New York State War Council Division of Records Research and Drafts Files for <emph render="italic">The Empire State at War:…

Organized into 2 subseries: Subseries 1, Chapter Drafts and Reviews, 1944-1949, 2 cubic feet; Subseries 2, Interview Files, 1944-1947, 1.2 cubic feet.

Numerical by chapter in Subseries 1; alphabetical by last name of interviewee or topic in Subseries 2.

This series contains Karl D. Hartzell's research documents, correspondence, interviews, notes, and portions of chapter drafts of his book The Empire State at War: World War II. It provides information regarding the organization and coordination of industry, the population, and the State towards war production and civil defense compiled by Hartzell to assist in the writing of his book.

Titles for the nine chapters contained in this series are: Coming Events Cast Their Shadow, 1940-1941: The Organization of New York State for National Defense; State Aid to Federal Programs; Production for War; Defense of the Home Front; The Mobilization and Direction of Volunteers; Agricultural Production and Nutrition; War Transportation; Maintaining the Efficiency of the Individual; and Results and Conclusions. Records pertaining to the other chapters to the book (Chapters IX-XII) were not included with this series.

Subseries 1, Chapter Drafts and Reviews, 1944-1949 (2 cubic feet): This subseries contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, manuals, screenplays, news releases, speeches, and ephemera detailing various War Council agencies' activities which were used to compile the chapter drafts also found in this subseries. This information was usually provided by agency officials interviewed by Hartzell. Also found is correspondence between Hartzell and individuals sent drafts of the chapters for review.

Subseries 2, Interview Files, 1944-1947 (1.2 cubic feet): This subseries contains transcripts of interviews conducted by Hartzell with War Council administrators in researching his book. Supplemental information they provided to Hartzell about their agencies' work (similar to materials in Subseries 1) is also found here.

Folder list is available at the repository.

Chapter XIII was donated to the New York State Archives in 1991 by Karl D. Hartzell, and was subsequently added to the appropriate subseries.

This series was originally accessioned as boxes 407-409 of old collection #77, accession -71.

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