Research Facilities and Materials at The National Archives

The National Archives was established in 1934 as an independent agency. The primary objectives of its staff have been described by the Archivist as, first, the concentration and preservation in the National Archives Building of non-current federal archives having permanent or long-time administrative value or historical interest; and, second, “the administration of such archives so as to facilitate their use in the business of the Government and in the service of scholarship.” Operations were begun in 1935 with a survey of federal records located in and near the District of Columbia. As it drew to a conclusion in 1939, the survey had resulted in the accumulation of reports on a total of 2,729,393 cubic feet of records.Transfer of records to the National Archives Building was begun in December, 1935, and during the next four years more than 200,000 cubic feet of paper records were received. The materials, representing accessions from all 10 executive departments, some 30 independent agencies, four federal courts, and the United States Senate, occupied at the end of 1939 about one-fourth of the available stack space in the building. Non-current materials continue to be received daily, and although there are indications that the rate of transfer is leveling off, it will probably be some years before the century and a half of record accumulations will have been completely dealt with.