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Records of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

• 256.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
  
• 256.2 RECORDS OF THE INQUIRY 1914-19 68 lin. ft.
  
• 256.3 RECORDS OF THE AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE 1918-31 277 lin. ft.
  
• 256.4 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL) 1917-19 1,237 items
  

256.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Established: By, and under the immediate supervision of, President Woodrow Wilson, following the signing of the Armistice ending World War I (Nov. 11, 1918).

Functions: Negotiated formal treaties ending World War I.

Abolished: December 1919.

Successor Agencies: Department of State as custodian of its records.

Finding Aids: Sandra K. Rangel, comp., Records of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, Inv. 9 (1974).

Related Records: General Records of the Department of State, RG 59. Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State, RG 84. Duplicates of some commission documents at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, and at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Subject Access Terms: League of Nations; Paris Peace Conference; Treaty of Versailles; World War I agency.

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256.2 RECORDS OF THE INQUIRY
1914-19
68 lin. ft.

History: "The Inquiry" organized as a research group by Col. Edward M. House at the request of President Wilson in the autumn of 1917 to investigate geographical, ethnological, economic, historic, and political problems of Europe in preparation for the anticipated peace conference. Ceased to exist effective with the convening of the peace conference in January 1919.

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1917-18. Administrative files, 1917-19. Special reports and studies, 1917-19, with index. Newspaper clippings, 1914-18, with index. Subject digest of declarations and proposals, 1915-18. Digest of statements by Allied and Entente spokesmen, 1914-17. Statistical card files on Central Powers' religions and languages, and Austria-Hungary's industry and population density, n.d. Reports, correspondence, and other records of the Economic Division, 1917-18, and the Latin American Division, 1918.

Microfilm Publications: M1107.

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256.3 RECORDS OF THE AMERICAN COMMISSION TO NEGOTIATE PEACE
1918-31
277 lin. ft.

History: Commission participated in the peace negotiations at Versailles, January 18-December 9, 1919. The peace conference was superseded by the Conference of Ambassadors, 1920-31, which was organized to deal with various political questions.

Textual Records: General records, 1918-31 (537 vols., 158 ft.), including minutes of meetings of various councils, plenary sessions, committees, and commissions of the peace conference, 1918-19; reports of peace conference committees and commissions, 1918-19; letters and telegrams sent and received by the American commission, 1918-19; instructions to and reports from field missions of the American commission, 1918-19; memorandums, publications, and pamphlets, 1918-19; and minutes of meetings of the Conference of Ambassadors, 1920-31, with card index (102 ft.), classification manual, one-volume "key" to records, and document lists.

Microfilm Publications: M820.

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256.4 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
1917-19
1,237 items

Maps: Europe, Africa, Asia, South and Central America, and the Middle East, depicting such subjects as mineral deposits, crop distribution, ethnology, linguistics, religion, terrain, boundaries, and transportation facilities, 1917-19.

Ordering information

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

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