Guide to the Records of the U.S. House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989 (Record Group 233)
Chapter 11. Records of the Government Operations Committee and Its Predecessors
Table of Contents
Records of the Government Operations Committee and Its Predecessors, 1814-1988 from Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States
Committees discussed in this chapter:
- Public Expenditures (1814-80)
- Expenditures in the Navy Department (1816-1927)
- Expenditures in the Post Office Department (1816-1927)
- Expenditures in the Treasury Department (1816-1927)
- Expenditures in the State Department (1816-1927)
- Expenditures in the War Department (1816-1927)
- Expenditures on the Public Buildings (1816-1927)
- Expenditures in the Interior Department (1860-1927)
- Expenditures in the Justice Department (1874-1927)
- Expenditures in the Agriculture Department (1889-1927)
- Expenditures in the Commerce and Labor Departments (1905-13)
- Expenditures in the Commerce Department (1913-27)
- Expenditures in the Labor Department (1913-27)
- Expenditures in the Executive Department (1927-52)
- Government Operations (1952-68)
Records of the Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department (1860-1927
11.57 The Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department was created on March 16, 1860. The earliest records for this committee are from the 44th Congress (1875-77).
| Record Type | Volume | Dates (Congresses) |
| Minute Books | 6 volumes | 1875-77 (44th), 1891-93 (52d), 1907-13 (60th-62d), 1919-21 (66th) |
| Docket Books | 3 volumes | 1907-13 (60th-62d) |
| Petitions and Memorials | 8 inches | 1907-13 (60th-62d) |
| Committee Papers | 1 foot | 1875-81 (44th-46th), 1895-97 (54th), 1907-11 (60th-61st), 1919-27 (66th-69th) |
| Bill Files | 2 inches | 1907-09 (60th), 1919-21 (66th) |
| Total volume | 2 feet and 9 vols. (7 inches) | |
| Committee Records Summary Table | ||
11.58 The minute book for the 44th Congress contains information about the committee's actions in investigating alleged abuses and irregularities at the Government Hospital for the Insane (St. Elizabeths Hospital); and alleged frauds involving the issuance of Chippewa and Sioux "Half-Breed" script, land surveys in Washington Territory, the patent of the "Flag-Staff" Mining Company of Utah, and the employees of the Patent Office.
11.59 Most of the petitions and memorials relate to efforts in 1910 and 1911 to establish a national health bureau (61A-H8.2, 62A-H7.1) and to efforts in 1909 and 1910 to establish a children's bureau in the Interior Department (60A-H9.1, 61A-H8.1).
11.60 The committee papers provide information on a 1910 investigation of misuse of funds in the General Land Office (61A-F15.1); efforts in 1908-09 to establish a children's bureau (60A-F14.1, 61A-F15.2); and reviews of the contingent and other expenditures in the Department, including those for St. Elizabeths Hospital and the Freedman's Hospital, conducted between 1896 and 1926. A 91-page volume contains a detailed listing of contingent expenses in the Patent Office during the 1875-78 period (46A-F11.1).
11.61 The bill files contain information on efforts in 1908 to establish a children's bureau in the Interior Department (60A-D5) and in 1919 to create a department of public works (66A-D7).
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to the Records of the United States House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition (Doct. No. 100-245). By Charles E. Schamel, Mary Rephlo, Rodney Ross, David Kepley, Robert W. Coren, and James Gregory Bradsher. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989.
