Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Inland Waterways Corporation

(Record Group 91)
1918-54

OVERVIEW OF RECORDS LOCATIONS

Table of Contents

  • 91.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
  • 91.2 RECORDS OF THE CORPORATION AND ITS PREDECESSORS 1918-54
  • 91.3 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL) 1938-52
  • 91.4 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL) 1932 1 reel
  • 91.5 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL) 1948-52 5 images

91.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Established: As a federal corporation under the supervision of the Secretary of War, by the Inland Waterways Corporation Act (43 Stat. 360), June 3, 1924.

Predecessor Agencies:

  • Committee on Inland Water Transportation, Council of National Defense (CND,1917-18)
  • Inland Waterways Committee, U.S. Railroad Administration (USRA, 1918)
  • Inland Waterways Division, USRA (1918-20)
  • Inland Waterways Branch, Port Terminal and Inland Waterways Division, Office of the Chief of Transportation Services, War Department (1920)
  • Division of Inland Waterways, Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service, War Department (1920-24)

Transfers: To the Department of Commerce by Reorganization Plan No. II of 1939, effective July 1, 1939; to the Federal Waterways Corporation as the Federal Barge Lines, Inc., under sales contract of July 24, 1953.

Functions: Administered the Transportation Act of 1920 (41 Stat. 456), February 28, 1920, as amended, and the inland water transportation facilities acquired by the United States under the Federal Control Act (40 Stat. 451), March 21, 1918. Coordinated rail and water transportation. Operated barge lines on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Warrior Rivers; and the Warrior River Terminal Company short-rail line. Conducted investigations of waterway traffic and equipment. Constructed water terminals.

Abolished: By the act repealing the Inland Waterways Corporation Act (77 Stat. 81), July 19, 1963.

Successor Agencies: Department of Commerce, as liquidator.

Finding Aids: Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Inland Waterways Corporation," NC 55 (Mar. 1964).

Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Inland Waterways Corporation in RG 287, Publications of the U.S.Government.

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91.2 RECORDS OF THE CORPORATION AND ITS PREDECESSORS
1918-54

History: Committee on Inland Water Transportation, CND, established June 25, 1917, to investigate freight-hauling potential of navigable waters. Superseded by the Inland Waterways Committee, USRA, February 16, 1918, in turn superseded by the Inland Waterways Division, USRA, September 5, 1918, which operated ships on the New York and New Jersey Canals, the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and the Mississippi and Warrior Rivers. Inland Waterways Division abolished by the Transportation Act of 1920, and functions assigned to the Inland Waterways Branch, Port Terminal and Inland Waterways Division (IWD), Office of the Chief of Transportation Services, War Department, March 1, 1920. IWD became the Division of Inland Waterways in the newly established Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service, by General Order 42, War Department, July 14, 1920. Superseded by the Inland Waterways Corporation (IWC), 1924. SEE 91.1.

Textual Records: Department of Commerce correspondence concerning the corporation, 1938-44. Miscellaneous administrative records, 1918-53, including correspondence, reports, and financial statements. Correspondence of the corporation with other government agencies, 1939-44, and with private inland waterway operators and others concerning the appointment of the Advisory Board, 1939-42. Minutes of the Advisory Board, 1924-26, 1944-52. Minutes of meetings of the IWC Board of Managers, 1935-52. Correspondence of Advisory Board Chairman South Trimble, Jr., 1939-53. Subject and reference files, 1939-52. Labor agreements, 1940-46. Records relating to construction programs, 1946-50. Proposals by private groups to purchase the corporation, 1950-53. Periodic and operation reports, statistics, and issuances, 1918-53. Operation accounts and fiscal records, 1918-53, including those of the Mississippi-Warrior Service, Warrior River Terminal Company and the Federal Barge Lines. Copies of corporation bylaws, 1940-41, 1946. Budget justifications, 1949-51, 1954. Organization charts, 1940-53. Report of an independent survey of the corporation, 1946. Annual reports, 1929-52. Audit reports, 1945-47. Reports concerning the development of the inland waterways transportation system, 1942; and the role of the IWC in World War II, 1946-48. Records relating to transportation legislation, 1920-50.

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91.3 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
1938-52

Maps and Charts: Specifications and blueprints of towboats and drawings and blueprints relating to river terminals, 1938-46; and charts relating to hydrographic surveys of the Mississippi River, 1948-52 (88 items). Maps of the Mississippi River from Cairo, IL, to the Gulf of Mexico, 1933-44 (7 items). General maps of railways and steam navigation lines, n.d. (16 items).

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91.4 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)
1932
1 reel

Animated map of inland waterway routes in the Mississippi River region from Minnesota and Lake Michigan to New Orleans; and the christening of the packet boat Mark Twain at Jeffersonville, IN, 1932.

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91.5 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL)
1948-52
5 images

Photographs: Operations of barge lines, 1948-52.


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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