The National Archives at Fort Worth

Record Groups 200 - 295

Record Group 202
Records of the National War Labor Board
(World War II)

Administrative History
The National War Labor Board (NWLB) was established in the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) by an Executive order of January 12, 1942. It was to act as final arbiter of wartime labor disputes and to pass on adjustments in certain wages and salaries. An Executive order of September 19, 1945, transferred the NWLB to the Department of Labor. The NWLB was terminated by the Executive order of December 31, 1945, that established the National Wage Stabilization Board (NWSB) with all powers, functions, and responsibilities of the NWLB relating to stabilization of wages and salaries as well as limited functions relating to the settlement of disputes. The NWSB was terminated by an Executive order of December 12, 1946.

Records Description
Dates: 1943-1947
Volume: 180 cubic feet
Records of the NWLB and NWSB Region VIII office, which covered Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The records relate to enforcement activities and include administrative files, correspondence of board members, minutes of meetings, legal files, and press releases, Also included are indexes to NWLB and NWSB: Enforcement Case Files, 1943- 1947; Historical and Policy Documentation Files, 1943-1945; Occupational Wage-Rate Survey Reports, 1943-1945; Voluntary Wage and Salary Adjustment Case Files, 1945-1946.

Finding Aids
Entries 174, 177, 178, 238-242, 463, 512 through 514, and 516 in Estelle Rebec, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National War Labor Board ( World War II), PI 78 (1955).

Record Group 207
General Records of the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Administrative History
The Department of Housing and Urban Development had its origins in the Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA), which was established by Reorganization Plan No. 3 in 1947 as the replacement for the National Housing Agency, which had been created in 1942 to coordinate wartime housing activities. The HHFA was responsible for implementing the Housing Act of 1949 until its functions and powers were transferred to the Department of Housing and Urban Development by an act of September 9, 1965.

Records Description
Dates: 1953-1967
Volume: 3 cubic feet
Records of the Fort Worth regional office of the Public Works Planning Program, 1953-1965, and of the accelerated Public Works Program, 1962-1967. The records document costs, contractors, and dates of completion for projects such as construction of parks, recreation facilities, streets, and water and sewer systems in Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. They consist of project control cards.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 211
Records of the War Manpower Commission

Administrative History
The War Manpower Commission (WMC) was established within the Office for Emergency Management by an Executive order of April 18, 1942. Operating through regional and State WMC offices and local offices of the U.S. Employment Service, it recruited labor for the war effort and essential civilian industries, trained labor for essential jobs, analyzed manpower utilization practices to increase labor efficiency, and accumulated national labor market information. It was terminated by an Executive order of September 19, 1945, and its functions were transferred to the U.S. Employment Service.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-1945
Volume: 41 cubic feet
Records of the Dallas regional office, responsible for Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. The records document the economic condition of the area and its response to wartime programs and controls, employment stabilization programs, and discriminatory hiring practices. Included are appeals case files, correspondence, minutes of board and committee meetings, and narrative and statistical reports.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 219
Records of the Office of Defense Transportation

Administrative History
The Office of Defense Transportation (ODT) was established in the Office of Emergency Management on December 18, 1941, to promote the maximum utilization of domestic transportation facilities to support the war effort. It was authorized to coordinate activities of Federal agencies and private transportation groups to prevent congestion and make maximum use of available resources.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-1946
Volume: 13 cubic feet
Records from the Water Transport Department Office, New Orleans; the Liquid Transport Department Office, General Counsel, and Division of Storage, Houston. The records relate to the transportation and storage of oil and are primarily correspondence.

Record Group 228
Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice

Administrative History
The first Committee on Fair Employment Practice was established in the Office of Production Management (OPM) by Executive Order 8802 of June 25, 1941, and then assigned to the War Manpower Commission in 1942. That committee was abolished by Executive Order 9346 of May 27, 1943, which created a new Committee on Fair Employment Practice in the Office for Emergency Management. Both committees formulated and interpreted policies to combat racial and religious discrimination in employment; received, investigated, and adjusted complaints of such discrimination; and assisted Government agencies, employers, and labor unions with problems of discrimination. The Committee terminated its activities on June 28, 1946.

Records Description
Dates: 1941-1946
Volume: 12 cubic feet
Records of Regions X and XIII which covered Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. The records are case files which document actions taken on discrimination complaints and usually include complaints, correspondence, and reports. There is also an index to many of the cases.

Finding Aids
Charles Zaid, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice, PI 147 (1962).

Record Group 232
Records of the Petroleum Administrative Board

Administrative History
On September 11, 1933, the Secretary of the Interior established the Petroleum Administrative Board to enforce regulations issued under the National Industrial Recovery Act intended to prohibit the transportation in interstate or foreign commerce of petroleum products exceeding amounts permitted by State laws or regulations. The Board assumed most of the functions of the Federal Oil Conservation Board, 1924-1934, and was responsible for the enforcement of the Connally "Hot Oil" Act of February 22, 1935. The Board was terminated March 31, 1936, and replaced by the Petroleum Conservation Division.

Records Description
Dates: 1933-1936
Volume: less than 1 cubic foot
Records of the Dallas Field Office relating to the embargo of U.S. shipments of oil to Italy, 1936; legislation; litigation; marketing; production; proration; the Rodessa Oil Field; taxes; and the Texas Railroad Commission. The records are newspaper clippings.

Record Group 252
Records of the Office of the Housing Expediter

Administrative History
A Housing Expediter was appointed in the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion by the President on December 12, 1945, to plan, coordinate, and expedite postwar housing programs. The Expediter was authorized by an Executive order in January 1946 to plan and coordinate a veterans' housing program. The Office of the Housing Expediter, which had been authorized by an act of Congress of May 22, 1946, was terminated by an Executive order of July 31, 1951, and its functions were transferred to the Office of Rent Stabilization of the Economic Stabilization Agency and the Housing and Home Finance Agency.

Records Description
Dates: 1942-1953
Volume: 200 cubic feet
Records of the Dallas regional office. The records relate primarily to rent control activities and include a sample of rent enforcement cases and decontrol surveys. Included are audit reports, advisory board minutes, correspondence, narrative and statistical reports, numbered memorandums, and instructions.

Records of the area rent office, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 1947- 1953. The records document activities of the Rent Advisory Board and include correspondence, minutes, and rent case files.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 253
Records of the Petroleum Administration for War

Administrative History
An Office of Petroleum Coordinator for National Defense was established in the Department of the Interior on May 28, 1941. It was abolished by Executive Order 9276, of December 2, 1942, which created the Petroleum Administration for War (PAW) under the Secretary of the Interior. The Petroleum Coordinator and the PAW were responsible for wartime conservation, use, marketing, and development of oil and other petroleum products. The PAW was terminated on May 8, 1946, by Executive Order 9718.

Records Description
Dates: 1941-1945
Volume: 48 cubic feet
Records of District 3 Headquarters, Houston, relating to oil conservation, use, marketing, and development. The records include correspondence, reports, production statistics, minutes of meetings of committees and advisory groups, and administrative records.

Finding Aids
Entries 1014through1048 in Albert Whimpey and James R. Fuchs, comps., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Petroleum Administration for War, PI 31 (1951).

Record Group 255

Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Administrative History
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA) was preceded by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), created by an act of March 3, 1915. The principal activities of the Committee were the scientific study of flight and aeronautical research and experiment. The Committee was terminated by an act of July 29, 1958, that created NASA and transferred to it committee functions and records.

Records Description
Dates: 1958-1991
Volume: 765 cubic feet
Records of the Office of the Director, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Flight Center (JSC). The records relate to administering, planning, and conducting manned space flight projects including Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and the Space Shuttle. Included are correspondence, technical reports, and weekly activity reports.

Records of the Crew System Division, JSC, documenting life support systems for Project Gemini and power and propulsion systems for Projects Gemini and Apollo. The records are technical reports.

Records of the Public Affairs Office, JSC, relating to Project Mercury and space program equipment made by private industry, 1962- 1966. Included are reference files on press operations and press releases.

Records of the Director of Administration, JSC, relating to Project Mercury and Apollo and including contract administration files.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 269
General Records of the General Services Administration

Administrative History
The General Services Administration (GSA) was established as an independent agency by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of June 30, 1949. The act consolidated and transferred to GSA certain real and personal property and related functions formerly assigned to various agencies. Its purpose is to provide an economical and efficient system for managing Government property and services, including such activities as constructing and operating buildings, procuring and distributing supplies, disposing of surplus property, managing traffic and communications, and stockpiling strategic and critical materials.

Records Description
Dates: 1953-1962
Volume: 18 cubic feet
Records of the Real Estate and Real Property Divisions. The records document the disposal by sale or donation of Federal property (such as airfields, defense plants including some Plancors, forts and other military installations, lighthouses, prisoner-of-war camps, and Veterans Administration hospitals) in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. There are case files, which include correspondence, deeds, and reports of survey and title search. Nontextual records include maps and photographs. See RG 121 and 291 for related records.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory including lists of the location and use of the property.

Record Group 270
General Records of the War Assets Administration

Administrative History
The War Assets Administration (WAA) was established in the Office of Emergency Management by Executive order on March 25, 1946. The chief WAA function was the disposal of surplus consumer, capital, and producer goods; industrial and maritime real property; and airports and aircraft located in the United States and its Territories. The WAA was abolished by an act of June 30, 1949, and its functions were transferred to the newly created General Services Administration.

Records Description
Dates: 1946-1949
Volume: 232 cubic feet
Records of defense plants, Army Air Fields, and prisoner-of-war camps in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The records document real property disposal including the reporting of property as excess, notification of availability, inspection and appraisal, and approval of disposition. They consist primarily of case files. Nontextual records include maps and photographs.

Finding Aids
List of property by location.

Record Group 291
Records of the Federal Property Resources Service

Administrative History
The Property Management and Disposal Service (PMDS), established July 29, 1966, by the Administrator of General Services, assumed functions formerly assigned to the Defense Materials Service and the Utilization and Disposal Service. PMDS acquires, stores, and manages inventories of strategic and critical materials and promotes maximum utilization of Federal personal and real property through donations, sales, and other authorized methods.

Records Description
Dates: 1947-1962
Volume: 228 cubic feet
Records of the Utilization and Disposal Service. The records relate to disposal of Federal property (such as locks and dams, military installations, Post Office sites, prisoner-of-war camps, reservoirs, and Veterans Administration hospitals) in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Included are correspondence, deeds, and reports of survey and title search. Nontextual records include maps and photographs. See RG 121 and RG 269 for related records.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory including lists of locations and uses of the property.

Record Group 293
Records of the Wage and Salary Stabilization Boards of the Economic Stabilization Agency

Administrative History
The Wage Stabilization Board was established by Executive Order 10161 of September 9, 1950, to control wages and salaries during the Korean War. In May 1951, a Salary Stabilization Board was created with authority over administrative, executive, and professional salaries. Wage controls were suspended February 6, 1953, and the boards were terminated April 30, 1953.

Records Description
Dates: 1951-1953
Volume: 2 cubic feet
Records of the Dallas Regional Wage Stabilization Board. The records document activities of the Board and include correspondence, general subject files, and minutes of meetings.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Record Group 295
Records of the Office of Price Stabilization

Administrative History
The Office of Price Stabilization was established within the Economic Stabilization Agency on January 24, 1951, to obtain voluntary compliance with measures to stabilize prices and to establish and administer price regulations during the Korean War. It worked through regional and district offices until it was abolished on June 30, 1953.

Records Description
Dates: 1950-1953
Volume: 10 cubic feet
Records of the Dallas regional office. The records document its activities and include case files, correspondence, a historical resume, memorandums, narrative and statistical reports, posters, price surveys, and manuals of procedures.

Finding Aids
Draft inventory.

Related Microfilm Publications
T460, Defense History Program Studies Prepared During the Korean War Period.

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