.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
  • 62.2 RECORDS OF THE ADVISORY COMMISSION 1916-18
  • 62.3 GENERAL RECORDS OF THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE 1916-21
  • 62.3.1 Records of the Director's Office
  • 62.3.2 Records of the Secretary's Office
  • 62.3.3 Records of the Chief Clerk's Office
  • 62.4 RECORDS OF THE MEDICINE AND SANITATION COMMITTEE 1917-19
  • 62.4.1 Records of the Medical Section
  • 62.4.2 Records of the General Medical Board
  • 62.5 RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S DEFENSE WORK (CWDW) 1916-19
  • 62.5.1 General records
  • 62.5.2 Records of the News Department
  • 62.5.3 Records of the Educational Propaganda Department
  • 62.5.4 Records of other departments
  • 62.6 RECORDS OF THE STATE COUNCILS SECTION AND ITS PREDECESSOR, THE SECTION ON COOPERATION WITH THE STATES 1917-18
  • 62.7 RECORDS OF THE FIELD DIVISION 1917-20
  • 62.8 RECORDS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION RESEARCH DIVISION 1918-21
  • 62.9. RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR 1916-19
  • 62.10 RECORDS OF OTHER OPERATING UNITS 1917-21
  • 62.10.1 Records of the General Munitions Board and the Munitions Standards Board
  • 62.10.2 Records of the Commercial Economy Board
  • 62.10.3 Records of the Statistics Division
  • 62.10.4 Records of the Files and Records Division (Postwar Period)
  • 62.10.5 Records of committees
  • 62.11 RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT AS CUSTODIAN OF THE RECORDS 1915-37
  • 62.11.1 Records of the Planning Branch of the Procurement Division
  • 62.11.2 Records of the Army Industrial College

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62.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Established: As an emergency agency by the Army Appropriation Act (39 Stat. 649), August 29, 1916. Consisted of the Secretaries of War, the Navy, the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, assisted by an Advisory Commission appointed by the President, October 11, 1916.

Transfers: Resource and industry coordination functions to War Industries Board, which became independent of CND by EO 2868, May 28, 1918.

Functions: Coordinated resources and industries for national defense. Stimulated civilian morale. Coordinated the work of state and local defense councils and women's committees. Studied problems of postwar readjustment and reconstruction.

Abolished: Operations suspended June 30, 1921. Reactivated, 1940- 41. Presently inactive.

Finding Aids: National Archives staff, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Council of National Defense Records, PI 2 (Dec. 1942).

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Council of National Defense in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government. Records of the War Industries Board, RG 61.
Records of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense (1940- 41, in Roosevelt Library), in RG 220, Records of Temporary Committees, Commissions, and Boards. Papers of William H. McReynolds, 1939-46, Secretary of the Council of National Defense (1940-41), in Roosevelt Library.

Subject Access Terms: World War I agency.

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62.2 RECORDS OF THE ADVISORY COMMISSION
1916-18

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1917-18, with card index to correspondence with the War Industries Board. Minutes of meetings, 1916-18, with card index.

Microfilm Publications: M1069.

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62.3 GENERAL RECORDS OF THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
1916-21

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62.3.1 Records of the Director's Office

Textual Records: General and subject correspondence, 1917-21. Minutes of meetings of the CND, 1916-21, and the Interdepartmental Defense Board, 1919-20, with indexes. Reports of subordinate units, including the War Industries Board, 1917- 18, and reports on economic subjects, relating in part to the work of the Interdepartmental Defense Board, 1919-20. News releases, newspaper clippings, and publicity materials, 1917-20.

Microfilm Publications: M1069.

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62.3.2 Records of the Secretary's Office

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1917-18. Correspondence with CND subordinate units and with the Committee on Public Information, 1917-18.

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62.3.3 Records of the Chief Clerk's Office

Textual Records: Correspondence, 1917-21. General personnel file, 1916-21. Telephone directories for federal agencies, 1918, and selected cities, 1918-21. Miscellaneous payroll and accounting records, 1917-21.

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62.4 RECORDS OF THE MEDICINE AND SANITATION COMMITTEE
1917-19

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62.4.1 Records of the Medical Section

Textual Records: Correspondence of the Chairman, Medicine and Hygiene Committee, 1917. Minutes of the Conference of the National Medical Council for National Defense, Washington, DC, January 6, 1917. Card files of membership of various state and local medical committees and societies, 1917-18.

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62.4.2 Records of the General Medical Board

Textual Records: Minutes of board meetings, 1917-18. Correspondence of the Research and Legislation Committees regarding medical products; and commissions, promotions, assignments, and recommendations for appointment to the Medical Reserve Corps, 1917-18. Correspondence and other records of the Committee for Civilian Cooperation in Combating Venereal Diseases, 1917-18. Reports of the Committee on Nursing concerning assignments of Student Nurse Reserve applicants to hospital training schools, 1918-19. Card records of the States Activities Committee relating to appointments to and eligibility for service in the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), 1918; and group and individual memberships in the MRC, n.d. Card records maintained by the Central Governing Board of the Volunteer Medical Service Corps of men and women who were members of or applicants for the Volunteer Medical Service Corps, and card records relating to women physicians, 1918-19. General Medical Board publicity material, 1918. Clippings file on the Volunteer Medical Service Corps, 1918-19.

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62.5 RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S DEFENSE WORK (CWDW)
1916-19

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62.5.1 General records

Textual Records: Central correspondence, with personal and subject card indexes, and correspondence of Anna Howard Shaw, who chaired the committee, 1917-18. Circulars and special letters sent to state divisions, 1917-19. Minutes of meetings, 1917-19. Activity reports, 1917-18. Reports given at the Woman's Committee Conference, May 13-15, 1918.

Microfilm Publications: M1074.

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62.5.2 Records of the News Department

Textual Records: General correspondence and publicity correspondence with state divisions of the CWDW, 1917-18. Correspondence, publications, and other records concerning women and the war, 1916-18. News and publication files, including News Notes and Notes from the Foreign News Bureau, 1917-18. Records relating to the activities of state and local woman's committees, 1917-18, and to women's organizations comprising the Honorary Committee, 1916-18, including publications, photographs, posters, and biographical sketches. Card abstracts of information on the organization and work of state divisions of the CWDW and on social and economic conditions abroad, with emphasis on women's problems, 1917-18.

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62.5.3 Records of the Educational Propaganda Department

Textual Records: General correspondence and correspondence with state divisions, 1917-18. Correspondence, reports, poems, plays, and other materials relating to Americanization activities and patriotic education, 1917-18.

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62.5.4 Records of other departments

Textual Records: Summaries of state reports on registration of women by occupation, 1917-18, compiled by the Registration for Service Department. United States Food Leaflets produced by the Food Administration Department, n.d. Publications and card summaries of periodical articles on the employment of women collected or produced by the Women in Industry Department, 1917- 18. Correspondence of Child Welfare Department Executive Secretary Jessica Peixotto, 1918; and child welfare circulars, 1917-18. Weekly reports of the Information Department on activities of state divisions, 1917-18. Reports from state divisions and related correspondence of the State Organization Department, 1917-19.

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62.6 RECORDS OF THE STATE COUNCILS SECTION AND ITS PREDECESSOR,
THE SECTION ON COOPERATION WITH THE STATES
1917-18

Textual Records: Minutes of staff meetings, 1917-18. General correspondence and correspondence with state councils of defense, 1917-18. Correspondence relating to shipyard labor recruiting drives, use of the Lincoln Highway, appointment of state food administrators, and other subjects, 1917-18. Records of the National Defense Conference, May 2-3, 1917. Minutes of meetings of the Interdepartmental Advisory Committee, 1917. Miscellaneous issuances, reports, and posters, 1917-18.

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62.7 RECORDS OF THE FIELD DIVISION
1917-20

Textual Records: General and subject correspondence, 1917-19. General and special letters and bulletins addressed to state councils of defense, 1917-18. Child welfare memorandums and circulars, 1918-19. Activity reports, work summaries, and weekly activity memorandums, 1918-19. Publicity material issued by state councils of defense, 1917-18. Reports of state and local councils of defense, 1917-20.

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62.8 RECORDS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION RESEARCH DIVISION
1918-21

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1918-21, and correspondence with state governors and councils of defense regarding state readjustment activities, 1919. "Daily Digest of Reconstruction News," 1919-21, with gaps. Press clippings relating to economic and social problems, reconstruction, demobilization, and disabled soldiers, 1918-19. Summaries of articles and other publications relating to reconstruction and postwar problems, 1918-19.

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62.9. RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR
1916-19

Textual Records: Chairman's correspondence, 1916-19, with card indexes, 1917. Minutes of meetings of the committee and of its executive committee, 1917. Reports, 1917-19. Correspondence of the Welfare Work Subcommittee, 1918. General correspondence of the Industrial Training for the War Emergency Section, 1917-18; clippings file on labor problems, 1916-18; and card record of an industrial employee-training survey, 1918. General correspondence of the Women in Industry Subcommittee, and correspondence with state committees on women in industry, 1917-18.

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62.10 RECORDS OF OTHER OPERATING UNITS
1917-21

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62.10.1 Records of the General Munitions Board and the Munitions Standards Board

Textual Records: General correspondence of the board secretaries, 1917. Minutes of meetings of the boards and related committees, including the Committee on Army and Navy Artillery and the Cars Cooperative Committee, 1917-18.

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62.10.2 Records of the Commercial Economy Board

Textual Records: Reports on the training of munitions workers and retail clerks, 1917-18. Newspaper clippings regarding the conservation of bread, 1917.

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62.10.3 Records of the Statistics Division

Textual Records: Correspondence and card records relating to contracts of the Advisory Committee on Purchase of Public Animals and Remount Service, 1917-18.

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62.10.4 Records of the Files and Records Division (Postwar
Period)

Textual Records: Administrative file, containing documents on the organization and history of the CND, 1917-20 (14 ft.). Correspondence, issuances, and miscellaneous material, 1917-21.

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62.10.5 Records of committees

Textual Records: Correspondence of the Committee on Supplies, 1917-18. Correspondence of the Committee on Coal Production, 1917-18. Issuances of the Highways Transport Committee, 1918-19.

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62.11 RECORDS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT AS CUSTODIAN OF THE RECORDS
1915-37

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62.11.1 Records of the Planning Branch of the Procurement
Division

Textual Records: Correspondence regarding personnel and other information in the CND records, 1919-33, and disposition of the records, 1921-26. Card records of physicians, dentists, and medical societies solicited for donations to the Gorgas Memorial Institute, 1923-28. Miscellaneous records include a statement of principles of storage applicable to Army supplies, a 1918 list of food statistics, a war worker's handbook, CND pamphlets, Field Division circulars, newsletters of the Women's Committee, reports on wire rope companies, and a 1917 report regarding the promotion of employment management.

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62.11.2 Records of the Army Industrial College

Textual Records: Correspondence concerning the Secretary of War's annual reports on the CND, 1921-34, and the use of War Industries Board files, 1922-37. Minutes of sessions of the Allied Maritime Transport Council, 1918. Miscellaneous records concerning economic and supply aspects of the war, 1915-32.


Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


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