Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service


(Record Group 262)
1939-47

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 262.1 Administrative History
  • 262.2 General Records of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service 1940-47
  • 262.3 Records of Offices and Divisions 1941-46
    • 262.3.1 Records of the Office of the Director
    • 262.3.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Editor
    • 262.3.3 Records of the Analysis Division
    • 262.3.4 Records of the Monitoring Division
    • 262.3.5 Records of the News and Intelligence Division
    • 262.3.6 Records of the Distribution Division
    • 262.3.7 Records of the Broadcast Recording Unit and its predecessor, the Engineering Division
    • 262.3.8 Records of field offices
  • 262.4 Textual Records (General) 1939-45
  • 262.5 Sound Recordings (General) 1940-47

262.1 Administrative History

Established: In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), by FCC order, July 28, 1942.

Predecessor Agencies: Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service, FCC (1941-42)

Transfers: To the Military Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff, by order of the Secretary of War, December 30, 1945, pursuant to agreement between FCC and War Department; to the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), National Intelligence Authority, August 5, 1946.

Functions: Recorded, translated, and analyzed foreign broadcast programs.

Abolished: November 1, 1946.

Successor Agencies: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, CIG, November-December, 1946. Foreign Broadcast Information Branch, CIG, January-September 1947. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Central Intelligence Agency, 1947- .

Finding Aids: Walter W. Weinstein, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, PI 115 (1959).

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

Related Records: Records of the Foreign Broadcast Information Branch, 1947-48, in RG 263, Records of the Central Intelligence Agency.

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262.2 General Records of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence
Service
1940-47

History: Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service established in the FCC by Presidential directive, February 26, 1941, to monitor, record, transcribe, and analyze foreign broadcasts. Name changed to Federal Broadcast Intelligence Service, 1942. See 262.1.

Textual Records: General records relating to the organization, functions, and activities of the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service and Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, 1941-46. General correspondence, 1941-46. Translations of monitored foreign broadcasts, 1940-46, with indexes (355 ft.). London cables of partial or full texts of broadcasts from Europe and Africa, 1942-43. Partial or full texts of broadcasts from the Far East, the Soviet Union, and Latin America, September-December 1942. Telegrams and cablegrams sent, principally to government agencies concerned with war propaganda, 1941-46. Daily reports of foreign radio broadcasts, 1941-45. Daily reports of the Far Eastern, Latin American, and European Sections, 1941-46. Weekly reviews of official foreign broadcasts, 1941-44. Radio reports on the Far East, 1942-45. Program schedules of foreign broadcasts, 1942-47.

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262.3 Records of Offices and Divisions
1941-46

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262.3.1 Records of the Office of the Director

Textual Records: Reading file and miscellaneous correspondence of Director Harold N. Graves, Jr., 1941-43. Letters prepared by Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service officials for the signature of the Chairman of the FCC, 1941-45. Correspondence relating to monitoring operations in North Africa, 1942-43. Correspondence with field installations, 1946. Personnel records, 1941-44.

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262.3.2 Records of the Office of the Chief Editor

Textual Records: Directives, memorandums, teletype messages, and correspondence, 1945.

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262.3.3 Records of the Analysis Division

Textual Records: Reports, correspondence, transcripts, and memorandums, 1941-44.

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262.3.4 Records of the Monitoring Division

Textual Records: Reports, memorandums, guidebooks, correspondence with field installations, and personnel correspondence and memorandums, 1944-45.

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262.3.5 Records of the News and Intelligence Division

Textual Records: Reports, correspondence, and memorandums relating to the operations of the division, 1944. Records of the director, 1942-44. Office files relating chiefly to the organization, administration, and operations of field installations, 1941-45.

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262.3.6 Records of the Distribution Division

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and cables exchanged with field offices, 1944-45.

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262.3.7 Records of the Broadcast Recording Unit and its
predecessor, the Engineering Division

Textual Records: Reports, memorandums, and survey and fiscal records, 1941-44.

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262.3.8 Records of field offices

Textual Records: General correspondence and administrative records of the San Francisco, CA, office, 1942-45. Administrative records of the Kingsville, TX, office, 1942-44.

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262.4 Textual Records (General)
1939-45

Transcripts of monitored shortwave broadcasts maintained by the Princeton Learning Center, 1939-45.

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262.5 Sound Recordings (General)
1940-47
20,603 items

Sound Recordings: Chiefly foreign broadcasts monitored by the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, ca. 1940-45, including broadcasts by Ezra Pound from Italy, October 2, 1941-July 24, 1943; speeches by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Benito Mussolini, Henri Petain, Pierre Laval, and others; broadcasts over German radio by American citizens, including Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach, Douglas Chandler, and Edward Delaney; and broadcasts from Japan or Japanese-held territory, including news reports and commentary by "Tokyo Rose" (Iva Toguri D'Aquino). Speeches by Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, King George VI, and other Allied leaders, 1940-47.


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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