U.S.FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY . .70RKS
ADMINISTRATION .
HISTORICAL RECORDS
supplements, 1,3,4
URVEY
6,7,8
U Fu i
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
173^ New York Avenue, N. W.
Washington, D. 0.
THE MANUAL OF THE SURVEY OF HISTORICAL RECORDS
FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECTS
Henry G. Alsberg
dlrector e
Luther H. Evans
associate director
of
writers' project
and
national supervisor
of"
the survey of historical records
January 193^
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE OF THE HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY page 2
Description of Survey.
II. ADMINISTRATIVE AND FIELD SET-UP 3
Defining Functions of Associate Director in Charge of
the Survey; State Assistants and their Responsibili¬
ties; Classes of Workers to be Employed and the Organ¬
ization within States
III. WORK PROCEDURE 5
Categories of Historical Material to be Included in the
Survey; Organization of the Survey; Order of Work;
Training of Workers; State Filing System; Checking
for Accuracy; Reports; The National Archives Survey.
IV. SPECIAL RULES TO BE OBSERVED 8
Pertaining to Transfer of Documents, Publicity, etc.;
Rules to Field Workers.
V. INVENTORY FORMS 18
Explanation of the Forms to be used in this Survey;
Examples of Forms 1-8 and Special Forms 1 and 2.
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1. DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE OF THE HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY
A new project to be known as the Su-vey of State and Local
Historical Records (O.P.65-1703), -or by short title, as the Historical
Records Survey, has been set up as part of the Federal Writers' Program,
which in turn operates as a section of W.P i. Sponsored Federal Project
No. 1. The following description and instructions apply specifically to
the Historical Records Survey.
Description of Survey; The Historical Records Survey will be devoted to
the discovery, preservation and malting accessible of the basic materials
for research in the history of our country. The main tasks will be:
(a) To collect information 'on the existence and general character
of collections of historical materials throughout the country.
This work will not involve the listing of any individual
items in such collections. The information will be utilized
by the Survey in the preparation of a Guide to Historical
Collections.
(b) To secure copies of the catalogues or indexes of such col¬
lections of historical materials which have already been
prepared, for deposit in the Library of Congress and perhaps
in other centers of research. This will assist in the work
of preparing a Union List of such historical materials.
(c) To collect and edit the inventories which have already been
prepared of the records of state, county, municipal, and
other local governments in the forty-eight states.
(d) To make inventories of the records of such governments where
adequate inventories have not a ready been made.
(e) From the two groups of invent"ries mentioned in (c) and (d)
the Survey will prepare a l .per inventory of the public
records of state and local governments. Such master inven¬
tory will be deposited with the appropriate agency or
agencies of the Federal Government. One or more copies
of the inventory of the public records in each county will
be deposited in the county, and one or more copies of the
inventory of the public records in each state and its
subdivisions will be deposited in the state.
(f) With a view to the provision of better measures for the
preservation and accessibility of public records and other
historical materials the Survey will collect and make
available information concerning the present housing and
care of such records and the accommodations for persons who
may wish to consult them.
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(g) In a limited number of special cases, individual items
in public records or collections of historical materials
may be listed or copied. Such work will not be undertaken
as a matter of routine; the two Special Forms included in
this Manual fbr such work are to be filled out only when
special instructions to that effect are issued.
The Branch of Historic Sites and Buildings of the National
Park Service, which has recently been authorized to undertake an
extensive historical program involving the use of state and local
government records throughout the country, shall.become the custodian
of the inventories of archives collected by the Survey after they '
have been edited by the National Supervisor and his associates in
Washington,
II. ADMINISTHATIVE ANN FIELD SET-UP
The Survey of Historical Records, like other Writers'
Projects, will operate with and through the field organization of
the W.P.A. At all times the supervisory and field personnel of the
Survey of Historical Records will be responsible in its administra¬
tion to W.F.A. authority, (hike the American Guide, it will be
national In scope, and will be subject to the regulations and exemp¬
tions provided for in Supplement #1 to W.P.A. Bulletin #29 - W.P.A.
Sponsored Federal Project #1, Section 11, Pages 18 and 19. The Survey
of Historical Records will be designated by the work symbol 1885-5).
The National Supervisor Dr. Luther H. Evans, Associate Director of
of the Survey: Writers' Projects, will be the National Super¬
visor in charge of the project for the Survey
of State and Local Historical Records. He
will be directly responsible to the Director of Federal Writers' Projects,
but all matters pertaining to this Survey should be referred to the
National Supervisor of the Survey.
The State Director of The State Director of Federal Writers' Projects
the Survey: (unless other arrangements are made by the Federal
Director of the Writers' Program) will be
designated as State Supervisor of the Survey of Historical Records and
will be responsible for all the work done on tnis Survey.
Ass't. Stale Supervisor; In most states an assistant to the State
Director will be appointed whose sole duties
will be to devote himself to the Survey of
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Historical Records. He will be responsible to the State Director of
Federal Writers' Projects.
Local Survey Supervisors: The local project units in each state for
the Survey of Historical Records will
correspond, in the main, to the Ipcal proj¬
ect units of other Writers' Projects. They will be supervised by the
existing Writers' Projects supervisors, unless special arrangements
for additional supervision have been made by the Federal Director of
the Writers' Program.
Classes of Workers The Survey of Historical Records is primarily in-
to be Hmployed: tended to give employment to the following classes
of unemployed workers:
Profession a1 worker s, which will include journalists,
historians, and librarians.
Skilled workers, including research students, library
and documentary research workers and assistants to
professional workers in their respective fields.
Intermediate workers, which will include less experienced
persons in the above fields as well as clerical
and stenographic workers.
The National Supervisor shall assign to each state a
quota of workers to be employed exclusively on the Historical Records
Survey. The quota will be in addition to the quotas previously assigned
for work on Federal Writers' Projects. .An additional allotment of funds
to meet the costs of this work will be sent to each state.
Survey Stoke Office: The State Office of the Survey of Historical
Records will be situated in the same office
as the other Writers' Projects unless special
arrangements are made for the maintenance of separate offices. In
the State Office all the information and material gathered through¬
out the state will be coordinated.
Survey Local Office; The local offices of the Survey are to be
'situated in the offices of the other Writers'
Projects unless special arrangements are made
for separate housing and maintenance.
(a)
(b)
(c)
III. WORK PROCEDURE
Categories of Historical The historical records with which
Materialthis Survey is concerned consists
almost entirely of two large groups:
government archives and historical manuscripts.
Government Archives - are the papers which were once the
"basis of the transaction of Govern¬
ment business. They include formal
documents such as ordinances, contracts, letters to and
from officials, books used in government business, maps,
photographs, paintings, newspapers, etc., which consti¬
tute a part of the records of the office or agency. The
Archives of the Government of the United States are not
to be included in this Survey.
Historical.Manuscripts - are the business or private
papers of on individual, a busi¬
ness or a group. They are of
many kinds, and, frequently, of importance in public af¬
fairs.
The distinction between archives and historical manuscripts
is not always clear. Many items nigh' be considered in either cate¬
gory or in both. Mere physical possession is not always a safe guide.
Workers should assume that materials found in government offices are
archives, but it is not always srfe to assume that manuscript collec¬
tions coitain no archives, Where documents found in manuscript col¬
lections are clearly government records, an indication should be made
of this fact. Do attempt will be made to transfer • ieh materials.
It is desirable to know their location, however, in order that copies
may be made by the interested government agency if it finds such a
course desirable.
Pirst Step in Organization The first duty of the State Supervisor, or
of Survey: the special assistant, is to obtain a com¬
plete list of depositories of nubile records
and historical manuscripts. This will in¬
clude :
State government buildings (State capitol, etc.)
County buildings (Ccurt Houses, etc.)
Municipal buildings (City Hall)
Historical and P. near Societies
University or other libraries containing manuscripts of
historical value
Privately owned collections
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Each supervisor of a local project unit, or the special
assistant in charge, should similarly list all these sources for
his territory and send a copy of such lists to the State Office,
It can advise him of any sources of information in his territory
that he failed to list, and similarly complete its own list with
sources given "by the. local project unit supervisor not in the. state
list.
The manner in which information from these various sources
is to "be gathered and presented is covered "by the. inventory forms
given attached to this manual.
Arrangements with The State Director and each local project
, Archivists; unit supervisor will then contact the
archivists and custodians in charge of
the historical records end archives and make arrangements with
them for their cooperation with the project workers and the pre¬
paration of the inventories.
The Order of Survey In general, the various tasks will be under¬
work; taken in the order given on page 2 above.
It should be practically certain that the
general tasks can be completed in the time and with the workers avail¬
able, before more detailed tasks are undertaken. Also, records in gov¬
ernment offices, libraries, historical societies, and other semi-public
institutions should be described or inventoried before attention is
turned to privately-owned collections of historical materials.
Research Editor; In the State Office and each project office one
person of the office staff shall be designated
as Research Editor. His duties are to compile
lists of sources and types of material to be covered in this Survey,
and control the assignments and work out a method of checking, for
accuracy.
Field Assignments to All field assignments should be ma.de in pairs,
Workers.; two workers on each job, one obtaining the
date, and the other making the record. A
record of field assignments shall be kept in the office and carefully
checked.
Training of Workers: Before workers are assigned to any institution
it will be the duty of ea.cn local unit supervisor
or a special assistant to make clean to them the
objectives of the Survey and instruct them in the method of making the
inventory. It is suggested that all the workers to be sent out for
field investigation should be gathered into a group and the Forms ex¬
plained to them in full detail. They should then be encouraged to ask
questions on procedure that is not clear to thorn.
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When, workers are given their first field assignment, they
shall "be accompanied by a supervisor, who is to train them in filling
out the forms as well as the handling of historical material.
After the workers have been out in the field for a few
days, they should again be assembled to discuss special difficulties
encountered in the actual gathering of data,
NOTE: Special supplementary instructions will be issued
in the near future by the Associate Director in
charge of the Survey, covering in detail the organ¬
ization of material, etc.
Filing System: After the forms have been filled in, in pencil, by
the field workers, they shoi1 Id be placed in a file
to be kno7.ii as the Workers Fx
The name of the worker should appear at the top of
each single form filled out "o.v him or her.
These forms shall be checked for accuracy by tho
Research Editor and his assistants. After they have been checked they
shall be typed in five (5) copies. The original shall be sent immediately
to the National Supervisor in Washington; two copies shall be filed by
counties, to be known as the County Files. At the completion of the
Survey, one of these County Files will be turned over to the County where
the Survey has been made. A third copy shall be filed by topics,' and
shall be known as the Topics File. And the final copy shall be filed by
forms, and shall be known as the Forms Filo. The original workers copy
shall be returned to the Workers File and be kept .intact for future refer¬
ence.
Accuracy: The accuracy of the work is the most essential feature of the
Survey. Great precaution should be taken that all data col¬
lected will, as far as possible, be errorless. The greatest
probability of error will appear when dates and other information are
taken down, whether on scratch pads or on the forms. The two workers
assigned to any inventory task should check each form after it has been
filled out. When doubt about a date or a fact exists, such doubts
should be indicated by a question mark, thus (?).
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Reports: Local project unit supervisors shall report weekly to the
State Supervisor on progress. State Supervisors may, if
they find it more convenient, change these to bi-weekly
reports.
After the Survey has been in operation for a month or six
weeks, the local project unit supervisors should be prepared to pre¬
sent a comprehensive report on the work accomplished as well as the
plan of work |or the succeeding months.
Sources: In addition to the list of archivists, librarians, and cus¬
todians mentioned above (See Work Procedure), each super¬
visor or Research Editor should contact historians and other
persons interested in historical materials, and invite their sugges¬
tions and cooperation. Such persons may be able to verify data, where
doubt exists, and direct supervisors to materials of historical value.
National Archives Survey: The National Archives is conducting a sur¬
vey of Eederal government records located
v outside the District of Columbia. The State
Supervisor and his project supervisors should obtain the names of those
in charge of this National Archives Survey and make whatever arrangements
may be necessary for cooperation between the two projects.
In some instances questions may arise concerning whose duty
it is to list particular groups of records. In such cases the National
Archives representative concerned should be consulted and an agreement
reached.
IV. SPECIAL RULES TO RE QESERVED
The following miles are to be observed in the conduct of the
Survey, The State Supervisor may issue to his local project units ad¬
ditional rules to guide their conduct in handling historical and archive
material.
Rule 1 - Documents
The Survey does not. contemplate the removal of public records
or historical manuscripts from their present location. Workers on this
Survey will not transfer any document, photograph, map, etc., from any
place where it is not deposited to any other place, except in accordance
with special instructions issued to carry out a program of the custodian
for rearranging or changing the location of records.
Rule 2 - Publicity
Under no circumstance shall any field workers or local project
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unit supervisors give publicity to any materials which they may dis¬
cover, nor shall they spread information which might receive publici¬
ty. When an item of unusual importance is discovered it should be
brought to the attention of the State Supervisor, giving the circum¬
stances of its discovery. The State Supervisor will use his discretion
in making it public. He shall cooperate with WPA public Relations of¬
ficials in matters of publicity.
Hule 3 - Custodians
The local project -rnit supervisor will be responsible for
arrangements with custodians as to the work to be done, the number of
workers to be accommodated and the privileges to be accorded them.
If any difficulty arises between the workers and custodians, or a
change in arrangements is necessary, the problem should be referred
back to the local project unit supervisor and the workers temporarily
recalled until an adjustment can be made.
Rule 4 - Paries for Field Workers
Each local project unit supervisor should instruct field
workers on any given assignment that under no circumstances will they
be permitted to do the following, without the general or specific
authorization of custodians:
a) Write on papers or documents, even for the purpose of
numbering them.
b) Remove materials from their filing location in which
they are found.
c) Break seals on any sealed package or other containers
of documents or manuscripts.
d) Rearrange bound or unbound materials.
e) Remove folders of manuscript material from file cases
or other containers.
f) Open boxes or other containers which are locked or
nailed up.
g) Copy or abstract any paper or document.
h) Attempt to repair documents, papers, containers,
shelves, etc.
i) Smoking by workers and supervisors in rooms where work
is being conducted and*in rooms containing documents
is absolutely forbidden. This rule is to be observed
by workers even where custodians or rlerks violate it.
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j) Under no circumstances should workers undertake work
in damp rooms, or improperly lighted or improperly
heated or ventilated places, or in places where injur¬
ious dust is abundant, without taking the necessary
health precautions.
Rule 5 - Physical Labor
Where, in the course of work, the field workers have to lift
heavy packages, untie and tie heavy bundles, or do any other work in¬
volving heavy physical labor, arrangements should be made with the
custodian for the assistance of a janitor. Where such assistance is
not available, the local project unit supervisor shall arrange for the
assignment of a manual laborer to the project for -such work.
ROTS: In addition to the above rules each State Super¬
visor may add such rules to guide his workers
as the local situation may require.
V. INVENTORY FORMS
Most of the data to be collected by the Historical Records Sur¬
vey will be placed on inventory forms to be supplied to workers. Workers
should fill out these forms in pencil, except where the information is
first collected on scratch uads and then assembled outside the document
rooms. The use of scratch pads will depend in part on whether the records
are in proper order.
The general procedure in making an inventory will be as follows.
Workers shall begin with the most important room in which are kept the
records of an agency or department of government, or a subdivision or
bureau thereof. The current or recent records will be listed first.
These are usually in the best order, and from handling them workers will
become familiar with the records of the agency or bureau. The inventory
work should begin on a. particular wall or group of shelves, and every
volume, file box, bundle, or other container should be listed as it is
handled the first time. Extreme care will be necessary to insure that
no materials are overlooked.
From this room workers should go to the room in which the
oldest records of the office are kept. The same procedure should be
followed there. The other rooms should then be covered.
Where an Inventory Form does not have sufficient space for
an entry, an indication should be made on the Form itself that the
entry is "continued." An additional page or pages of blank paper,
or additional copies of the same Form, should be attached. If blank
paper is used, the name and number of the Form should be given, and
the data should be recorded under numbers corresponding to those ap¬
pearing on the Form.
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The name of the worker must appear on each Form, The space
at the top of the page may be used for this purpose.
Ten inventory forms will be used in the Survey. The forms
are as follows; (1) WPA Form 10HR, the Building Form, in two pages,
which requests a large amount of data on the buildings and rooms in
which documents are ke^t; (2) WPA Form 11 HR, the Printed Records
Form; (3) V/PA F0rm 12 HR, the Volumes Form; (4) WPA Form 13 HR, the
Unbound Records Form; (5) WPA Form 14 HR, the Newspaper Form; (6)
WPA F0rm 15 HR, the Maps and Photographs Form; (7) WPA Form 16 HR,
the Paintings and Statuary Form; (8) 'WPA Form 17 HR, the Manuscript
Collection Farm; (9) VfpA Form 18 HR, Individual Record, and (10)
WPA Form 19 HR, Individual Manuscript.
These forms are attached at the back of the Manual. They are
largely self-erplanatory, but attention is drawn to the following points
WPA Form 10 HR - The Buildings Form: Page 1 of this form is to be
filled out for eac.'n building.
Page 2 for each room or vault.
("Bureau" as used in this and other ^orms means a division, branch,
or other organization within the department or agency of the govern¬
ment. By "agency" or "department" is meant the larger organization
of which the bureau is a part.)
WPA Form 11 HR - The printed Records Form: (a) Where the printed
records include year books,
directories, and a.nnua.1 re¬
ports and these are not in complete sets, it will be necessary to list
them again in filling out Form 3 - The Volumes Form, for the set of
which they are a part.
(b) Line 3 >f the Printed Records Form should be filled out
after the following method: 1910-1923, 14 Vols. Lettered A-C, then
numbered 4-14, It is very important to know whether the volumes have
an index, individually or for the sot, and whether the index is inside
one or more volumes or in a separate volume. (Line 7.)
WPA Form L2 HR - The Volumes Form:
but net all of a set.
(a) This form is to be used for all
bound or loose-leaf volumes, includ¬
ing printed records which are port
(b) Newspaper clippings, letters and miscellaneous material
kept in volumes should be listed on this form. Where cumulative mate¬
rial is kept in boxes, later to be collected into a volume, it should
be listed on the Volumes Form, rather than on Form. 4 - The Unbound
Records Form.
WPA Form 13 HR - The Unbound Records Form: The treatment of this mate¬
rial is the sane as that of
Form 3 - The Volumes Form.
/yy o
WPA Fprm 14 HE - The Newspaper Form: This form is to "be used for
newspapers, whether hound or un¬
bound. There is now nearing com¬
pletion an undertaking known as the Union List of Newspapers. In prac¬
tically all states the work for this Union List has been completed
except for newspaper material in county courthouses.
The Newspaper Form should therefore only be used for records
of newspaper files in county courthouses until further instructions
are issued.
followed:
In listing newspapers the following instructions should be
a) Only one newspaper should be listed on a form.
b) The exact name ana place of publication and the fre¬
quency of the paper's publication should be indicated,
using the following symbols:
d daily bw every two weeks
w weekly tw three times a week
sw twice a week ir irregular
c) The following symbols should be used for months:
Ja January May May S September
F February June June 0 October
Mr March " July July N November
Ap April Ag August D December
d) Church, labor, trade or house publications, although
not included in the T"nion List of Newspapers, should
be listed on our forms.
WPA Form 15 HR - The Maps and Photographs Form: This form is for the
listing of; (l) Maps;
(2) Photographs, Photo¬
graphic Negatives; (3) Films.
(l) Maps - The listing of maps requires soecial attention.
The following information, or as much of it as obtainable should be
given: (a) Date or dates (all dotes which appear on the map); (b) Name
of the area (i.e., United States, or Alabama, or Washington County, or
Franklin Township, or Manhattan island); (c) Type of map (physical,
political, historical, hydrographic, ethnic, communications, geological,
economic, military, etc.); (d) Title of map (if it has none, copy the
dedication; or insert in 11 title of subject" space, in parentheses, what
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you think the map was made to show);- (e) Author; (f) Engraver or printer;
(g) Publisher; (h) place published; (i) Description (colored or black-and-
white; manuscript, printed, photostat, blueprint, or other facsimile;
mounted or unmounted); (j) Relief (showing hills, heights, depths, etc.);
(k) Scale (as indicated on man, either in figures, say 1:62,500 or 1
62,500
or in words, recorded in the form 1 inch equals . . . miles, or other
unit of length; if there is no easily ascertained scale, or if the item
is a manuscript map, give size, width by height, inside the lines which
frame the map); (1) Number of the map ( if a sheet in a set, etc.);
(m) Number of sheets (if more than one); (n) Whether duplicates are
present (and how many); (o) Any printing, initials, signatures, or other
writing not listed above (do not fail to look on the back of the map).
Tynes of Mans
1. A physical mm shows elevation of land by contour lines,
shading, hachures, or layer tints.
A political men contains the boundaries of administrative
and political divisions of a country, State, or sovereignty
(e.g., a map of Alabama showing counties and townships).
3. An historical map portrays or describes events of past time.
4-s A hydrograudit: man (or chart) is prepared for the use of
navigators and shows water depths, shoals, rocks, soundings
along ocean coasts, lake.coasts, channels, harbors, etc.
5. Ail ethnic man shows distribution of races and peoples, race
migrations, languages, etc.
6. A communications map shows railways, roads, telegraph lines,
steamship routes, canals, navigable rivers, airlines, etc.
7 A geological map shows the distribution and sometimes the
structure of rock formations, their geological ages, etc.;
maps showing unconsolidated rocks like glacial formations,
river deposits, dune sand, beach sand, soils, etc., are also
geological maps.
8. An economic man shows economic regions, natural resources,
exports and imports, agriculture, manufactures.
9. A military man may show troop movements, fortifications,
campaigns, battlefields, etc.
10. A land tenure map gives data on the change of title to a
tract of real estate.
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It is frequently true that the title of the map will contain
much of the information listed under several of the headings given
above. In this case there is no need to repeat the information.
Much of the requested data may have to be placed under "other infor¬
mation". The title should be placed there if it is longer than one
line.
The title of the map should be ccoied in quotation marks.
Omissions of unimportant words may be made by indicating with three
dots (periods with one space between). Any punctuation preceding the
omission should be given before the three dots. All titles in foreign
languages should be copied exactly and without omissions. Care should
be exercised to copy all spelling and capitalisation exactly, even
when it contains obvious mistakes.
. Correspondence files and miscellaneous papers and documents
should be glanced through for manuscript maps. Maps printed in news¬
paper clippings should be listed, with as full reference as possible
to the newspaper. Maps in published books or reports are not to be
listed, unless such books or resorts are rare.
Atlases should be listed by author, title, publisher, date
and place of publication, and number of plates. The maps in atlases
should not be listed individually.
Maps issued by agencies of the Federal Government are not
to be.listed unless they have special annotations.
(2) Photographs - The date, number, general character, and
subject-matter of each group of photographs should be given. The
photographer1s name should be given when it is known. Old photographs of
a town or city, important public or business buildings, historic sites,
or important events, should be noted individually. Discretion must be
used in inventorying photographs, since they will be found in large numbers.
In case the date or subject-matter of old pi olographs cannot be dis¬
covered from available information, it is a vised that custodians or
old residents be consulted.
Besides photographs in government buildings and manuscript
collections, it is expected that occasionally private photograph
collections will be discovered. Inquiry should be made concerning
them. Photographers frequently keep large collections of photographs
of local residents. The Research Editor should investigate the his¬
torical value of such collections before they are listed.
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(3) Films - In listing films, the width of the roll should
"be given in millimeters (usually 16 or 35 mm.) and the length in feet.
The subject matter, the date of exposure, the condition
of the film and the name of the person who made the exposure, if known,
should he recorded.
«
Y.PA Form 16HR - The Paintings and Statuary Form: The main purpose of
this form is the list¬
ing of portraits and
portrait husts on display in public buildings. In the supervisor's
discretion, however, collections of paintings, etchings, etc., may be
inventoried, and statues in public places may be listed. The guiding
principle should be the historical value attaching to such materials.
The date of a statue is the date of its unveiling.
WPA Form 17HR - The Manuscript Collection Form: The local project unit
supervisor will have to
list places where such
manuscript collections are available and issue special instructions on
the care and manner of making an inventory of them.
Under "analysis of contents of collections", the general
character of the collection's contents should be given and the sub¬
jects concerning which the collection contains information.
Special Forms, WPA Forms 18 HR and 19HR: These forms are to be used only
u-pon special instructions.
WPA Form 18HR, The Individual Record Form, is for the listing
of individual items in public records, such as an individual deed, will,
birth certificate, or other document.
WPA Form 19HR, The Individual Manuscript Form, is for the list¬
ing of individual letters or other papers in a manuscript collection.
Diaries wherever found should be placed on this form. In counting pages
of manuscript, count each side of the paper on which writing appears.
In indicating size (line 4), the following symbols may be used:
f° - folio (very large)
4° - quarto (about 9g by 12 inches)
8° - octavo (about 6 by 9-g- inches)
12° - duodecimo (about 5 by 7§ inches)
The symbols to be used in line 9 require explanation. If
a letter is written in the author's own hand, and signed by him, the
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letters A.L.S. (autograph letter signed) should be used. If the
letter is written by someone else, but signed in the author's own
hand, the letters L.S. (letter signed) should be used. If the
author wrote the letter but failed to sign it, use the.letters
A.L. (autograph letter). The same principle applies to documents
(DO and drafts (Df.)
Care must be exercised in placing this information on
the forms. It should be given only when there is no doubt about
the author's handwriting or signature. It is better to have no in¬
formation under this heading than to have information which is in¬
correct.
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As manuscripts are being examined for the-first time, a
separate form should be made for any item which is judged to be
worthy of copying. These forms should bear a notation "to be copied",
and should be kept separate. They should be given to the supervisor.
He will use them as a basis for whatever copying it may be deemed
desirable to undertake. Arrangements for copying, if any, will be
made with the custodian by the local unit project supervisor.
Information Not to be Certain types of information collected
Listed on Inventory Forms: by the Survey are not to be recorded on
inventory forms. When copies of cata¬
logues of manuscript collections or government archives are obtained,
these should be submitted to the local unit project supervisor in
the form in which they are available. If copies are not.available,
the form in which they shall be made will be decided by the local
project unit supervisor. They may be typed on regular typewriter-
size sheets, or photographed, or placed on cards, depending on the
nature and size of the catalogue. The same applies to catalogues of
maps, and to indices of filing systems.
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43 376524
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