W.P.A. Oregon Historical Records Survey records

Collection

Identifier: Bx 066

Scope and Contents note

The Oregon Historical Records Survey collection is arranged according to its original order, and most of the documents are in excellent condition. It is valuable because it contains detailed documentation of Oregon history and records, and because it provides insight into H.R.S. administrative and editorial processes. It is arranged by series, and is composed primarily of historical essays, standardized forms, transcriptions of documents, interviews, research notes, and W.P.A. instructions and correspondence. Some photographs, floor plans, and pamphlets are also included. The series are: County Records Inventory Survey, Individual Manuscripts Survey, Historic Buildings Survey, Maps and Photographs Survey, State Boards of Commission, Out of State Files, County Commissioners' Journals, Education Survey, Oregon Church History Survey, American Imprints Survey, Manuscripts Survey, Radio Scripts, Letters of Famous Oregon Pioneers, WPA Historical Records Survey Administrative Documents, Oregon State Survey, Miscellaneous Documents, Oregon Imprints, and Photographs. Note that the last arrangement of records ("Oversize Materials", Boxes 87-88) is not a separate series but a flat box and a flat file drawer created during rehousing to protect and preserve large documents.

The Oregon H.R.S. was the most comprehensive documentary project of Oregon history and related records of its time. The territorial and pioneer periods of the mid- to late nineteenth century receive the greatest attention, with an emphasis on the growth of state government and infrastructure, business and agriculture, transportation, education, biography, and relations between social groups. Native Americans figure prominently in this collection. Historical essays introduce some of this information, but most information is supplied by standardized forms. The usefulness of the forms varies significantly, as some provide only a document’s general description, location (circa 1942), and physical condition, while others include a full transcription of the document.

This collection also reveals a great deal about H.R.S. administrative and editorial processes, as most series contain project-specific administrative correspondence and instructions. H.R.S. Director Luther Evans implemented strict procedural guidelines and assembly line techniques to facilitate uniform project results across the nation. To this end H.R.S. workers received detailed instruction manuals and standardized forms such as the Individual Record Form and the Church History Form. Editors subjected H.R.S. work to rigorous editorial standards, which included checking and double-checking facts, requesting more information, and correcting and reorganizing prose. Questions in the margins of Oregon H.R.S. forms and essay drafts reflect these procedures. In spite of federal attempts at uniformity, however, the quality, precision, and extent of information provided by essays and standardized forms varied from worker to worker.

Researchers may compare the (circa) 1940s locations of county records referred to in this collection (in standardized forms or transcriptions) with their current depositories by consulting the Oregon County Records Inventories (Oregon State Archives: Oregon Historical Records Project, 1995). These four volumes are located in the reference section of the University of Oregon's Special Collections department. Among the county records series that appear in the Oregon H.R.S. collection that can be cross-referenced with the 1995 inventories are, among others, birth, death, marriage, and divorce records, County Commissioners' Journals, and Married Women's Property Registers.

It is likely that some Oregon Federal Writers Project (another W.P.A. program) records were combined with the H.R.S. records in our collection. The Radio Scripts Series provides the clearest example of this likelihood. Researchers interested in H.R.S. records for counties not listed here should contact the Oregon State Library (Salem), with whom the Oregon H.R.S. records collection was divided in late 1942.

Dates

not yet dated

Creator

Oregon Historical Records Survey (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.

Conditions Governing Use note

Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Historical Note:

The federal government initiated the Historical Records Survey (H.R.S.) in 1935 to relieve high levels of white-collar unemployment. Established as one of five programs under the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A., renamed Work Projects Administration in 1939), the H.R.S. employed clerical workers and professionals to inventory public and private archives across the nation. The H.R.S. was federally funded and directed until August 1939, when federal law required states to assume complete administrative control and greater financial responsibility for the project. With the beginning of World War II, however, W.P.A. projects unrelated to the war effort were discontinued, and by mid 1942 the H.R.S. project was at a standstill. All W.P.A. projects ended in February 1943, and most H.R.S. records were deposited in public repositories.

The H.R.S.' primary goal was to survey and inventory public state, county, city, and town archives across the United States, as well as private collections and archives. HRS projects were conducted on both the national and state level. The first national project inventoried county records, but surveys of church records, imprints, and manuscripts soon followed. State projects included such diverse topics as Transcriptions of Cemetery Inscriptions (New Hampshire), an Inventory to the Eugenics Records Survey (Vermont), an Index to Indian Depredations (Georgia), the Erie Canal Records Survey (Pennsylvania), and Letters of Famous Oregon Pioneers (Oregon).

The H.R.S.' secondary goal was to publish record inventories to make historical records and documents more accessible to amateur and professional researchers. Attainment of this goal fluctuated greatly between states and individual surveys, and H.R.S. officials estimated that only twenty percent of completed inventories were published. A third goal was archival reorganization and record preservation. In the process of surveying collections, workers often found records neglected, unorganized, stored under bad conditions, or, in the case of one Iowa county courthouse, used for kindling. Workers' efforts saved many collections from disposal or irreversible damage.

State projects deposited their records in various institutions when the H.R.S. officially ended in 1943 in hope that the survey would continue after the war. The Oregon H.R.S. deposited its records with the University of Oregon and the Oregon State Library at Salem. Other collections received less favorable treatment, however. Archivist Leonard Rapport found the Massachusetts H.R.S. records "in 132 bundles, wrapped like laundry but feeling like short-weight sacks of Portland cement" in the "surrealist circus-tent setting" of a Forbes Library attic. He also reported that some records were misplaced or discarded for lack of space. The Maine H.R.S. records, for example, were dumped into Casco Bay soon after the project ended as no repository was willing to accept them. In the 1970s Rapport and the Society of American Archivists brought attention to H.R.S. work by locating the surviving unpublished records and publishing The Historical Records Survey: A Guide to the Unpublished Inventories, Indexes, and Transcripts (Chicago, 1980).

Extent

45.75 linear feet (90 containers)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Historical Records Survey (H.R.S.) was initiated by the federal government in 1935 as one of five programs under the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A., renamed Work Projects Administration in 1939). All W.P.A. projects ended in February 1943, and most H.R.S. records were deposited in public repositories. The Oregon Historical Records Survey collection, arranged according to its original order, contains detailed documentation of Oregon history and records.

Arrangement note

Collection is organized into the following series: County Records Inventory Survey; Individual Manuscripts Survey; Historic Buildings Survey; Maps and Photographs Survey; State Boards of Commission; Out of State Files; County Commissioners' Journals; Education Survey; Oregon Church History Survey; American Imprints Survey; Manuscripts Survey; Radio Scripts; Letters of Famous Oregon Pioneers; WPA Historical Records Survey Administrative Documents; Oregon State Survey; Miscellaneous Documents; Oregon Imprints; Photographs; and Oversize Materials.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

The records of the Oregon Historical Records Survey were deposited in the University of Oregon Library System and the Oregon State Library (Salem) when the project ended in 1942.

Bibliographic Essay:

The University of Oregon’s Knight Library and Special Collections contain a number of resources for those desiring more information about the history of the H.R.S. Of particular interest are addresses made by H.R.S. directors Luther Evans and Sargent B. Child during H.R.S. operation. Evans' 1938 statement to a Senate subcommittee, The Historical Records Survey: A Statement on its Program and Accomplishments Presented to the Sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor (Washington, D.C., 1938, Knight Library: CD3020.H53), clearly describes H.R.S. goals and achievements. His 1939 address to the 48th congress of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Preservation of the Nation's Records (New York, 1939, Knight Library: E11. E82), also provides a detailed look at H.R.S. philosophy, procedures, and programs. Subsequent director Sargent B. Child's address to a group of Cincinnati organizations, Status and Plans for Completion of the Inventories of the Historical Records Survey (Washington, D.C., 1940, Knight Library: CD3020.H6C45), focuses more on H.R.S. publications. It also provides insight into changes wrought by the transfer of H.R.S. administration from the federal to the state level.

Another useful contemporary publication is Robert Wilson Kidder's essay "The Historical Records Survey: Activities and Publications" in Library Quarterly (13(2), 1943, Knight Library: Z671.L713). It briefly introduces H.R.S. history, then concisely describes H.R.S. projects and provides corresponding examples of inventory entries. This essay reveals how some members of the public interpreted H.R.S. work and progress circa 1941, and makes interesting projections about the usefulness of its results for future researchers and government officials.

Later assessments of the H.R.S. document archivists' rediscovery of valuable H.R.S. material and contrast nicely with the above contemporaneous accounts. The most useful may be Loretta Hefner's The WPA Historical Records Survey: A Guide to the Unpublished Inventories, Indexes, and Transcripts (Chicago, 1980, Special Collections Reference: Z1236.H437). This guide traces the life cycle of the H.R.S., touches on its postwar neglect, and focuses on its rediscovery and preservation efforts by archivists in the 1970s. It also contains an alphabetical state-by-state listing of H.R.S. record repositories. On a similar note, an entire issue of The American Archivist (37(2), 1974, Knight Library: CD3020.A45) was devoted to the H.R.S. Although most articles in this issue focus on specific state H.R.S. programs, Edward Papenfuse's "'A Modicum of Commitment': The Present and Future Importance of the Historical Records Survey" provides insight into the H.R.S.' effect on archival procedures and suggests how researchers can utilize the surviving H.R.S. forms.

For those interested in the general history of the W.P.A., the standard work remains William McDonald's Federal Relief Administration and the Arts (Columbus, Ohio, 1969, Knight Library: NX745.M3). This exhaustive, synthetic study first traces how provision of social welfare services and unemployment relief shifted from private agencies to the federal government, then discusses the growth of the W.P.A. and its specific programs. The section on the H.R.S. addresses the project's birth, growth, qualifications for employment, administrative changes and personalities, and descriptions of its purpose and different inventory projects.