New York State War Council Executive Secretary's Correspondence with Civil Defense Administrators

Geographical by region, then arranged by individual.

This series contains correspondence between Thomas L. J. Corcoran, the War Council's Executive Secretary, and various state and federal administrators who coordinated civil defense work. Correspondence from F.H. LaGuardia, the head of the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense, was usually addressed to Governor Herbert H. Lehman, but routed to Corcoran. Corcoran also regularly corresponded with civil defense offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, Rochester, and Albany. Topics covered include: air raids; auxiliary police and fire fighters; blackouts; Civil Air Patrol; information distribution; and fire fighting.

The series contains a large number of correspondence referral forms kept by Corcoran about letters forwarded to the director of the New York State War Council's Office of Civilian Protection (OCP). (It is uncertain if these letters are extant in other OCP series.) These forms list the date, correspondent, and subject of each letter, and whether or not Corcoran made any response. The forwarded letters were usually from the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense or other civil defense groups.

A small number of releases from the OCP to local civil defense groups is found in this series. They usually discuss subjects similar to the correspondence found in this series.

This series was originally accessioned as boxes 72 and 73 of old collection #77, accession -71.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.