Records of Joint Committees of Congress
(Record Group 128)
1789-1995
Table of Contents
- 128.1 Administrative History
- 128.2 Records of Joint Committees, 1st-50th Congresses 1789-1889
- 128.3 Records of Joint Committees, 51st-98th Congresses 1890-1984
- 128.4 Records of Joint Standing Committees 1806-1986
- 128.5 Records of the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies 1965-89
- 128.6 Motion Pictures (General)
- 128.7 Video Recordings (General)
Note: Joint committees are those whose membership is drawn from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Records are maintained in separate collections within the record group: the Senate collection, and the House collection. Joint committees perform ceremonial, administrative, investigative, oversight, and legislative duties.
Finding Aids: Charles E. Schamel, Mary Rephlo, Rodney Ross, David Kepley, Robert W. Coren, and James Gregory Bradsher, comps., Guide to the Records of the United States House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition (1989). Robert W. Coren, Mary Rephlo, David Kepley, and Charles South, comps., Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition (1989). Charles E. South and James C. Brown, comps., Hearings in the Records of the U.S. Senate and Joint Committees of Congress, SL 32 (1972).
Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.
Specific Restrictions:
U.S. House of Representatives
As specified by House Resolution 5 (Congressional Record, 101st Cong., 1st sess., 1989, 135, pt. 1:72), records under the jurisdiction of the House are open to research after 30 years, except investigative records containing personal data, administrative records relating to personnel, records from hearings that are closed under rule 11 (now House Rule 7), and records for which access is specially designated by order of a committee. Records less than 30 years old that were made public before being transferred to the National Archives are considered open.
U.S. Senate
As specified by Senate Resolution 474 (Congressional Record, 96th Cong., 2d sess., 1980, 126, pt. 23:31188), records under the jurisdiction of the Senate (a) prohibited from disclosure by Executive order or statute are unavailable for public use in accordance with the applicable Executive order or statute; (b) the disclosure of which, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Senate, would not be in the public interest are unavailable for public inspection; (c) relating to the investigation of individuals and containing personal data, personnel records, and records of executive nominations, and not previously made public, are unavailable for public inspection for 50 years after creation; and (d) not otherwise previously made public are unavailable for public inspection for 20 years after creation, except that any Joint Committee may, by action of the full committee, prescribe a different time when any of its records under (c) and (d) may be made available for public use.
Related Records:
Record copies of publications of Joint Committees of Congress in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.
Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46.
Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, RG 233.
128.2 Records of Joint Committees, 1st-50th Congresses
1789-1889
Textual Records: Manuscript and printed committee reports, letters, exhibits, minutes, and other materials, 1789-1889, relating to joint committees convened on such topics as the District of Columbia (22d Congress, 1831-33; 43d-44th Congresses, 1873-77); a documentary history of the American Revolution (26th Congress, 1839-41); electoral votes (26th Congress, 1839-41; 28th Congress, 1843-45); the Civil War and reconstruction (38th-42d Congresses, 1865-73); epidemic diseases (45th Congress, 1877-79); the census (46th-47th Congresses, 1879-83); American shipbuilding (47th Congress, 1881-83); and the Geological Survey (48th Congress, 1883-85).
Subject Access Terms: LaFayette, Marquis de, death of; Madison, James, death of; Trumbull, John, painter; Washington, George, centennial of.
128.3 Records of Joint Committees, 51st-98th Congresses
1890-1984
Textual Records: Correspondence, printed materials, staff reports, news clippings, minutes, hearing reports, memorandums, exhibits, and other records of joint committees, 1890-1984, including the following:
| Joint Committee on/to | Volume | Dates | Congresses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disposition of Useless Papers | 53 ft. | 1893-1966 | 53d-89th |
| Commission on Ford's Theatre Disaster | 3 in. | 1894-97 | 53d-54th |
| Revision of the Laws | 1 ft. | 1907-10 | 59th-61st |
| Fiscal Relations of the District of Columbia | 5 in. | 1915-17 | 64th |
| Rural Credit | 1 in. | 1915-17 | 64th |
| High Cost of Living | 1 in. | 1919-21 | 66th |
| Muscle Shoals, AL | 4 in. | 1926 | 69th |
| Civil Service Retirement Act | 2 in. | 1925-27 | 69th |
| Veterans Affairs | 5 ft. | 1932-33 | 72d-73d |
| Investigate Dirigible Disasters | 1 ft. | 1933 | 73d |
| Tax Evasion and Avoidance | 2 in. | 1937-39 | 75th |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | 80 ft. | 1938-39 | 75th-76th |
| Reduction of Nonessential Federal Expenditures | 5 in. | 1941-43 | 77th |
| Commemorate the Centennial of the Telegraph | 1 in. | 1943-45 | 78th |
| Organization of Congress | 1 ft. | 1944-46 | 78th-79th |
| Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack | 40 ft. | 1945-46 | 79th |
| Economic Report | 18 ft. | 1946-68 | 79th-90th |
| Labor-Management Relations | 15 ft. | 1947-49 | 80th-81st |
| Housing | 4 ft. | 1947-48 | 80th |
| Congressional Aviation Policy Board | 24 ft. | 1947-48 | 80th |
| Defense Production | 37 ft. | 1950-78 | 81st-95th |
| Postal Services | 1 in. | 1951-53 | 82d |
| Washington (DC) Metropolitan Problems | 4 in. | 1957-60 | 85th-86th |
| Organization of the Congress | 3 ft. | 1965-66 | 89th |
| Congressional Operations | 10 ft. | 1971-76 | 92d-94th |
| Arrangements for the Commemoration of the Bicentennial | 7 ft. | 1975-76 | 94th |
Finding Aids: Thayer M. Boardman, comp., "Preliminary Checklist of the Records of the Joint Committee to Investigate Dirigible Disasters, 1933," PC 47-1 (1946); Sidney Goldmann, comp., "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Special Joint Congressional Committee to Investigate the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1938-39" (1948); Watson G. Caudill and George P. Perros, comps., Records of the Joint Congressional Aviation Policy Board, 1947-48, PI 74 (1954); George P. Perros, comp., "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, 79th Congress (1945-1946)" (1961).
Subject Access Terms: Air transport; Aircraft manufacture; Akron, U.S.S.; Army Pearl Harbor Board; Aviation, combat; Clausen, Maj. Henry C.; Hewitt, Adm. Henry K.; Hart, Adm. Thomas C.; Lighter- than-air craft; Navy Court of Inquiry into Pearl Harbor attack; Roberts Commission; Statutes at Large.
128.4 Records of Joint Standing Committees
1806-1995
Textual Records: Manuscript committee reports, minutes of meetings, petitions and memorials, correspondence, bills and resolutions, printing proposals, ledgers and charts, studies, statistical data, Congressional and agency publications, pamphlets, press releases, news clippings, administrative papers, general subject files, maps, photographs, and general administrative and financial records of the following committees:
| Joint Committee | Volume | Dates | Congresses |
|---|---|---|---|
| On the Library | 7 ft. | 1806-1962 | 9th-87th |
| On Printing | 144 ft. | 1848-1995 | 30th-104th |
| On Taxation | 554 ft. | 1926-86 | 69th-99th |
| On Atomic Energy | 406 ft. | 1946-77 | 79th-95th |
Finding Aids: George P. Perros, James C. Brown, and Margery Sly, comps., "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1946-1964," 1965.
Subject Access Terms: Budget, federal; civil defense; government publications, international exchange of; International Atomic Energy Agency; Library of Congress; Lilienthal, David E.; McMahon, Brien; Nixon, Richard M.; Panel on the Impact of the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy; paper standards; political campaign financing; public debt; radiation; Rockefeller, Nelson A.; Smithsonian Institution; taxes; tax reform; thermonuclear program; ores and raw materials; U.S. Exploring Expedition; weapons tests; Whitfield, Allen.
128.5 Records of the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
1965-93
Textual Records: Subject files, 1988-93.
Motion Pictures: Inauguration of President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, 1965 (1 reel). Inauguration of President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew, 1969 (1 reel).
Video Recordings: Inauguration of President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush, 1981 (1 item). Inauguration of President George Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, 1989. Inauguration of President William Clinton and Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., 1993 (1 item).
128.6 Motion Pictures (General)
See under 128.5.
128.7 Video Recordings (General)
See under 128.5.
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.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
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