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The Inventory of the County Archives of Kentucky is one of a number
of guides to slsssssssriaessrisis prepared°Ehroughout the United States
by workers on the Historical Records Survey Bregram of the Work Projects
Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the
archives of Hopkins County, is number 54 of the Kentucky series.
The Historical Records Survey Program was undertaken in the winter
of 1955-36 for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy un-
employed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers.
In carrying out this objective, the project was organized to compile in-
ventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished govern-
ment documents and records which are basic in the administration of local
government, and which provide invaluable data for students of political,
economic, and social history. The archival guide herewith presented is
intended to meet the requirements of day-to-day administration by the
officials of the county, and also the needs of lawyers, businessmen, and
- other citizens who require facts from the public records for the proper
conduct of their affairs. The volume is so designed that it can be used
by the historian in his research in unprinted sources in the same way he
uses the library card catalog for printed sources.
The inventories produced by the·Historical Records Survey Program
attempt to do more than give merely a list of records - they attmnpt R
further to sketch in the historical background of the county cr other l
unit of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organi-
zation and functions of the government agencies whose records they list.
The county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country will, i
when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local goverm ent as well as ;
a bibliography of local archives. b
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records Sur- i
vey Program, even in a single county, would not be possible without the '
support of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and many ?
other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowl- i
edged. A
y· The Survey Program was organized by Luther H. Evans, who served as f
pil Director until March 1, 1940, when he was succeeded by Sargent B. Child, ’
‘“` who had been National Field Supervisor since the inauguration of the
`¥\ Survey. The Survey Program operates as a Nation-wide series of locally
"` sponsored projects in the Division of Professional and Service Projects,
of which Mrs. Florence Kerr, Assistant Co missioner, is in charge.
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Howard O. Hunter
l · Acting Commissioner
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