IDENTIFYING RECORDS OF CONTINUING VALUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00390R000100010009-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 29, 2002
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: December 1, 1971
• Content Type: PAPER

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IDENTIFYING
RECORDS OF
CONTINUING VALUE
DECEMBER 1971
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President Theodore Roosevelt stimulated concern about the
preservation and use of valuable Government records. His Presi-
dential Committee on Department Methods focused attention on
extensive creation of unnecessary records and out-moded record
keeping practices. The same Committee on Department Methods criti-
cized the existing practice of storing vast quantities of valuable
Government records in unsuitable places and recommended the establish-
ment of a national archival depository. Moreover, the Committee urged
that Congress modify existing laws to ensure that records no longer
useful for administrative purposes be not destroyed without their
appraisal for possible historical interest and research value.
Effective implementation of these recommendations did not come
for several years. It began however, under the National Archives
Act of 1934 and has continued under other legislation, especially
the Records Disposal Act of 1943 and the Federal Records Act of 1950.
Under the latter act Federal agencies are required to take proper
measures to preserve adequate records concerning their operations.
The National Archives and Records Service, GSA, is directed to
establish standards for the selective retention of records of continu-
ing value for research and other purposes. Pursuant to these provi-
sions, three major types of retention and disposal standards or
records management programs have been developed.
The oldest program uses Records Control Schedules. These devices
employed widely by Federal Government agencies since 1943 stipulate
the various retention periods for all classes of records of a particu-
lar organizational unit and provide for their orderly retirement or
disposal. These Schedules are mandatory authorizations for the periodic
disposition of records and can be used repeatedly.
The second program inaugurated in 1946, involves the use of
General Records Schedules dealing with the disposition of certain
types of records common to all major government organizations. The
records covered by these Schedules include those pertaining to
civilian personnel, fiscal, procurement, and property matters. They
constitute a large proportion of the total volume of records created
by Federal agencies.
The third program launched in 1962 consists of the preparation of
Records Retention Plans designed to identify records of continuing
value. The volume and complexity of Federal records make this identifi-
cation quite difficult. Unfortunately it has been too often neglected
in the past. The action of those persons responsible for this neglect
has been likened to that of a crew of reapers who, in harvesting a
large crop of wheat, cut the weeds with the grain and, without eliminat-
ing the weeds or culling the wheat from the chaff stored their reapings
in barns and left the wheat unsalvaged. Other crews, instead of
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salvaging the wheat, repeated the operation with the result that-all
the barns in the neighbourhood were filled to overflowing. When all
available places were filled, more barns had to be built. The longer
the salvaging of the wheat was delayed, obviously the more difficult
and costly the task became. The lesson of this story is clear.
Economical and efficient salvaging of the wheat would require that
the reapers be induced to refrain from harvesting the weeds, to cull
the wheat from the chaff at the time of harvesting, and to store the
wheat separately so as to facilitate its use.
Records Retention Plans are to be developed by Federal agencies
in cooperation with the National Archives and Records Service. There
is to be a Plan for each agency or subdivision thereof. By March 31,
1965, plans had been developed for about 100 Federal bureaus and
offices having about 4 million cubic feet of records. Less than
5 per cent of these records were designated as having sufficient
value to merit permanent retention. Although the principal purpose
for preparing the Plans has been to safeguard the records of enduring
value, an important by-product has been assistance to agencies in the
establishing of realistic disposal periods for records found to lack
continuing value.
Agency preparation of a Records Retention Plan normally begins
with a careful analysis of the organization, functions, and activities
of an agency or subdivision. To this task the archivist and agency
records managers may bring a considerable store of information accumu-
lated in research or work such as the review of agency disposal requests,
accessioning of agency records, or records reference service. They
will study statements concerning the agency in the'U. S. Government
Organization Manual", reports of hearings before U. S. Congressional
appropriation committees, organizational and functional charts approved
for the agency, and published reports and studies concerning agency
programs and accomplishments.
The second major step involves a determination of the classes
of records produced by each function of the agency. Here the archivist
and records managers scrutinize Records Control Schedules, inventories
and surveys of records, classification and filing manuals, and records
management handbooks. They confer with records and program officials
and examine representative portions of current and non-current records.
The next important step in a Records Retention Plan is the
selection of types or classes of records under each function that
seem to have continuing value. In making this selection there are
two principal considerations: (1) the.extent to which particular
classes of records provide basic documentation of the organization
and major program operations of the agency and (2) the extent to which
particular classes of records contain useful and unique data about
persons, organizations, things, problems, and the like with which an
agency dealt. In archival terminology popularized by T. R. Schellenberg,
in his book "Modern Archives", the first consideration is known as
appraisal for "evidential value" and the second is called appraisal
for "informational value".
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In selecting records containing important evidence of the
organization and general programs of an agency the archivist and
records managers locate the master sets of what might be called
policy, procedural, organizational, and reportorial documents.
Examples of these documents are directives, organizational charts,
annual work progress reports, samples of program questionnaires,
speeches of top-level officials, and publications dealing compre-
hensively with program activities. Other records of evidential
value that loom large are such as the following: program corres-
pondence showing executive direction and top-level policy formula-
tion and execution, reports of comprehensive audits or inspections,
legal opinions and decisions concerning agency operations, minutes
of top-level staff meetings, and minutes and reports of major advisory
groups.
These classes of records have continuing value for several
reasons. To begin with, the records are necessary tools in deter-
mining administrative responsibility or explaining official action.
As such, they become important instruments in the maintenance of
accountability of the Government to its citizens. Such accountability
is absolutely essential in a free and democratic society. Moreover,
these records are veritable fountains of administrative knowledge and
experience from which may flow insight to solve present problems, or
what is equally important, wisdom to avoid past mistakes. In this
connection one is reminded of the words of the poet and philosopher,
George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned
to repeat it".
The selection of records containing useful and unique information
apart from that about an agency's organization and functions is the
most difficult and challenging task in the preparation of a Records
Retention Plan. These records constitute the greater proportion of
Federal records preserved by the National Archives. They are valued
highly by varied individuals, especially the following: historians,
genealogists, economists, attorneys, and citizens seeking to protect
individual rights. These and other persons place increasing value on
public records for the useful and unique information that they often
contain concerning persons, events, conditions, materials, and pro-
perties. In this large category-of records appraised and preserved
mainly for informational value, rather than evidence of agency functions,
are several large classes of Federal records. Outstanding examples are
the following: census schedules, passport applications, pension case
files, personnel records, property title papers, diplomatic corres-
pondence, ship logs, weather reports, building plans, patent case files,
court dockets, and regulatory hearing transcripts.
In many instances records are found to have important value both
for evidence of administrative organization and action. In such cases
they happily meet the requirements of the administrator and also serve
the needs of the scholar. Elizabeth Drewry, Director of the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Library who has had extensive experience in archival reference
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service once observed: "It is surprising.........to note how similar
are the requirements of the Government investigator who has to use
records of his agency for past years in formulating present policies
and procedures and the requirements of the historian or the economist
or the sociologist who is interested in reconstructing the past."
Examples of records that often possess this dual value are general
correspondence of top-level staff and line offices, speeches of
policy-making officials, comprehensive inspection reports, minutes
of meetings, legal opinions, directives, and periodic reports of work
progress and accomplishments.
So far we have been discussing primarily the work of archivists
and records managers in the records retention program. This work
should be followed by actions taken by agency officers and their
assistants. It is considered to constitute a second part of the
over-all retention planning program. At this stage the records
officers are requested to complete a form listing the records series
or file groups related to the classes of records initially specified
with the aid of the archivists. When completed it should normally
show the organizational unit that maintains the records in question
and the title or titles by which the records are usually known. In
this process the appraisal archivist will provide the records officer
such assistance as may be necessary to ensure that the files listed
on the form are in fact the types of records designated in the first
part of the Retention Plan.
After the archivist and records officer agree as to the particular
files designated for retention, the officer should then devise procedures
for marking, or otherwise designating, and separating the records in
question. Ideally these procedures should involve identification tech-
niques during the period of creation and active administrative use of
the records. To begin with, it will be useful to establish the "office
of record" for classes of valuable records that tend to be accumulated
in several offices. When the "official" series of a particular class
has been established, in the "office of record", it can be maintained
and retired separately from other material considered to have only
short-term reference value.
Classes of valuable records that tend to be created in association
with related temporary papers can be made more easily separable under
certain file arrangements. For example, subject file headings or
separate file groups can be maintained to keep important program
records separate from records pertaining only to housekeeping and
routine management matters. Then too folders distinguished by position,
color, label, or instruction can be used to separate permanent material
from the temporary material. The Department of the Army, for example,
has a system for marking each file folder with disposition instructions.
Furthermore, there is the method of dividing permanent and temporary
papers in a case file such as that used in the Federal personnel folder.
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In some instances, the segregation of permanent files must await
the cut off or retirement process. This is especially true when such
files are only selected as samples from large accumulations of material
or when they are required to be used frequently in association with
temporary files. The marking or flagging of the permanent material at
its retirement by knowledgeable file personnel greatly facilitates its
preservation whether it is to be transferred to the Archives permanently
or to the Records Center temporarily.
Within 6 months after receipt of a Retention Plan an agency is
expected to make any revisions in its Control Schedules that may be
required to ensure the preservation of the records listed in the
Plan. Meanwhile, the Plan also serves as a guide for requesting
disposal authority for records not previously controlled by a Schedule.
The Plan is to be reviewed annually by the agency in order that it may
recommend necessary changes to the National Archives and Records
Service in light of possible organizational or functional changes.
Periodic inspections will be made by the Agency Records Manager to
assure that provisions of the Plan are being implemented.
It is perhaps now evident that retention planning will tend to
designate for preservation records dealing with broad policies and
procedures, summaries of experiences and actions, overall direction
of programs and major phases of programs, principal trends, and
similar matters of broad functional significance or historical
interest. Normally, in the words of the eminent Belgian archivist,
Renee Doehaerd, precedence for retention will be given to documents
of "general scope" over documents of "particular scope". Hence,
retention of large groups of operating records concerning well-known,
standardized, recurring transactions with individuals and organizations
will usually be avoided. Perhaps only samples of such records will be
preserved to illustrate procedures or experiences. Examples of records
susceptible to this treatment are cooperative agreements, contracts,
individual loan case files, complaints, claims, appeals, vendor files,
and varied regulatory transaction files.
In seeking to preserve permanently only useful and unique groups
of records, those preparing Retention Plans will also strive increas-
ingly to avoid recommending the preservation of voluminous records
whose. basic information is preserved in summary records or contained
in widely circulating sources. For example, the Consumer and Marketing
Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture produces in cooperation
with State agencies massive files of daily, weekly, monthly, and other
periodic market news reports. The information in these reports is
disseminated by mail, press, radio, television, telephone, telegraph,
bulletin board, trade journal, and farm publication. Hence, a
Retention Plan for this Federal agency lists for retention only the
annual summary market news reports compiled by headquarters. Similarly
project reports, questionnaires, tabulating sheets, laboratory notes,
and other records whose basic data are found to be widely available in
well-known government and non-government publications will not usually
be considered highly for permanent retention, except possibly in terms
of a few representative samples.
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In conclusion, what can be stated as the benefits to be obtained
from the retention planning program or the identification of records
of continuing value? In the first place, it can be a weapon in the
fight against useless bureaucratic record-keeping practices. This
fight is important to the administrator as well as to the scholar.
When the documentation of an agency's work is freed from entangling
trivia, it is more effective as an aid to administrative review and
evaluation of basic policies, procedures, and programs. These
features of an agency become less fugitive and obscure. The resultant
record product tends to receive greater respect from top-level admin-
istrative and staff officials and win greater interest from them in
its use and preservation. Moreover, selective retention of records
can facilitate the tasks of research specialists who, like administra-
tors, are benefited by the reduction of masses of records to small and
manageable bodies of essential recorded experience. The late Emmett J.
Leahy, long the nation's foremost promoter of records management, once
stated the value of this reduction of records as follows: "Such
reduction is essential to economical management of modern records, to
ready'access to the experience recorded therein, and to the pressing
requirement that we draw more extensively on that experience."
The need for identification of records of continuing value has
recently been given special urgency in the United States by findings
of the Hoover Commission's Task Force on Paperwork Management and by
audits of Federal records management programs by the National Archives
and Records Service. These investigations have called attention to
the Federal Government's massive records holdings and have shown the
need for systematic disposal of records lacking permanent value.
Indeed the problem of identifying valuable records is a matter of
increasing concern in many countries. The Committee on Departmental
Records in England, for example, has declared: "We have no hesitation
in saying that the most important requirement in relation to the preserva-
tion of modern departmental records is a satisfactory method of selecting
those which ought to be preserved." The International Meeting of the
Archives Round Table at Namur, Belgium, in 1955 and the Third Inter-
national Congress on Archives at Florence, Italy, in 1956 focussed
attention on the varied and obstinate difficulties involved in "extrac-
ting from modern official documents those -- and only those -- which
are likely to be valuable to posterity."
The retention planning program is therefore an effort to meet the
widely recognized need for identification and retention of records of
continuing value. Any progress made in this direction will contribute
to the promotion of enlightened and efficient public administration,
protection of public and individual interests, and satisfaction of
varied needs for knowledge from the nation's rich recorded experience.
(EXCERPTS FROM NATIONAL ARCHIVES PUBLICATION - 1970)
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