VIII j
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS OF THE DIVISION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE,
RESEARCH AND RECORDS SECTION
Historical Records Survey
In November 1935, President Roosevelt made funds available
for the Historical Records Survey (HRS). This project, part of
Federal Project No. l (Arts Project), was designed to make use
of unemployed clerical workers and writers by providing a needed
. com unity service. The HRS arranged and inventoried historical
records, primarily for federal, state and local governments, and
copied or otherwise preserved records of special historical
value that were in danger of being lost or destroyed. Few
communities were willing to sponsor apparently unnecessary com-
munity service projects because of their high cost and limited
visibility. For these reasons, many projects of this type, such
as the HRS, were WPA sponsored until feasibility and value could
be demonstrated.
Several different projects fell under the auspices of the
HRS. The Survey of Federal Archives (SFA), originally Federal
Project No. 4, was transferred to HRS in 1937. The SFA surveyed `
federal offices throughout the state resulting in the publication
of eight Kentucky inventories. The American Imprints Inventory
(AII) was also attached to HRS in 1937. This project began a
’ nationwide survey of early American printed material. Two
checklists of Kentucky material resulted from their work. Sur-
veys of church, county, and state archives were the largest HRS
projects. The HRS worked in each of the 120 counties, however,
only nine inventories of Kentucky county records were published.
No inventories of Kentucky church or state archives were pub-
lished. Manuscript collections were surveyed but nothing was
published.
As national defense preparedness assumed a more important
role in federal agencies (1941), the HRS assumed activities
related more to national defense. Guides to civilian organi-
zations were prepared for local defense councils and the Office
of Civilian Defense; guides to public vital statistics records
were prepared for the Bureau of the Census; and federal buildings
were surveyed for possible use as emergency storage.
P The HRS was originally under the administrative direction
of the Writers' Project, headed by U. R. Bell, State Director of
i the Federal Writers' Project, The HRS became an independent part
{ of Federal Project No.l, in October 1936. When funding was
stopped in 1939 for WPA sponsored projects HRS was required to
make arrangements for project sponsors and co-sponsors. The
Library of Congress Editorial Project was set up to carry on
g the editorial and technical direction of the HRS and other pro-
9 jects previously having a federal project status.
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