Ohio History Journal

  • 1
  •  
  • 2
  •  
  • 3
  •  
  • 4
  •  
  • 5
  •  
  • 6
  •  
  • 7
  •  
  • 8
  •  
  • 9
  •  
  • 10
  •  
  • 11
  •  
  • 12
  •  
  • 13
  •  
  • 14
  •  
  • 15
  •  
  • 16
  •  
  • 17
  •  
  • 18
  •  
  • 19
  •  
  • 20
  •  
  • 21
  •  
  • 22
  •  
  • 23
  •  
  • 24
  •  
  • 25
  •  
  • 26
  •  
  • 27
  •  
  • 28
  •  
  • 29
  •  
  • 30
  •  
  • 31
  •  
  • 32
  •  
  • 33
  •  
  • 34
  •  

BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

 

Guide to the Material in The National Archives. (Washington,

D. C., Government Printing Office, 1940. 303p. Paper, 40¢;

cloth, 70??.)

The first general guide to the materials in The National Ar-

chives made its appearance in 1938 as an Appendix to the Third

Annual Report of the Archivist of the United States. The present

work is the successor to that initial guide and constitutes a key to

some 320,000 linear feet of records, or those accessioned up to

December 31, 1939. It must be kept in mind that the task of

organizing, classifying and cataloging this mass of records is still

incomplete and that the guide is tentative.

In the main portion of the guide only those groups of rec-

ords are included where sufficient time has elapsed to afford an

adequate description. Unarranged or complex groups are listed

in the Appendix. In both the main portion and the Appendix,

entries are made under the names of government agencies. In the

former, an effort has been made to enter the description of the

records under the names of the agencies that last performed the

functions reflected by the records, while in the Appendix the ar-

rangement is by the names of the agencies from which the records

were received. The main section is divided into four parts: the

Congress, the executive departments, the independent agencies,

and the judiciary.

There is a brief introductory statement for each agency deal-

ing with its history and functions. Following the introductory

statement are descriptions of record groups, which provide infor-

mation on such points as the type, subject matter, chronological

coverage, quantity, completeness, and arrangement of the records.

The index contains a large number of cross references to re-

lated material and will be useful in bringing together records deal-

ing with the same subject matter. The user should be warned,

however, that the index refers only to names and subjects men-

(171)