Director's correspondence concerning surveys

Organized into three subseries: 1. Correspondence Concerning Survey of Town and Village Records; 2. Correspondence Concerning Survey of County Records; 3. Correspondence Concerning American Imprints Inventory.

Subseries 1: arranged by form (checklists, correspondence), then numerically by HRS district, then by incoming and outgoing, then in reverse chronological order.

Subseries 2: arranged alphabetically by county, then by incoming and outgoing, then in reverse chronological order.

Subseries 3: arranged by geographic region (each including three or four HRS districts), then in rough chronological order.

This series consists of three subseries, each concerning a different survey conducted by the Historical Records Survey (HRS).

Each subseries contains correspondence of the director with district supervisors concerning: transmittal of inventory forms; and missing or improperly completed forms. In addition, this correspondence provides general information on the progress of each survey. Each subseries also provides other specific information.

Subseries 1: Correspondence Concerning Survey of Town and Village Records. This subseries includes lists of towns and villages in each county with a summary of inventory forms received from each political subdivision as of 1938. Separate files contain checklists for HRS old districts 1, 2, 4, 6-12. There is a checklist for each town indicating whether historical sketches, building forms, and records inventory forms for each major town office were received and edited by HRS.

Subseries 2: Correspondence Concerning Survey of County Records. This subseries includes copies of historical sketches of some county officers.

Subseries 3: Correspondence Concerning American Imprints Inventory. This subseries includes correspondence of the State Director and later of the Imprint Editor, appointed to coordinate the survey out of the director's office. In addition to correspondence between these two officials and district supervisors, this subseries contains copies of correspondence between: district supervisors and the national imprints editor; national imprints editor and librarians in New York State; and district supervisors and field workers. Also included are progress reports of district supervisors stating the percentage of work completed at individual libraries.

A container list is available at the repository.

Records were transferred from the Historical Records Survey to the State Library in 1942 and subsequently transferred to State Archives as part of old collection #550A, accession number -372.

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