Historical Records Survey. New York (State)

The Historical Records Survey (HRS) was authorized by Presidential Letter No. 1090 on November 15, 1935 to locate and measure local records, to study preservation methods, and to make recommendations concerning maintenance and use. Initially, the HRS was subordinate to the Federal Writers' Project. After a year of conflict between Writers' Project and HRS executive staff, the survey was separated from the Writers' Project and made a full, independent member of Federal Project One, in November 1936.

The HRS in New York State was responsible for the 57 counties outside of New York City, where a separate project also operated. Final responsibility for the content and editing of HRS publications rested with the state (or New York City) office; the national office provided general administrative direction. New York State was divided into twelve districts (district number 5 was the New York City HRS), each under a district supervisor who directed field workers in a number of counties. District boundaries were changed several times during the course of the survey. In 1941 a major redistricting reduced the number of districts to eight, one of which was later divided in two.

The New York State HRS began in 1936 by surveying the records of county government. The following year surveys of municipal government (city, town, and village) records, church records, and holdings in private manuscript repositories were initiated. Field workers completed a survey form for each series of records and each building housing records. Forms were reviewed and typed at district offices, then forwarded to the state office for field review and editing. A small percentage of inventories compiled were actually published.

In 1937 the New York State HRS also began work on the American Imprints Inventory (AII), a national survey of all American printed works produced before 1877. Field workers collected cataloging information from libraries in New York State. The forms collected were forwarded to the national editor of the AII who coordinated the work in all states.

The Division of Archives and History provided advice to HRS prior to 1939. In that year the Federal Emergency Relief Appropriation Act required 25% state or local support for WPA sponsored projects. The Division became the official sponsor of the New York HRS and provided staff and facilities support to the survey.

By 1941 the size of survey staff began decreasing as national defense activities assumed priority and district offices began forwarding their records to the state office in Albany. By April 1942 the survey ceased operating and its records were transferred to the New York State Library. In 1978 the records were transferred to the New York State Archives.

From the description of Historical Records Survey. New York (State) Sub-agency History Record. (New York State Archives). WorldCat record id: 83432463