Records of the Foreign Economic Administration (RG 169)

This record group includes records of the numerous civilian agencies responsible for the wartime functions of export control, foreign procurement, lend–lease, reverse lend–lease, participation in foreign relief and rehabilitation, and economic warfare (including foreign economic intelligence).  The  evolution of those agencies ultimately led to the establishment of the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) in September 1943.  FEA was abolished in September 1945.

In addition to records of the FEA, this record group includes records of the following predecessor organizations:

• Interdepartmental Committee for Coordination of Foreign and Domestic Military Purchases (President’s Liaison Committee, 1939–1941)
• Division of Defense Aid Reports (1941)
• Office of Lend–Lease Administration (1941–1943)
• Office of the Administrator of Export Control (1940–1941)
• Economic Defense Board (1941)
• Board of Economic Warfare (1941–1943)
• Office of Economic Warfare (1943)
• Offices in the Department of State: Division of Controls (1938–1941); Board of Economic Operations (1941–1943); Office of Foreign Economic Coordination (1943);  Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations (1942–1943)

National Archives Preliminary Inventory (PI) 29: Records of the Foreign Economic Administration, prepared in 1951 and updated in 2021, describes the records of FEA and predecessor organizations in more detail.

You can search the National Archives Catalog for entries from RG 169 or see a description in the Guide to Federal Records.