Archival Holdings Guide to Records of the former National Archives at New York City

Record Groups 103 through 190

• Introduction, How to Use This Guide, Explanation of Record Group Entries
• Alphabetical List of Record Groups
• Numerical List of Record Groups
• Record Groups 3 through 41
• Record Groups 52 through 96
• Record Groups 103 through 190
• Record Groups 202 through 293
• Record Groups 306 through Donated Materials

Record Group 103
Records of the Farm Credit Administration

Administrative History
The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) was established March 27, 1933, as an independent agency to consolidate the functions of various Federal agencies concerned with agricultural credit. It established production credit corporations and created banks for cooperatives as a source of credit for farmers. From 1939 to 1953, the FCA was part of the Department of Agriculture but again became an independent agency thereafter. The Administration supervises and coordinates the activities of the Farm Credit System, a cooperative association of Federal land banks, intermediate credit banks, and other institutions financing farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners, owners of farm-related businesses, commercial fishermen, and banks for cooperatives making loans of all kinds to agricultural and marine cooperatives. The System was created in response to the Great Depression and farm crisis of the 1930's.

Records Description
Dates: 1931-1951
Volume: 48 cubic feet

Records of the New York Coffee Office, New York City, 1931-1934. The records document the purchase and importation of Brazilian coffee and the exchange of coffee for wheat produced in the United States. They concern storage, distribution, and marketing of coffee, and are primarily correspondence and telegrams.

Records of the Federal Land Banks, District 1, Springfield, Massachusetts, and District 2, Baltimore, Maryland, 1945-1951. The records document the disposal of surplus agricultural and forest lands in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania by the Surplus Property Division of the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation under provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944. Included are advertising notices, appraisal reports, correspondence, deeds, land descriptions, property identification cards, and property inventories. Nontextual records include maps.

Finding Aids
Folder title lists.

Entries 57 and 71 in Daniel T. Goggin, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Farm Credit Administration, NC 28 (1963).

Record Group 104
Records of the U.S. Mint

Administrative History
The Bureau of the Mint, established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of February 12, 1873, succeeded the Mint of the United States, founded in 1792 at Philadelphia, and continued there after the Federal Government moved to Washington, DC, in 1800. Originally an independent agency, by 1857 the Mint had become responsible to the Department of the Treasury. The Mint has been responsible for manufacturing coins; for receiving, storing, and selling gold and silver bullion; for assaying and refining; and for a variety of functions, such as inspections and gathering statistics. The Mint has operated mints in several cities, as well as assay offices and bullion depositories.

Records Description
Dates: 1916-1959
Volume: 7 cubic feet

Records of the New York City Assay Office. The records relate to gold and silver assays and deposits. They are registers.

Finding Aid
Folder title list.

Record Group 111
Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer

Administrative History
The Signal Corps, administered by the Chief Signal Officer, was provisionally established by War Department General Order 73 of March 24, 1863. The Office of the Chief Signal Officer was placed under the jurisdiction of Services of Supply (later designated Army Service Forces) in 1942; under the General Staff of the War Department in 1946; and under the General Staff of the Department of the Army in 1947. In 1964, the Office of the Chief Signal Officer became the Office of the Chief of Communications--Electronics.

Records Description
Dates: 1943-1950
Volume: 3 cubic feet

Records of the Signal Corps Photographic Center, Long Island City, New York, and the Newark Signal Corps, Newark, New Jersey. The records document administration and daily events and consist of general and special orders, manuals, memorandums, and reports.

Record Group 112
Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army)

Administrative History
The Office of the Surgeon General was established by an act of April 14, 1818. It is the headquarters of the Army Medical Department, whose mission is to maintain the health of the Army and conserve its fighting strength. Components of the Office include the Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, Army Nurse Corps, and Army Medical Specialist Corps.

Records Description
Dates: 1865-1896
Volume: 3.5 cubic feet

Records of the Army Medical Examining Board, New York City. The board was established to examine candidates seeking appointment as Assistant Surgeon, and to examine Assistant Surgeons for promotion to the rank of Surgeon. The records include correspondence, journals of proceedings, a register of candidates, and reports of examinations.

Finding Aid
Patricia Andrews, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Textual Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), NM 20 (1964).

Record Group 114
Records of the Natural Resources Conservation Service

Administrative History
The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) was established in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1935, replacing the Soil Erosion Service which had been established in 1933, and acquiring duties from other Government agencies. In 1937, it began to provide technical and other assistance to farmers in soil conservation districts organized under State laws. In 1938, the SCS was given responsibility for farm forestry programs; in 1944, it was given responsibility for assisting in water conservation programs; and in 1952, it was authorized to assume the soil survey previously run by other USDA units. The SCS conducts soil and snow surveys, river basin surveys, and investigations and watershed activities; assists local groups in planning and developing land and water resources; and gives technical help to landowners and operators who participate in USDA's agricultural conservation, cropland conversion, and cropland adjustment programs.

In 1935, regional offices were established to supervise conservation work in large geographic areas, and in 1938-1939 area offices were created to assist the regional offices. State offices replaced area offices in 1942. Regional offices were discontinued in 1954, and the SCS now relies on State offices to give technical and administrative supervision to local units.

Records Description
Dates: 1950-1972
Volume: 21 cubic feet

Records of the New York State office. The records relate to engineering design and construction of the Buffalo Creek flood prevention and Ischua Creek watershed protection projects. Included are field notebooks, job diaries, and nontextual records such as "as-built" plans, design books, drawings, and tracings.

Finding Aids
Folder title list.

Entry 177 in Guy A. Lee and Freeland F. Penney, comps., Preliminary Checklist of Records of the Soil Conservation Service, 1928-1943, PC 52 (1947).

Record Group 118

Records of United States Attorneys

Administrative History
The Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789, made provision for U.S. attorneys and marshals who are appointed by the President and have functioned under the general supervision of the Department of Justice since its creation in 1870.

U.S. attorneys investigate violations of Federal criminal laws, present evidence to grand juries, prosecute Federal criminal cases, and serve as the Federal Government's attorney in civil litigation in which the United States is involved or has an interest.

Records Description
Dates: 1821-1983
Volume: 2,191 cubic feet

Records of the following U.S. attorneys:

• New Jersey. Selected case files, 1929-1973, including one involving the German-American Vocational League.
• New York, Eastern District. Selected case files, 1944-1979, including one involving the Long Island Bund Organization.
• New York, Southern District. Selected case files, 1847-1983, involving antitrust, Communist activities, conspiracy, counterfeiting, espionage, immigration, kidnapping, land, organized crime, and public money; letters received, 1821-1847 and 1867-1878; and copies of letters sent, 1844-1845.
• New York, Western District. Selected case files, 1916-1970.
• Panama Canal Zone. Selected case files, 1908-1970.

The records document the facts and conduct of the cases. The cases relate to bribery, civil rights and school desegregation, claims by Indian tribes and the status of restricted tribal land, conspiracy, draft evasion, fraud, and violation of internal revenue and firearms laws. Included are attorneys' work papers, correspondence, investigative reports, newspaper clippings, trial notes, and other case papers (see RG 21 for related documents). Nontextual records include photographs and other exhibit material.

Finding Aid
Folder title lists.

Restrictions
Access to some files or portions of documents may be restricted due to privacy concerns.

Record Group 121
Records of the Public Buildings Service

Administrative History
Federal construction activities outside the District of Columbia were performed by individual agencies and, to some extent, by special commissions and officers appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury until 1853, when a Construction Branch was created in the Department of the Treasury. The Branch later became the Bureau of Construction in the Office of the Supervising Architect, and that office, in turn, was transferred in 1933 to the Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division. The Public Buildings Administration was created in the Federal Works Agency in 1939 by consolidating the Public Buildings Branch and the National Park Service's Branch of Buildings Management. The latter branch had inherited responsibilities for Federal construction in the District of Columbia from the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital.

An act of June 30, 1949, abolished the Public Buildings Administration and transferred its functions to the newly established General Services Administration (GSA). The Public Buildings Service was established December 11, 1949, by the Administrator of General Services to assume the functions once assigned to the Public Buildings Administration.

The Public Buildings Service designs, constructs, manages, maintains, and protects most Federally owned and leased buildings. It is also responsible for the acquisition, utilization, and custody of GSA real and related personal property.

Records Description
Dates: 1933-1961
Volume: 58 cubic feet

Records of the following divisions and projects:

• Acquisition and Disposal Division, Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands), 1945-1961;
• Design and Construction Division, Region 2, 1903-1905;
• Public Works of Art Project, 1933-1934;
• Treasury Relief Art Project, 1935-1938.

The records document artists' employment and projects they undertook; contact between the New York City Supervisor of the Treasury Art Relief Project and the Washington Office; and surplus real property sold or donated by the Federal government in Region 2. The records are case files and correspondence.

Finding Aid
Entries 117 and 120 in Virgil E. Baugh and W. Lane Van Neste, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Public Buildings Service, PI 110 (1958).

Record Group 127
Records of the U.S. Marine Corps

Administrative History
The U.S. Marine Corps was created by an act of July 11, 1798, which authorized the Commandant of the Corps to appoint an adjutant, a paymaster, and a quartermaster. The branches of Marine Corps Headquarters developed around those three staff officers and the Commandant. Although the Corps was at first subject to both Army and Navy regulations, an act of June 30, 1834, placed it under exclusive U.S. Navy control except for units detached by Presidential order for Army service. A staff system in the Headquarters organization was begun in 1918 when the first of many sections and divisions was created in the Office of the Commandant. When Headquarters was reorganized along General Staff lines in 1952, the Division of Plans and Policies was abolished and its sections, G-1 through G-4, were elevated to divisional status under assistant chiefs of staff.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps is directly responsible to the Secretary of the Navy for all administrative and operational matters affecting the Corps. These include providing amphibious forces for service with the fleet in seizing and defending advanced naval bases, and conducting land operations essential to a naval campaign. Other duties include providing detachments to serve on naval ships and to protect the property of naval activities.

Records Description
Dates: 1848-1850
Volume: less than 1 cubic foot

Records of the Marine Barracks, Brooklyn, New York. The records relate to administrative matters, discharges, duty assignments, and transfers, and are correspondence.

Finding Aids
Entry 105 and 105a in Fred G. Halley, comp., Preliminary Checklist of the Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1798-1944, PC 50, 1946.

Record Group 133
Records of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation

Administrative History
The Office of the Federal Coordinator of Transportation was created by the Emergency Transportation Act of June 16, 1933. The mission of the Federal Coordinator, who was appointed by the President, was to relieve the existing national emergency in interstate railroad transportation and safeguard the national transportation system. Field offices were created for the Eastern Region in New York City, the Western Region in Chicago, and the Southern Region in Atlanta. Coordinating committees of carrier representatives, along with advisory committees representing railroad labor and other railroad organizations, were appointed in each region. Sections were established in headquarters to perform comprehensive studies on carpooling, labor relations, property and equipment, research, and transportation and service. The office was terminated in 1936.

Records Description
Dates: 1933-1936
Volume: 23 cubic feet

Records of the Eastern Regional Office, NewYork City. The records document the agency's mission to foster and promote interstate rail commerce. There are general correspondence, reports, and subject-classified files; personnel records, including payrolls, reports, requisitions, surveys, and time and attendance; case files containing correspondence, memorandums, reports, and statistics; and an index.

Finding Aids
Draft preliminary inventory.

Index to numbered case files.

Record Group 134
Records of the Interstate Commerce Commission

Administrative History
The Interstate Commerce Commission was created as an independent agency by an act of February 4, 1887, to regulate in the public interest common carriers engaged in transportation, interstate commerce, and foreign commerce to the extent that it takes place within the United States.

Records Description
Dates: 1921-1941
Volume: 41 cubic feet

Records of the Land Section, Bureau of Valuation, New York City. The records relate to the assessment and sale of land adjacent to railroads, land boundaries, and opinions of local residents on land values. They include assessments and sales records, correspondence, field notes, and reports. Nontextual records include blueprints and drawings.

Record Group 146
Records of the U.S. Civil Service Commission

Administrative History
The U.S. Civil Service Commission was authorized to establish a merit system under which selections for Government service appointments would be based on the demonstrated relative fitness of applicants. On January 1, 1979, many of the functions of the Commission were taken over by the Office of Personnel Management.

Records Description
Dates: 1888-1981
Volume: 7 cubic feet

Records of the Board of Civil Service Examiners, Region 2, New York City. The records document reviews of State and territorial government agencies to ensure compliance with Civil Service Commission regulations in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Included are correspondence, minutes of meetings, question and answer keys, regulations, and reports.

Records of the Field Service, New York City. The records are lists of naturalization certificates sent to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for investigation. The lists include the name on the certificate, the issuing court, the occupation for which the examination was taken, and the place the examination was given.

Finding Aid
Container contents list.

Record Group 147
Records of the Selective Service System, 1940-

Administrative History
An Executive order of September 23, 1940, established the Selective Service System to provide an orderly, just, and democratic method of obtaining men for military and naval service. Except between December 5, 1942, and December 5, 1943, when it was placed under the jurisdiction of the War Manpower Commission, the System was responsible to the President.

The System operated through a director and national headquarters, regional boards, State headquarters, medical and registrant advisory boards, boards of appeal, and local boards. There was a local board for each county and for each unit of 30,000 people in urban areas. Through the local boards the System registered, classified, and selected for induction male citizens and aliens subject to service.

Records Description
Dates: 1940-1947
Volume: less than 1 cubic foot

Records of Local Board 123, Bronx, New York. The records document the registration and enlistment of recruits and are minute books.

Finding Aid
Entry 61 in Richard G. Wood, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Selective Service System, 1940-1947, PI 27 (1951).

Record Group 155
Records of the Wage and Hour Division

Administrative History
The Public Contracts Division was created to administer the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of June 30, 1936, which required Government supply contracts exceeding $10,000 to stipulate minimum wage, overtime pay, safety, and health standards. The Wage and Hour Division was established in the Department of Labor to administer the minimum wage, overtime compensation, equal pay, and child labor standards provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of June 25, 1938. The two divisions were consolidated in 1942, and their area of responsibility was expanded by subsequent legislation.

Records Description
Dates: 1939-1945
Volume: 71 cubic feet

Records of the New York regional office, New York City. The records document inspections for compliance with minimum wage and maximum work week standards. They are investigative case files containing computations, correspondence, reports, and wage and hour records.

Records of the Puerto Rico Industry Committee. The records document investigations of industrial conditions in Puerto Rico and include briefs and exhibits, committee appointments, orders, and transcripts.

Finding Aid
Herbert J. Horwitz, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions, NC 77 (1964).

Restrictions
Access to some files or portions of documents may be restricted due to privacy concerns.

Record Group 156

Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance

Administrative History
The Ordnance Department was established as an independent bureau of the War Department by an act of May 14, 1812. It was responsible for the procurement and distribution of ordnance and equipment, the maintenance and repair of equipment, and the development and testing of new types of ordnance. The Department was abolished in 1962, and its functions were transferred to the U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Among the field establishments maintained by the Ordnance Department within the United States have been armories, arsenals, and ordnance depots, district offices, and plants.

Records Description
Dates: 1818-1941
Volume: 503 cubic feet

Records of the New York Ordnance District, New York City, 1917-1921. The records relate to the administration of the District, the District Claims Board, the District Salvage Board, and the Productions Division and include digests of contracts, minutes of meetings, monthly reports, and special orders.

Records of the following installations:

• Delaware Ordnance Plant, Delaware, New Jersey;
• General Ordnance Depot, Delaware, New Jersey;
• General Ordnance Depot, Morgan, New Jersey;
• General Ordnance Depot, Paterson, New Jersey;
• General Ordnance Depot, Sandy Hook, New Jersey;
• General Ordnance Depot, Seneca, New York;
• General Ordnance Depot, Tuckahoe, New Jersey;
• Lake Erie Engineering Works, Buffalo, New York;
• Lake Ontario Ordnance Plant, Lake Ontario, New Jersey;
• New York Arsenal, Governors Island, New York;
• Ordnance Depot, Ponce, Puerto Rico;
• Ordnance Depot, San Juan, Puerto Rico;
• Ordnance District, Rochester, New York;
• Picatinny Arsenal, Picatinny, New Jersey;
• Raritan Arsenal, Raritan, New Jersey;
• Sandy Hook Proving Ground, Sandy Hook, New Jersey;
• Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, New York.

The records relate to administration and management of these ordnance sites. A history of the Picatinny Arsenal describes the 1926 Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot explosion, which damaged or destroyed most of the buildings at the arsenal. The records are correspondence, installation histories, ordnance fabrication and manufacturing reports, payrolls, and special orders. Nontextual records include maps and photographs.

Finding Aid
Evelyn Wade and Garry D. Ryan, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Textual Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance. Part II: Records of Ordnance Field Installations, NM 59 (1965).

Record Group 158

Records of the Capital Issues Committee

Administrative History
A Capital Issues Committee was created within the Federal Reserve Board in January 1918; in May it was replaced by a new Capital Issues Committee, an independent agency under authority of the War Finance Corporation Act of April 5, 1918. The two committees were created to determine whether proposed issues of securities were in the national interest, and to discourage the diversion of capital to unessential projects. The Committee suspended its activities at the end of 1918, and a Presidential proclamation of August 30, 1919, directed it to terminate its affairs.

Much of the work of the Committee was handled by the subcommittees (or district committees) that were established in each Federal Reserve district.

Records Description
Dates: 1918
Volume: 1 cubic foot

Records of the New York Field Office, New York City. The records document committee meetings at which evidence was presented that corporate and public securities offerings were in the national interest. The records are minutes of meetings.

Finding Aid
William F. Sherman and Norwood N. Biggs, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Capital Issues Commission, NC 85 (1964).

Record Group 163
Records of the Selective Service System (World War I)

Administrative History
The Selective Service System, under the direction of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, was authorized by an act of May 18, 1917, to register and induct men into military service. Much of the management of the draft was left to the States, where local draft boards were established on the basis of 1 for every 30,000 people. These boards, appointed by the President on the recommendation of the State Governor, registered, classified, inducted, and delivered to mobilization camps men who were eligible for the draft. Legal and medical advisory boards assisted the local boards and registrants, and district boards were established to pass on occupational exemption claims and to hear appeals. The Provost Marshal General's Office worked with local and district boards through Selective Service State Headquarters. Classification ceased shortly after the Armistice in 1918, and by May 31, 1919, all Selective Service organizations were closed except the Office of the Provost Marshal General, which was abolished July 15, 1919.

Records Description
Dates: 1917-1919
Volume: 165 cubic feet

Records of local boards in New Jersey, New York, and Puerto Rico. The records document conscription of men for military service during World War I and include appeals to the President for agricultural or industrial exemption, docket sheets, and lists and indexes of delinquents and deserters.

Finding Aid
Entries 27 and 35 in Lucy E. Weidman, comp., Preliminary Checklist of the Records of the Selective Service System, 1917-1919, PC 26 (1945).

Related Microfilm Publications
M1509, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (selected rolls.)

Record Group 164

Records of the Cooperative State Research Service

Administrative History
An agency of the Department of Agriculture, the Cooperative State Research Service administers research programs, including the agricultural research act (Hatch Act revised) that provides for State/Federal cooperative funding for agricultural research programs at State agricultural experiment stations of the fifty States and the insular possessions; the cooperative forestry research program; the 1890 land-grant colleges and the Tuskegee University research programs, and others. The Service's predecessor, the Office of Experiment Stations, was established on October 1, 1888, to popularize the results of agricultural experiments and to disseminate scientific information among experiment stations created under the Hatch Act of 1887. Subsequent legislation increased the control of the Office over the finances and work of the stations. In 1915, the Office of Experiment Stations was combined with other offices involved in extension and home economics work to form the States Relations Service. When the States Relations Service was abolished in 1923, the Office of Experiment Stations resumed its separate identity. On November 2, 1953, the Office was placed under the newly created Agricultural Research Service. After various changes in name and status, it was detached from the Agricultural Research Service in the early 1960's and established as the Cooperative State Research Service.

Records Description
Dates: 1901-1938
Volume: 67 cubic feet

Records of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The records document requests for Department of Agriculture bulletins, seeds, and advice on cultivating and maintaining various types of plants. They are correspondence.

Finding Aid
Edward E. Hill, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Office of Experiment Stations, NC 132 (1965).

Record Group 165
Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs

Administrative History
A War Department General Staff was authorized by Congress on February 14, 1903, to include a Chief of Staff, a General Council, and three divisions, which, after frequent reorganizations, developed into the Personnel Division (G-1), the Military Intelligence Division (G-2), the Organization and Training Division (G-3), the Supply Division (G-4), and the War Plans Division (Operations Division after 1942). The General Staff was a separate and distinct staff organization with supervision over most military branches--both line and staff. Its duties were to prepare plans for national defense and the mobilization of military forces in time of war, to investigate and report on questions affecting Army efficiency and preparedness, and to give professional aid to the Secretary of War, general officers, and other superior commanders.

Under provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 the War Department became the Department of the Army within the newly created National Military Establishment, which was renamed the Department of Defense in 1949.

Records Description
Dates: 1917-1919
Volume: 16 cubic feet

Records of the New York District Office of the Military Intelligence Division, New York City. The records relate to manufacturing plant security and investigations of individuals suspected of espionage and sabotage. They consist of correspondence, reports, and a subject index.

Finding Aid
Entries 123 and 124 in Olive K. Liebman and Harry W. John, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Textual Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, NM 84 (1967).

Record Group 175
Records of the Chemical Warfare Service

Administrative History
The Chemical Warfare Service, a technical service under the General Staff, was established as part of the National Army on June 28, 1918, to develop, produce, and test materials and apparatus for gas warfare and to organize and train military personnel in methods of defense against gas. As part of a War Department reorganization, effective March 9, 1942, it became part of the Services of Supply, later designated Army Service Forces. In 1946, it was again placed under the General Staff, and on September 6, 1946, its name was changed to the Chemical Corps which was abolished on August 1, 1962.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-1945
Volume: less than 1 cubic foot

Records of the New York Chemical Procurement District. The records document the activities of the District, including military and civilian personnel, and consist of bulletins, general and post orders, and memorandums.

Record Group 180
Records of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Administrative History
The Commodity Exchange Administration was established in the Department of Agriculture by a Secretary's memorandum, effective July 1, 1936, under the Commodities Exchange Act of June 15, 1936. It succeeded the Grain Futures Administration, created to enforce the Grain Futures Act of 1922, but its jurisdiction was extended to cover dealings in additional commodities. By an Executive order of February 23, 1942, the Commodity Exchange Administration was merged with other agencies to form the Agricultural Marketing Administration. On February 1, 1947, the Commodity Exchange Authority was established as an agency of the Department of Agriculture. In 1974, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission succeeded the Commodity Exchange Authority with broad new regulatory powers.

The major functions of the CEA were to maintain fair and competitive pricing, and otherwise regulate agricultural commodity markets under the Commodities Exchange Act. CEA regional offices carried out the overall mission of the Authority within the markets assigned to them by the CEA administrator. Each regional office was also assigned audit territories comprised of several States.

Records Description
Dates: 1937-1965
Volume: 8 cubic feet

Records of the Division of Enforcement, New York (State) regional office. The records relate to a precedent enforcement case and to the Commodity Exchange supervisor. They include correspondence, proposals, reports, studies, and related materials.

Finding Aid
Box contents list.

Restrictions
Access to some files or portions of documents may be restricted due to national security classification and/or privacy concerns.

Record Group 181
Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments

Administrative History
Soon after its establishment in 1798, the Department of the Navy created navy yards and other fleet service shore establishments. A system of naval districts for the United States, its territories, and possessions was not formally established, however, until 1903. This system was supervised by the Bureau of Navigation until 1915, when it became the responsibility of the Chief of Naval Operations. By the end of World War II, the districts exercised almost complete military and administrative control over naval operations within their limits, including naval shipyards, stations, training stations, air installations, and advance bases.

Records Description
Dates: 1826-1968
Volume: 4,494 cubic feet

Records of Headquarters, Third Naval District, New York City, and bases, stations, industrial managers, and shipbuilding supervisors in New Jersey and New York, including:

• Commandant's Office, New York City, 1914-1953;
• Naval Air Rocket Test Station, Lake Denmark, Dover, New Jersey, 1950-1960;
• Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, 1919-1945;
• Naval Air Station, Niagara Falls, New York, 1956-1959;
• Naval Plant Representative, Bethpage, New York, 1953-1968;
• Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, 1953-1959;
• Naval Supply Center, Bayonne, New Jersey, 1941-1964;
• Naval Supply Depot, Scotia, New York, 1955-1959.

The records relate to administration, navigation, personnel, and shipbuilding, involving Navy vessels and shore establishments in the District, and are primarily general correspondence. Most of the correspondence is arranged according to the Navy Filing Manual classification scheme.

Records of the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, 1826-1953. The records relate to administration, procurement, recruitment, tests of ordnance equipment, training, and vessel maintenance and outfitting. Shipbuilding activities at the facility are also documented and include information about the construction of the battleships U.S.S. Arizona, U.S.S. Maine, and the U.S.S. Missouri, and the aircraft carrier Kearsarge. The records are correspondence, orders, and reports. Nontextual records include drawings and photographs.

Records of the Naval Training Device Center, Port Washington, New York, 1942-1961. The records document administration of the facility, and development and testing of training devices such as the Human Centrifuge, and flight trainers. They include correspondence, purchase orders, and reports. The records also relate to "Project Paperclip" which brought German rocket scientists and engineers to the U.S. after World War II. They include correspondence, medical information, and travel authorizations. Nontextual records include drawings and photographs.

Records of the following Tenth NavalDistrict installations:

• Culebra Naval Station, Puerto Rico, 1902-1911;
• San Juan Naval Station, Puerto Rico, 1898-1912;
• St. Thomas Naval Station, U.S.Virgin Islands, 1917-1931.

The records document the activities of the stations and consist primarily of correspondence with Navy Department bureaus.

Finding Aids
Folder title lists.

Records of Naval Districts and Shore Establishments in the Regional Archives Part of Record Group 181, SL 58 (1991).

Restrictions
Access to some files or portions of documents may be restricted due to national security classification and/or privacy concerns.

Record Group 187
Records of the National Resources Planning Board

Administrative History
The National Resources Planning Board (NRPB) was established in the Executive Office of the President by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939. It inherited the functions of the National Planning Board of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (created July 20, 1933) and its various successors. The NRPB and its predecessors planned public works, coordinated Federal planning relating to conservation and efficient use of national resources, and encouraged local, State, and regional planning. The NRPB was abolished by an act of June 26, 1943.

In 1934, the NPB began using the regional advisors and State advisory boards of the Public Works Administration for field contacts with State and local governments. On March 1, 1934, the NPB began developing a field organization of its own, establishing 12 Planning Districts throughout the country. The number of districts was subsequently reduced to 11. On May 13, 1937, the 11 planning district offices became nine regional offices. (Two additional regions were subsequently added for Alaska and the Caribbean territories.) The NRPB was liquidated in 1943.

The regional offices primarily acted as clearinghouses of planning information, carried out the Board's activities in the field, and coordinated regional, State, and local natural resource planning activities.

Records Description
Dates: 1941-1943
Volume: 5 cubic feet

Records of Region 11, which includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The records document efforts to plan legislation associated with and to stimulate the Caribbean economy. They are correspondence, memorandums, and reports.

Finding Aid
Entries 45, 46, and 47 in Virgil E. Baugh, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Regional Offices of the National Resources Planning Board, PI 64 (1954).

Record Group 188

Records of the Office of Price Administration

Administrative History
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) originated in the Price Stabilization and Consumer Protection Divisions of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense on May 29, 1940, and in their successor, the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply, created in April 1941 and redesignated the Office of Price Administration by an Executive order of August 28, 1941. The OPA was given statutory recognition as an independent agency by the Emergency Price Control Act of January 30, 1942. Under this legislation the OPA attempted to stabilize prices and rents by establishing maximum prices for commodities (other than agricultural products, which were under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture) and rents in defense areas. It also rationed scarce essential commodities and authorized subsidies for the production of some goods. Most of the price and rationing controls were lifted between August 1945 and November 1946.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-1946
Volume: 62 cubic feet

Records of the Region IX war price and rationing board for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The records document the enforcement of price stabilization regulations, including monitoring of wholesale and retail prices, prosecution of individuals and companies for violations, and assessment of damages. Included are case files, correspondence, minutes of meetings, and reports.

Finding Aids
Meyer H. Fishbein and Elaine C. Bennett, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Accounting Department of the Office of Price Administration, PI 32 (1951).

Meyer H. Fishbein, Walter Weinstein, and Albert W. Winthrop, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Price Department of the Office of Price Administration, PI 95 (1956).

Meyer H. Fishbein et al., comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Rationing Department of the Office of Price Administration, PI 102 (1958).

Betty R. Bucher, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Information Department of the Office of Price Administration, PI 119 (1959).

Meyer H. Fishbein and Betty R. Bucher, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Office of Price Administration, PI 120 (1959).

Record Group 190

Records of the Bureau of War Risk Litigation

Administrative History
The Bureau of War Risk Litigation, established in the Department of Justice on September 11, 1933, defended the United States in suits arising from war risk and life insurance contracts authorized by the War Risk Insurance Act of 1917. The director of the Bureau was under the supervision of the Assistant to the Attorney General until 1942, and later under the Assistant Attorney General for the Claims Division. The Bureau was abolished on June 30, 1945.

Records Description
Dates: 1931-1945
Volume: 6 cubic feet

Records of the New York (State) Field Office, New York City. The records relate to the performance of legal functions in suits against the United States involving life insurance and war risk claims. They consist of an alphabetical subject file of administrative material, correspondence, and memorandums.

Finding Aid
Entries 11 and 12 in Marion M. Johnson, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of War Risk Litigation, NC 46 (1964).