The National Archives and Records Service publishes a variety of descriptions and guides to its holdings that are of use to scholars and the general public. These materials include inventories of record groups, special lists, and reference information papers. Inventories are general descriptions of and guides to the documents in a single record group. They provide a brief history of the agency that created the records as well as a description of each series of its records. Frequently the National Archives publishes a preliminary inventory of a record group to facilitate access to its holdings. Preliminary inventories are somewhat less detailed than inventories but are similar in format.

Special lists are detailed descriptions of a particular series of records within a record group or of a particular subject or activity with which an agency was concerned. Reference information papers describe the materials relating to a given subject that are found in a number of different record groups. As a rule these lists and papers follow no established form or style but vary according to the nature of the records to which they relate.

Previous publications are listed in the leaflet, Select List of Publications of the National Archives and Records Service. Unless otherwise indicated, the new publications described below can be purchased from the Publications Sales Branch (NEPS), National Archives (GSA), Washington, DC 20408.

Microfilm Publications

Orders and Circulars Issued by the Army of the Potomac and the Army and Department of Northern Virginia, C.S.A., 1861-65 (M921) reproduces issuances either forwarded to the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office or retained by the command. The general orders are incomplete, especially for the years 1861 to 1862. These issuances were most frequently used by the commanding general to relate information of interest to the entire command and cover such subjects as administrative or other procedures, general troop movements, and chronic problems as desertion, straggling, destruction of equipment, waste of ammunition, gambling, and the sale of food at exorbitant prices. General orders were also used to announce appointments, brilliant exploits, or deaths of high ranking officers, and to publish exhortations, congratulations, commendations, and other types of messages from the commanding general to the troops. Courts-martial and courts of inquiry were convened by general orders, and the proceedings were summarized therein. Circulars were also used to communicate information of general interest. Special orders generally dealt with matters not of general interest, including duty assignments, leaves of absence, promotions and discharges of enlisted personnel and lower ranking officers, and administrative matters and instructions pertaining to military organizations in the command.

In

Records of the American Section of the Supreme War Council, 1917-1919 (M923) consists of letters, reports, studies, minutes, cablegrams, charts, maps, pamphlets, and books sent to and received from American, French, British, and Italian sources. general, these records reflect the role of the American Section in collecting and analyzing data to support the Supreme War Council's work in coordinating the Allied war effort in 1918, in implementing the terms of the armistice, and in drafting the peace treaties in 1919. Among the more important records included in this series are the following: War College Division studies and memorandums on the United States Army, its organization, training, logistics, and equipment; reports received from Colonels Briant Wells and Arthur Poillon, American Section liaison officers at General Foch's headquarters; reports from military attachés and observers at Allied and neutral capitals on political and military conditions in Russia, Germany, and other countries; cablegrams sent to and received from the War Department; daily operation reports of American and French Army corps; reports, studies, and charts pertaining to the German Army; letters of General Tasker Bliss to Secretary Newton Baker and General Peyton C. March on a number of important subjects; minutes of the meetings of the permanent military representatives; and minutes of the meetings of the Supreme War Council.

Two microfilm publications that reproduce early United States district court records for New York are now available: Admiralty Case Files of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1790-1842 (M919), and Prize and Related Cases for the War of 1812 of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1812-1816 (M928), introductions by Mary Joe Minor. During the years 1790 to 1842 the United States district court for the Southern District of New York was

primarily an admiralty court with its seat in New York City, the country's leading port and commercial center. The court's admiralty records will be of special importance to those interested in maritime law and related matters. The separate prize records relate to the capture of enemy ships, cargoes, and other property during the War of 1812.

Minutes of the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1790-1828 and 1839-44 (M932), introduction by John Saunders, provides a chronological record of the activities of the court.

Case files pertaining to litigation under the first national bankruptcy act passed in 1800 have been reproduced in Act of 1800 Bankruptcy Records in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (M933), introduction by Mary Joe Minor. The act of 1800 was an emergency measure enacted following the business disturbances of 1797 and was in effect for about 311⁄2 years.

The Records of the United States Nuermburg War Crimes Trials, Case 9, United States of America vs. Otto Ohlendorf, et al. (M895), introduction by John Mendelsohn, is the second in a series of twelve microfilm publications reproducing the case records of the United States tribunals that prosecuted 185 war criminals at Nuremberg. In the Ohlendorf Case 24 commanders and officers of special executive commandos were tried for the murder of over one million people, mostly Jews and communists. English and German transcripts of daily proceedings, prosecution and defense exhibits, document books providing English translations of the exhibits and an indication of the sequence in which they were presented in court, briefs, pleas, the official court file, court orders, and judgments and clemency petitions are reproduced. Document books in German, which duplicate the exhibits, were not filmed.

Interior Department Appointment Papers: Mississippi, 1849-1907 (M849) pertains to positions normally filled by presidential appointment: surveyors general, registers and receivers of public land offices, and pension agents. A few records relate to the appointment of supervisor of the census in Mississippi for the 1890 eleventh decennial census. The records, which are arranged by position title and thereunder alphabetically by name of applicant or incumbent, concern such matters as resignations, removals, and investigation of charges against officials, and include letters of application and recommendation, petitions, reports, memorandums, oaths of office, printed application forms, and applications for leave of absence. Both successful and unsuccessful candidates and persons who did not apply but who were nominated by others are listed.

Schedules of the Minnesota Census of 1857 (T1175) lists the number of dwelling houses and families in the territory of Minnesota; the name, age, sex, race, and place of birth of each resident; whether a native or a naturalized citizen; and the occupation of every male over fifteen years of age. The census was taken shortly before Minnesota was admitted to the Union in order to determine the number of United States representatives to to which it was entitled.

Orders, Returns, Morning Reports, and Accounts of British Troops, 1776-1781 (M922) reproduces four volumes of British revolutionary war records received in the Record and Pension Office of the War Department on August 7, 1903, from the Philadelphia Depot of the Quartermaster's Department. Among the records is an orderly book containing copies of British brigade and regimental orders issued mainly at Philadelphia to troops under the command of Sir William Howe, October 26December 17, 1777. There are also two

volumes of returns, morning reports, and lists of officers and men of a detachment of the Brigade of Foot Guards, 1776-81, and a ledger of accounts of the First Company, First Battalion, Brigade of Foot Guards, November 1777-March 1779.

General Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War with Spain (M871) and Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the Philippine Insurrection (M872) reproduce alphabetical card indexes prepared by the Record and Pension Office of the War Department. The index cards give the names of soldiers, their ranks, and the units in which they served. Some cards also refer to miscellaneous personal papers or contain crossreferences to names that appeared in the records under more than one spelling. The compiled service records to which this index applies, which have not as yet been filmed, consist of jacket envelopes for each soldier, labeled with his name and containing card abstracts of entries relating to the soldier taken from original records such as muster rolls and returns and originals of any papers relating solely to the particular soldier.

Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Texas, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 18651869 (M821) includes letters and endorsements sent, orders issued, registers of letters received, letters and reports received, and a record of criminal offenses. The bureau cooperated with benevolent societies in issuing supplies to destitute persons and in maintaining freedmen's schools; supervised labor contracts between black employees and white employers; helped black soldiers. and sailors to collect bounty claims, pensions, and backpay; and attended to the disposition of confiscated or abandoned lands and other property. The assistant commissioner administered all aspects of bureau operations in the state.

Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Texas, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-70 (M822) includes letters and endorsements sent; registers of letters received; record books pertaining to schools, teachers, and bureau educational expenditures; and letters and reports received. The superintendent of education served under the assistant commissioner as a staff officer and was responsible for all aspects of the bureau's educational program in the state. Among the educational functions that the bureau performed were the establishment and maintenance of schools, including day schools for children, night schools for adults, and Sunday schools for both groups; the appointment, pay, and transportation of teachers; and the construction, rental, and repair of school buildings.

Black Studies: A Select Catalog of National Archives and Records Service Microfilm Publications, compiled by Stephen E. Hannestad and Claudine J. Weiher, lists selected National Archives microfilm publications of records relating to the history of American blacks. The films cover ten record groups, including Freedmen's Bureau materials and those of fiscal, military, and judicial agencies.

Inspection Reports and Related Records Received by the Inspection Branch in the Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General's Office (M935) reproduces several thousand files pertaining to Confederate military inspections performed from 1864 to 1865. There are form reports of military commands and units and narrative reports dealing with such subjects as local defense forces, military posts, artillery defenses, prisons, hospitals, commissary, quartermaster, provost marshal, and enrolling offices, niter and mining operations, arsenals, ammunition and arms, and railroads.

Select Audiovisual Records

Photographs of the American City, compiled by Nancy E. Malan, is now available. The selection of photographs listed in this publication depicts the city, its development, and its people and their way of life. from the early nineteenth century to recent times.

Preliminary Inventories

Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, rev. ed. (PI 139), compiled by Mark G. Eckhoff (7 pages, Record Group 267).

Records of the U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920, Volume 2 (PI 172), compiled by Elaine C. Everly et al. (512 pages, Record Group 393).

Inventories

Inventory Series no. 7: Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs, compiled by Edwin D. Anthony (47 pages, Record Group 229).

Inventory Series no. 8: Records of the Public Land Law Review Commission, compiled by Richard C. Crawford (12 pages, Record Group 409).

Reference Information Papers

Reference Information Paper no. Population Data in Passport and Other Records of the Department of State, compiled by Mark G. Eckhoff (7 pages).

Reference Information Paper no. 48: Statistical Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. compiled by Elaine C. Everly (9 pages).