Record Groups 103 - 188

• Introduction
• Alphabetical List of Record Groups
• Numerical List of Record Groups
• Record Groups 4 through 49
• Record Groups 56 through 96
• Record Groups 103 through 188
• Record Groups 202 through 293
• Record Groups 305 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 of banks for cooperatives making loans of all kinds to agricultural and marine cooperatives. The System was created to provide dependable and adequate credit in response to the Great Depression and farm crisis of the 1930's.

Records Description
Dates: 1928-56
Volume: 161 cubic feet

Records of the Federal Farm Board, Portland. The records relate to administrative matters, the establishment of and loans to cooperatives, and marketing certain farm products. They are primarily correspondence.

Records of the Grain Stabilization Corporation, Pacific coast division branch offices. The records relate to purchasing and storing grains, distributing flour to China, and stabilizing wheat prices. They are correspondence.

Records of the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation, Spokane, Washington. The records relate to the sale of surplus real property and are case files.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles

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. Until October 9, 1961, the Director administered regulations issued under the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 and those concerning newly mined silver, and collected statistics on U.S. gold and silver production.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles.
Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of the Mint, NC 152 (1968).

Record Group 110
Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (Civil War)

Administrative History
Under the act of March 3, 1863 the Provost Marshal General appointed an Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General (AAPMG) for each state or group of territories. Each AAPMG coordinated provost marshal activites, including arresting deserters, enrolling men for the draft, enlisting volunteers, and compiling statistics on the physical condition of recruits and on army casualties. In addition, each AAPMG served as liaison between PMGO and the various state or territorial agencies.

Records Description
Dates: 1862-1866
Volume: 9 cubic feet

Records of the Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General for Oregon state and Washington Territory. The records document enlistment, recruitment and draft activities during the Civil War. They include letters sent and received, with indexes and registers; issuances; morning reports; registers, lists, and muster rolls of recruits and enrollees; and financial records.

Finding Aids
Patricia Andrews, et al., comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (Civil War), part 8, NM 83.

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.

Records Description
Dates: 1945
Volume: less than 1 cubic foot
Records of the Seattle, Washington, Signal Depot. The records relate to operation of the depot. They comprise a manuscript history.

Record Group 114
Records of the Natural Resources Conservation Service

Administrative History
The Soil Conservation Service 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 the Service 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.

• Boise, Idaho, Area Office;
• Moscow, Idaho, Area Office;
• Pocatello, Idaho, Area Office;
• Portland, Oregon, Area Office;
• Pullman, Washington, Regional Office;
• Spokane, Washington, Regional Office;
• Yakima, Washington, Area Office.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 115
Records of the Bureau of Reclamation

Administrative History
The Reclamation Service was created under the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902. The act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to locate, construct, and maintain irrigation projects in 16 contiguous public land states and territories. Texas and Hawaii were later included. The act created a reclamation fund to finance the projects with monies generated from sales of public lands. Costs would be repaid by the water users, mainly homesteaders on public lands within the projects. The irrigation works would be owned by the Government. By the end of 1907, over 24 million dollars had been spent for work on 40 "primary projects" featuring construction of dams, canals, and reservoirs.

In 1907 the Reclamation Service was made a separate agency within the Department of the Interior. On June , 1915, a central executive office was established in Denver under the Chief of Construction and was given responsibility for management of all Reclamation Service work in the field. On April 3, 1920, the position of Chief of Construction in Denver was re-designated as the Chief Engineer. The Service became the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) under charge of a newly established and appointed commissioner on June 20, 1923.

The Boulder Canyon Project Act, passed on December 21, 1928, revolutionized the scale, design, purpose, and funding of USBR projects. Thereafter, USBR's water resources program embraced not only irrigation, but hydroelectric power development, flood control, and navigation.

On September 9, 1943, the USBR Commissioner established six regional offices, soon supplemented by a seventh, with jurisdictions drawn along river basin lines. Regional directors reported directly to the Commissioner's Office. The same 1943 reorganization established four branches at the Denver office. Region 2 covers the Pacific Northwest area.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles.
Indexes to volumes of clippings.

Related Microfilm Publications
M96, Project Histories and Reports of Reclamation Bureau Projects, 1905-1925.

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. U.S. marshals execute and serve writs, processes, and orders issued by U.S. courts, U.S. commissioners or magistrates, and commissions. They also notify the Department of Justice of defiance of Federal authority.

• Boise, Idaho. Selected civil cases, 1932-72.
• Portland, Oregon. Oregon land fraud cases involving Oregon's U.S. Senator John Mitchell and the Commission of the General Land Office, 1903-06; the Vanport flood case of 1948; and Klamath v. Maison, 1956, which concerned Indian hunting and fishing rights on the terminated Klamath reservation. Included are case files and correspondence, 1873-1912.
• Seattle, Washington. Selected civil and criminal cases, 1951-78, including a case involving Teamsters' Union head Dave Beck.
• Spokane, Washington. Selected civil and criminal cases for the eastern district of Washington, 1963-73, including U.S. v. Ahtanum Irrigation District, 1956, involving Indian water rights.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles.

Related Microfilm Publications
M198, Records Relating to the Appointment of Federal Judges and U.S. Marshals for the Territory and State of Washington, 1853-1902;
M224, Records Relating to the Appointment of Federal Judges, Attorneys, and Marshals for Oregon, 1853-1903;
M681, Records Relating to the Appointment of Federal Judges, Attorneys, and Marshals for the Territory and State of Idaho, 1861-1899.

Restrictions
Access to some investigative case files may be restricted because of law enforcement needs or personal 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 Capitol. 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.

Finding Aids
List of case files.

Record Group 125
Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy)

Administrative History
Legal duties of the Department of the Navy were handled by the Office of the Secretary of the Navy until the appointment in 1865 of the Solicitor and Naval Judge-Advocate General, who was transferred in 1870 to the Department of Justice. The Office of the Judge Advocate General was created by an act of June 8, 1880. The Office of the Solicitor was established in 1900 and handled non-military legal matters of the Department between 1908 and 1921. The two offices were merged in 1921.

The Office of the Judge Advocate General has authority over military, administrative, and applied law concerning the operation of the Navy. It administers military justice, prepares orders for enforcement of court-martial sentences, initiates corrective legal actions, handles matters relating to international and admiralty law and claims against the Navy, drafts departmental legislation, and administers a legal assistance program.

Finding Aids
Entry 134 in James R. Masterson, comp., Preliminary Checklist of the Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), 1799-1943, PC 32 (1945).

Record Group 129
Records of the Bureau of Prisons

Administrative History
The Bureau of Prisons was established within the Department of Justice in 1930. Upon creation, it absorbed the functions of the Office of the Superintendent of Prisons, which had been responsible for Federal prison matters since 1907. The new bureau became responsible for the administration of Federal penal and correctional institutions and for Federal prisoners held in non-Federal institutions.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles.

Draft series descriptions.

Related Microfilm Publications
M1619, McNeil Island Penitentiary Records of Prisoners Received, 1887-1951.

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

Administrative History
The U.S. Civil Service Commission (CSC), created by an act of January 16, 1883, replaced the Civil Service Commission that had originated under an act of March 3, 1871, as the Advisory Board of the Civil Service. The commission was authorized to establish a merit system under which selections for Government-service appointments would be based on the applicant's demonstrated relative fitness. Regional offices were established and, under the supervision of regional directors, supervised the branch offices and boards of examiners, disseminated civil-service information, arranged and held examinations, received and rated application and examination papers, furnished agencies with lists of eligible applicants to fill the positions in various offices, conducted investigations and performed other duties directly affecting the administration of personnel actions within the regions.

Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1979 created the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), effective January 1, 1979. OPM assumed many former CSC responsibilities.

Records Description
Dates: 1892-1945
Volume: 2 cubic feet
Records of the Region 11 Office. The records relate to policies and procedures at the group and staff office level, and consist primarily of correspondence.

Record Group 147
Records of the Selective Service System

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. The System operated through a director and national headquarters, regional boards, boards of appeal, and local boards. Through the local boards the System registered, classified, and selected for induction male citizens and aliens subject to service. Except between December 5, 1942, and December 5, 1943, when it was placed under the jurisdiction of the War Manpower Commissioner, the System was responsible to the President.

Records Description
Dates: 1940-47
Volume: 89 cubic feet
Records of the Idaho, Oregon, and Washington State Headquarters offices. The records include registration cards for men born between April 1877 and February 1897 (4th Draft Registration under the 1940 Act); Alien's Personal History and Statement (DSS Form 304); and Statements of U.S. Citizens of Japanese Ancestry (DSS Form 304-A).

Record Group 154
Records of the War Finance Corporation

Administrative History
The War Finance Corporation was created by an act of April 5, 1918, to give financial support to industries essential to the war effort and to banking institutions that aided such industries. After the Armistice, the Corporation assisted in the transition to peacetime by financing railroads under Government control, and by making loans to American exporters and advances to agricultural cooperative marketing associations. The Corporation was abolished on July 1, 1939.

Finding Aids
List of titles of volumes.

Record Group 155
Records of the Wage and Hour Division

Administrative History
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 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 two divisions were consolidated in 1942, and their area of responsibility was expanded by subsequent legislation.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

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 Department of War 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 Material Command.

• Beaver, Oregon, Ammunition Storage Point;
• Mount Rainier, Washington, Ordnance Depot;
• Umatilla, Oregon, Ordnance Depot.

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.

Finding Aids
List of folder titles.

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 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.

Finding Aids
Subject index.

Record Group 171
Records of the Office of Civilian Defense

Administrative History
The Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) was established in the Office for Emergency Management by an executive order of May 20, 1941, to coordinate Federal, State and local defense relationships regarding the protection of civilians during air raids and other emergencies, and to facilitate civilian participation in war programs. It took over the functions and records of the Division of State and Local Cooperation of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense. Fiscal, budgetary, and personnel responsibilities for the OCD were handled by the Division of Central Administrative Services of the Office for Emergency Management until 1942 when these responsibilities, with minor exceptions, were transferred to the OCD. The nine regional offices that coordinated the work of state and local defense organizations were closed June 30, 1944, and an executive order of June 4, 1945, terminated the OCD.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-44
Volume: 32 cubic feet
Records of the Northwest Sector Office, Seattle, Washington. The records relate to emergency medical services and general facilities; evacuations; lighting control; and protection programs. They are correspondence and planning documents.

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.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

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

Related Microfilm Publications
M88, Records Relating to the U.S. Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1852-1863;
M89, Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy from Commanding Officers of Squadrons, 1841-1886.

Restrictions
Access to some files or portions of documents may be restricted because of national security classification.

Record Group 183
Records of the Bureau of Employment Security

Administrative History
The Bureau of Employment Security was preceded by the Division of Information created in 1907 in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization of the Department of Commerce and Labor. On January 3, 1918, this division, which had become a general placement agency in the Labor Department's Immigration Service, was made a separate administrative unit under the name U.S. Employment Service (USES). An act of June 6, 1933, reorganized USES as a bureau to administer public employment service provisions of the Wagner-Peyser Act.

On July 1, 1939, USES and the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation of the Social Security Board were merged to become the Bureau of Employment Security of the Social Security Board. Following several wartime and postwar reorganizations, the Bureau was transferred to the Labor Department on August 20, 1949. It was abolished on March 17, 1969, and its functions divided between the U.S. Training and Employment Service and the Unemployment Insurance Service.

After the United States entered the First World War in 1917, regional offices were used to locate labor for industry and agriculture. Following the armistice of November 11, 1918, the regional and State offices turned their attention to finding jobs for returning veterans.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory with folder list.

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.

Finding Aids
Entries 40-42 in Virgil E. Baugh, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Regional Offices of the National 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: 1946
Volume: 1 cubic foot
Records of Region 8. The records relate to commodity prices in Washington. They are cards.

Related Microfilm Publication
M164, Studies and Reports of the Office of Price Administration, 1941-1946.