User:Jengod/Historical Records Survey

Another part of the WPA's Federal One project was the Historical Records Survey. At first created as part of the Federal Writer's Project, it later became an independent part of the Federal One in 1936.

Headed by Luther Evans, the mission of the Historical Records Survey was to conduct a national records survey. Employing an average of 2,500 workers per month, they cataloged, analyzed, and compiled inventories of state and county records. Along with that, they compiled an inventory of American imprints, bibliographies, a historical index of musicians, etc. With an employment high of 6,000 in 1938 and an average salary of $73.00 per month, these workers initiated microfilming records across the nation. They also conducted surveys of Federal agencies in each state.

Later on with the end of the Federal One project, Luther Evans resigned and the new director, Sargent Child tried to finish all of the surveys underway. Then the HRS became part of the Community Service Program, and by 1941 the central staff consisted of only 12 employees.

Originally organized in 1935 as part of the Federal Writers Project, the HRS documented resources for research into American History. It later became a unit of the Research and Records Program in 1939. The HRS was responsible for creating the soundex indexes of the federal census which genealogists today have come to rely so heavily on. The HRS also compiled indexes of vital statistics, cemetery interments, school records, military records, maps, newspapers, and the list went on and on. Microfilms of these indexes were later made by other organizations.

The WPA was organized into regional, state, and local divisions. Much of the work conducted by the HRS was done for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as well as state archives agencies, and state historical societies, which these entities are still in possession of. One can access the microfilms by paying a visit to these organizations.

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~burchst/HRSlist.html

Created in 1935 as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, the Illinois Historical Records Survey undertook to locate and describe federal, state, county, municipal, and church archives in Illinois. After August 1936 the survey operated as a separate project within the Women's and Professional Division of the Works Progress Administration. In 1938 the Survey expanded to include inventories of manuscript depositories and Lincolniana in Illinois newspapers. In 1939 the Works Progress Administration changed its name to the Work Projects Administration and federal sponsorship of the Survey ended. Sponsorship continued on a state level until the survey ended in 1943. By then only a small number of the inventories had been published. All remaining research data and inventory work sheets from unpublished inventories were deposited with the Illinois State Archives.

Check List of Historical Records Survey Publications, Bibliography of Research Projects Reports Sargent B. Child and Dorothy P. Holmes, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the WPA surveyed records at various counties throughout the Untied States. The results of some of these surveys were published. This book contains a list of the published county record surveys from all States that were surveyed by the Historical Records Survey between 1936 and 1943.