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RE-SORTING OF MATERI
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1 DEC 9 1940
i'BRAP^,
AND
SIMPLIFICATION OF EDITORIAL FILES
A CIRCULAR OFFERING SUGGESTIONS
TO THE WRITERS'PROJECTS IN THE
STATES ON A TECHNIQUE FOR RE¬
SORTING MATERIAL AND SIMPLIFICATION
OF ED I TOR IAL FILES.
&
W. P. A. Technical Series
Community Servft?? Circular Number 6
Writers' Program Circular No. 3
AUGUST 8, 1940
JEEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
"Division of Professional and Service Projects
Washington, D. C.
A13.-.6M
A1356
FOBEWOKD
This circular offers suggestions on a technique for
re-sorting Writers' project manuscript material and simplification
of editorial files.
While the xjrocedure presented herein is not mandatory with
respect to all of the provisions, its adoption is strongly urged,
particularly because of its usefulness in connection with the
State factbooks, Picture Books, etc.
This circular relates only to the technique of project
operation. Nothing in this circular is to be construed as af¬
fecting or modifying in any way administrative procedure of the
Work Projects Administration.
A1356
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 1
Principal Objectives 3
Suggestions for Reducing Pile Material . „ „.. 3
Editorial Pile 4
Special Publications Piles ... 4
Piling Procedure 5
The Control Index 7
Making the Editorial Pile Work 8
Statistical Data 13
Some Necessary Cautions 13
Summary 14
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INTRODUCTION
After four and a half years of activity, many of the State
Writers' Projects have assembled and filed, great quantities of 'material.
Some of it has already served its purpose and found its way into print;
somo awaits incorporation in forthcoming publications now in preparation;
some as yet of unknown value, remains to be appraised in the light of a
definite publication program and will prove to be of immediate value.
Other nonessential ma,tcrial can be discarded, after receipt of proper
disposition authority, without loss to any of the future programs.
The present files should, therefore, be simplified and clarified.
In many instances they contain not only some material that has already
been published but also many duplicate copies of documents.
Numerous duplicate copies, particularly with a changing personnel,
tend to congest the files, confuse the user, and invite error. Some
simple cross-rcfcrcncc system, such as that described in this circular
is preferable; it will serve the same purpose but eliminate the disad¬
vantages of the duplicate-copy method.
It is therefore suggested that (l) the reduction of the present
file volume be brought about by examining file accumulation to ascer¬
tain true contents of the file, -he file can then be processed by
eliminating and sotting aside for disposition the duplicate or extra
copies of correspondence, memorandum and manuscripts or other type3
of material where it has been determined that such extra Copies are
deemed of no further value and nil materials superseded by later re¬
visions; and (2) a simple cross reference system for material used bv
•V. t,
the editors bo established. This cross-reference system, should be
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effected as rapidly as pcrsoruiol can "bo assigned or provided in order
to give the editors every possible aid in the preparation of forth-
coning and future publications.
In no event are materials sot aside for disposition to bo destroyed
or alienated except in conformance with current instructions cohering the
disposition of federal records in the custody of the Work Projects Ad¬
ministration as described in Chapter IV, Volume I of the Manual of Pules
and Regulations on the "Care, Preservation and Disposition of TvPA
Records." However, these regulations permit the forwarding to the
central office, hashi .. ton, D. C. , of records surplus to the needs
of any State Writers' Project, in accordance with instructions which
may be issued from tine to tine by the central office.
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PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES
Piles are working tools, necessary and integral parts of a Writers1
project. They are too often thought of as storage Bins where material
is deposited and forgotten. The object of this circular is to:
1. Pacilitate editorial activity "by permitting full use of
material in all the files
2. Expedite the preparation of manuscripts for publication
3. Stimulate suggestions for .and formulation of future
project activities.
SUGGESTIONS POP REDUCING PILE MATERIAL
Records of the Writers' Project fall into four file groupings.
Por purposes of this circular, they are designated as:
1. Administrative Pile
2. Editorial Pile, containing general material primarily of
interest to the editors
3. Special Publications Piles, containing material temporarily
taken from the Editorial Pile or material specially col¬
lected for a specific publication in preparation
4. Workers Pile, prescribed by Operating Procedure No. G-5 to
record the performance of research workers; this may
or may not be part of the Administrative Rile
The following suggested steps in the procedure to reduce active
file material immediately are sufficiently general that they can be
applied to any one or all of the above groups.
1. Start at tho beginning of the file and work systematically
toward the rear.
2* Use some marker to indicate the division between that which
has been cleared and that \irhich remains.
3. Examine each document—report, manuscript, table, picture,
or letter—in each folder for dates. If no date ape ear s,
assign one as nearly as the material itself indicates, or
memory or conference permits. All documents should be dated.
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4. Sort the contents in each folder into two groups: one,
that which is to he preserved and returned to the file;
two, that which is to he set aside for disposition or
placed in a dead file.
EDITORIAL EILE
The Editorial File is conceived of as containing all material upon
which the editors will draw first for data for a proposed publication.
When a new publication is started and material is taken from the Editorial
File to be used temporarily in a Special Publication File, a sheet of
paper, technically termed an "out-sheet, " shoiild be inserted to show
that a document or folder has been removed. The sheet should indicate
the temporary location of the material, the date of withdrawal, and by
whom. In this way the data can always be traced and a demand by two or
more editors needing the same material can be satisfied.
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS FILES
The keystone of any Writers' Project office and the most important
grouping of material is the Special Publications Files, in which data
are assembled for use in preparing specific publications. These data
may be drawn from the Editorial File or specially gn.th.ered for the publi¬
cation. The amount of space required by each Special Publication File
will naturally be determined by amount of material and may expand as ad¬
ditional data are gathered. A single box, a drawer, or a number of
drawers may be required.
No directions for filing procedure within the Special Publications
Files are given since the setup and arrangements of material will be
governed by the subject outline or table of contents of the publica-
£a_.geagggJi .the subdivisions within each Special Publication
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File will follow the outline or table of contents, with folders or
divisions for each heading.
The material in a Special Publication File, after it has served'
its purpose, will be returned to the Editorial File. When this is done
it is essential to sort it in the same manner as that suggested above.
The data worth preserving should be compared vrith that already in the
Editorial File before it is returned. If a copy is already in the
file, the duplicate should not be returned; it should either be placed
in the dead file or sot aside for disposition.
FILING PROCEDURE
It seems desirable to set forth here the nature of the difficulties
that are inherent in all filing systems. Every item in a file, whether
it is a letter, field report, original manuscript, transcript, or clip¬
ping, answers one, several, or all of the stock questions known to
every cub reporter: Who? Where? What? When? The following con¬
densed tabulation may be helpful:
Who - AUTHOR (Name of ^erson) - Alphabetical
Where - GEOGRAPHICAL (Name of Place ) - Alphabetical
What - SUBJECT (Name of Thing ) - Alphabetical
When - CHRONOLOGICAL (Bate) - Numerical
It will be seen from this tabulation that the author, geographical'
and subject classifications, being alphabetical, permit filing within a
single alphabetical sequence. The fourth classification, chronological,
can only be filed within this same sequence by translating the date
into words, as, for example, "i860" into "Eighteen Sixty." It is
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obvious that this procedure is cumborsome since at least 100 dates,
1800-1899, would all have the same initial Hence in filing a
given document, file it by author, geographical, or subject. The
control of chronological data is described below.
When a document is filed, it can obviously be placed under only
one of the headings listed in the tabulation. How then can it be
found if sought under any one of the other headings? This difficulty
might, in theory, be solved by having sufficient duplicates that one
could be placed under each of the classifications; a method which is
impracticable because sufficient copies exe not always available and
undesirable, because it would unduly clutter the files.
According to another method, sheets of paper are placed in the
file as substitutes for the duplicate copies. Por example, if the
document is filed under author, sheets of paper, known as "cross-
reference sheets," are j>la-ced in the geographical and subject divisions
indicating that the document is filed under author. The shortcomings
of this method are that it is difficult to place a cross-reference
sheet for chronological, for the reason explained above; and that
the numerous extra sheets add to the bulk of material in the file.
'The method recommended is a card control file, hereafter termed
the Control Index. It is a practical, simple, and complete system
of controlling the material in a file. In place of the duplicate
copies or a method depending exclusively on cross-reference sheets ,
(both of which have disadvantages as noted above) 3x5 cards arc
made out for each heading under which the document might be sought.
Por example, if a document is filed under author, not only is an
author card made out, but also cards for the geographical, subject,
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and chronological headings. The sample cards given below will make
clear how the Control Index method provides for all four classifica¬
tions.
THE CONTROL INDEX
The Control Index should bo a 3 x 5 card system, separate from
but referring to all the material in a given file. In order to con¬
trol all the material, it must be set up in at least lour divisions -
author, geographical, subject, and chronological, la the first three,
the cards are arranged alphabetically; in the fourth, the chronological,
they are arranged numerically. If the volume of file material is small,
the entire index may bo placed in a single card box on top of the file
to which it refers. If the volume is large, the cards may require a
separate card unit.
The one disadvantage of the Control Index is that if a box or
drawer is dropped, the cards may be disarranged. To prevent this
it is strongly urged that standard punched library cards and boxes
with rods be used.
The advantages of the Control Index are:
1. It is space-saving and economical, since it makes numerous
duplicate conies unnecessary, it cuts down the number of file
cases.
2. It is convenient since it is portable. The user can take the
boxes or drawers to his desk and survey the contents of the
files without disturbing the actual material.
3. It provides for Chronological control
4. Most important, it tends to reduce to a minimum the problem
arising from the variations inherent in Subject classification.
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Most persons will accurately classify, and hence file without
difficulty, the names of persons and the names of places — the
author and geographical classifications. But two persons will sel¬
dom classify a thing or a relationship (subject) in the same way; nor
will the same person, after a lapse of time, always make the same
decision about classifying a subject.
Moreover, a document, unless it is very simple and brief, is
not likely to fall entirely within one subject. The very fact that
it can be broken down into several subjects increases its usefulness,
provided that it is adequately controlled by an index.
A Control Index, it will readily be seen, is the most effective
method of recording — and hence enabling the user to reach — any
subject to be dealt with, if cards are made out for every classi¬
fication under which the document might be sought.
The Editorial File in a Writers' Project office deals predomi¬
nately with subject material. A Control Index, because of the advan¬
tages listed above, will permit the fullest use of this material.
MAKING THE EDITORIAL PILE WORK
Before a document is placed in the Editorial File, a card should
be made out for each possible classification: Author, geographical,
subject or subjects, chronological. If, to escape labor, only one
or two of these classes are used in making out the cards for the
Control Index, the document may be called for in some class that
did not seem important at the time of filing and, naturally, the
document will not be found. The time needed for making out a card
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for each classification is more than repaid in the future in saving
futile search for a document which is known to he in the office but
cannot be found.
Since cards are easily mixed or misplaced in the process of filing,
it is imperative that each one carry some identification symbol. She
symbols suggested are designed so that the letters used aid the memory
and are quickly recognized. The following key symbols are recommended:
Da author
Dg geographical
Ds subject
Dc chronological
This is concerned primarily with editorial material but it may at
(some future time be desirable to set up similar filing systems for
material other than Editorial documents. Hence the "D" which indi¬
cates that the card refers to a document.
In order to clarify how to make the Editorial Eile work, a concrete
example is given here. Assume that John Jones, a research worker, has
turned in a manuscript on Jan. 3, 1938 on "Grazing in Montana in I860."
Eour cards for the Control Index are possible:
Da Jones, John
Dg Montana
Ds Grazing
Dc 1860
Since the material refers to conditions in 1860, this date is chosen
for the chronological card rather than Jan. 3, 1938. The date 1860 is
the one of primary interest to the editors, while Jan. 3, 1938 is of
primary interest administratively.
Samples of the four cards follow:
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Author Card
Da
Jones, John
Grazing in Montana in 1860. Article on
Submitted Jan. 3, 1938
See
EDITORIAL PILE
Jones, John
1
1
Geographical Card
Dg
Montana
Grazing in Montana in 1860
Article "by John Jones
Submitted Jan. 3, 1938
Sec
EDITORIAL PILE
Jones, John
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Subject Card
Ds Grazing
Grazing in Montana in 1860
Article "by John Jones
Submitted Jan. 3, 1938
See
EDITORIAL FILE
Jones, John
Chronological Card
Dc 1860
Grazing in Montana in 1860
Article by John Jones
Submitted Jan. 3, 1938
See
EDITORIAL RILE
Jones, John
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The above illustration was chosen because a card can be made
out for each of the four classifications. Sometimes less than four
cards are possible. For example, a memorandum by Mary Smith on the
"Origin of the Name of Oswego County" would permit only the following
cards:
Da Smith, Mary
Dg Oswego County
Ds Origin of Names
Dc (none)
It often occures that more than one subject card is not only
possible but desirable. The following example will illustrate how
this and certain omissions in other classifications are handled. An
article on "Folkways in Smithtoi^n" written by an undesignated author,
without data but presumably received in 1937, includes data on Swedish
settlers and soil conservation experiments. Though it has no date it
is of sufficient value to warrant filing. The cards would be:
Da None
Dg Smithtown
Ds Folkways
Ds Swedish settlers
Ds Soil conservation
Dc (1937) assumed.
The aggregate of cards under "Folkways," for example, will show
the material on hand dealing with this subject. If an article or book
on Folkways is to be prepared, the editors, by using the Control Index,
can see at a glance what material they have to draw upon.
The aggregate of cards under a given subject or place may be used
to plan or suggest future publication programs, in that they will indicate
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what and how much material is available. For cxrmplc, twenty cards
under Swedish settlers might well suggest that there is sufficient
data, on hand to form the basis of a publication on this subject.
Ideally, to have a complete record of the material in the office,
all the material now in the Special Publications Piles would have to
be carded, and an out-sheet for each document would have to be placed
in the Editorial Pile. This, will not always be practicable and it is
therefore not suggested. Instead, the procedure should be: When the
material now in a Special Publication Pile is moved back to the Edi¬
torial Pile, card it (as described above) and pla.ee the cards in the
Control Index. Eventually all the material in the office will be
entered in the Control Index.
STATISTICAL DATA
Difficulty is often experienced in filing statistical data because
it may be put to so many different uses. There is no rule here except
to select those places, subjects and dates which arc likely to prove of
value to an existing or future program. When the statistical data moves
from the Editorial Pile to a Special Publication Pile it will, of course,
find its place as indicated by the outline or table of contents.
SOME NECESSARY CAUTIONS
Do not place any new material in the file unless it has a date
and an author, and shows clearly where the author obtained the informa¬
tion.
Do not file any material until cards have been made out for it.
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Do not allow any material to be transferred from the Editorial
Eile to Special Publications Piles unless an "out-sheet" replaces the
material, indicating who withdrew it and where it can be found.
Do not return any material to the Editorial Pile from the Special
Publication Piles unless it is dated and cards have been made out for
it.
Keep all files reduced to a minimum of active material and transfer
all used and potentially useless data to the Inactive Pile.
SUMMARY
Current working material for new publications must be readily
available. The files should be dynamic, not static. They should
be set up to provide free movement and full utilization of material.
Material no longer needed should be currently eliminated from
the Editorial Piles and all active material should be integrated and
under complete control.