Records of the National Archives and Records Administration:
Records of The Harry S. Truman Library (Record Group 64)
Dates: 1957-1971
These records consist of the Library Director's Reading File, 1957-1971. They include letters written by the director, Philip C. Brooks, the museum curator, Milton F. Perry, and other staff members, as well as interoffice memoranda and reports on Library activities. The material is arranged chronologically.
[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description
| Series Descriptions | Folder
Title List]
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Size: 10.4 linear feet (approximately 20,800 pages.)
Access: Open except for a few items that are closed for reasons of personal privacy.
Copyright: Documents prepared by United States Government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain.
Processed by: Dennis E. Bilger (2003).
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AGENCY HISTORY NOTE
The Records of the Harry S. Truman Library are included among the Records of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 64. From the time of the Library's establishment in 1957 until 1985, the Library was part of NARA's predecessor agency, the National Archives and Records Service (NARS), which in turn was part of the General Services Administration. NARA became an independent agency in 1985.
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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION
The first series in the Records of the Harry S. Truman Library is Director's Reading File I, which mostly contains copies of letters from Philip C. Brooks, the first director of the Harry S. Truman Library, and Milton F. Perry, the first curator of the Library's museum. Also included are copies of letters from other Library officials, interoffice memoranda, and reports on Library activities.
The material in this series provides extensive information about the early history of the Truman Library, which was founded in 1957 as only the second presidential library in the National Archives system, and the first to be created under the provisions of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. Among the other unique challenges facing the Library during its early years was the constant presence of the former President himself. Mr. Truman maintained a working office at the Library and was there on an almost daily basis from 1957 to 1966. Still an active and controversial public figure throughout this period, he was also keenly interested in the Library's research and educational activities.
The correspondence, memoranda, and reports in this series document personnel and procedural matters at the Truman Library; contacts with the National Archives and other presidential libraries; relations with Mr. Truman and his personal staff; the dedication and opening of the Library; early museum exhibits; the processing and opening for research of Truman's papers and other archival materials; the development of an oral history program; the solicitation and acquisition of books, manuscripts, and artifacts; the accommodation of visiting researchers; responses to requests for information; and conferences of Truman scholars.
In addition to Brooks and Perry, other authors of documents in this series include Benedict K. Zobrist, Philip D. Lagerquist, and J. R. Fuchs. Zobrist became the Library's assistant director in 1969 and succeeded Dr. Brooks as director in 1971. Lagerquist and Fuchs were the Library's first two archivists, and were involved in processing manuscript collections and assisting researchers.
More information relevant to this subject can be found at the Truman
Library in the papers of Philip C. Brooks and
Benedict K. Zobrist, and in the Library's
oral history interviews with Philip
D. Lagerquist.
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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
| Container Nos. |
|
Series |
| 1-26 |
|
DIRECTOR'S READING FILE I, 1957-1971 |
|
|
Correspondence, memoranda, and reports written by the director and the museum curator of the Truman Library, and by other employees. Arranged chronologically. |
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| Collection Description |
Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
FOLDER TITLE LIST
Box 1
DIRECTOR'S READING FILE I, 1957-1971
- March 1957
- April-June 1957
- July-September 1957
- October-December 1957
- January-March 1958
- April-June 1958
Box 2
- July-September 1958
- October-December 1958
- January-March 1959
- April-June 1959
- July-September 1959
Box 3
- October 1959
- November 1959
- December 1959
- January 1960
- February 1960
- March 1960
- Conference of Scholars, March 25-26, 1960 [on research opportunities at the Truman Library]
Box 4
- April 1960
- May 1960
- June 1960
- July 1960
- August 1960
- September 1960
- October 1960
- November 1960
- December 1960
Box 5
- January 1961
- February 1961
- March 1961
- April 1961
- May 1961
- June 1961
Box 6
- July 1961
- August 1961
- September 1961
- October 1961
- November 1961
- December 1961
Box 7
- January 1962
- February 1962
- March 1962
- April 1962
- May 1962
- June 1962
Box 8
- July 1962
- August 1962
- September 1962
- October 1962
- November 1962
- December 1962
Box 9
- January 1963
- February 1963
- March 1963
- April 1963
- May 1963
- June 1963
Box 10
- July 1963
- August 1963
- September 1963
- October 1963
- November 1963
- December 1963
Box 11
- January 1964
- February 1964
- March 1964
- April 1964
- May 1964
- June 1964
Box 12
- July 1964
- August 1964
- September 1964
- October 1964
- November 1964
- December 1964
Box 13
- January 1965
- February 1965
- March 1965
- April 1965
- May 1965
- June 1965
Box 14
- July 1965
- August 1965
- September 1965
- October 1965
- November 1965
- December 1965
Box 15
- January 1966
- February 1966
- March 1966
- April 1966
- May 1966
- June 1966
Box 16
- July 1966
- August 1966
- September 1966
- October 1966
- November 1966
- December 1966
Box 17
- January 1967
- February 1967
- March 1967
- April 1967
- May 1967
- June 1967
Box 18
- July 1967
- August 1967
- September 1967
- October 1967
- November 1967
- December 1967
Box 19
- January 1968
- February 1968
- March 1968
- April 1968
- May 1968
- June 1968
Box 20
- July 1968
- August 1968
- September 1968
- October 1968
- November 1968
- December 1968
Box 21
- January 1969
- February 1969
- March 1969
- April 1969
- May 1969
- June 1969
Box 22
- July 1969
- August 1969
- September 1969
- October 1969
- November 1969
- December 1969
Box 23
- January 1970
- February 1970
- March 1970
- April 1970
- May 1970
- June 1970
Box 24
- July 1970
- August 1970
- September 1970
- October 1970
- November 1970
- December 1970
Box 25
- January 1971
- February 1971
- March 1971
- April 1971
- May 1971
- June 1971
Box 26
- July 1971
- August 1971
- September 1971
- October 1971
- November 1971
- December 1971
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