Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (Navy)


(Record Group 143)
1885-1967

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 143.1 Administrative History
  • 143.2 Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts and its Predecessor 1885-1967
  • 143.3 Records of Divisions and Branches 1932-65
  • 143.4 Aerial Photographs 1945-48
  • 143.5 Motion Pictures (General) 1945, 1963
  • 143.6 Sound Recordings (General) 1944

143.1 Administrative History

Established: In the Department of the Navy by the Navy Appropriation Act, July 19, 1892 (27 Stat. 243).

Predecessor Agencies:

In the War Department:

  • Office of the Secretary of War (1789-98)

In the Department of the Navy:

  • Office of the Secretary of the Navy (1798-1815)
  • Board of Navy Commissioners (1815-42)
  • Bureau of Provisions and Clothing (1842-92)
Functions: Supervised the procurement, receipt, storage, shipment, and issuance of food, fuel, clothing, general stores, and other materials. Maintained and operated naval supply depots and similar units, and supervised activities of Supply Corps officers. Procured, allocated, and disbursed funds. Kept money and property accounts.

Abolished: Effective May 1, 1966, by Department of Defense reorganization order, March 9, 1966.

Successor Agencies: Naval Supply Systems Command.

Finding Aids: James R. Masterson and Fred G. Halley, comps., "Preliminary Checklist of the Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (Navy), 1885-1942," PC 41 (Mar. 1946); Harry W. John, comp., "Supplement to Preliminary Checklist 41, Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (Navy)," NM 50 (1965).

Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.

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143.2 Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts and its Predecessor
1885-1967

History: Responsibility for naval affairs, including supplying provisions and equipment, and handling navy accounts, vested in the War Department, established by act of August 7, 1789 (1 Stat. 49), until a separate Department of the Navy established by act of April 30, 1798 (1 Stat. 553). Logistical functions handled by the immediate Office of the Secretary of the Navy, 1798-1815. Board of Navy Commissioners, established by an act of February 7, 1815 (3 Stat. 202), to provide administrative assistance to the Secretary, assumed fiscal and supply functions. Abolished by act of August 31, 1842 (5 Stat. 579), with functions distributed among five bureaus, including the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, renamed the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, 1892. see 143.1.

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143.2.1 Correspondence

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1885-1966 (8,035 ft.), with indexes, 1894-1925. General correspondence relating to administrative services, 1964-65. Secret and confidential correspondence, 1942-45, 1957-63 (100 ft.). Correspondence concerning chartered vessels, 1917-23; advance bases, 1942-45; a Supply Corps correspondence course for Reserve officers, 1927-38; and commissions in the Naval Reserve Supply Corps, 1935-38. General correspondence of the Board of Survey, Appraisal, and Sale, 1920-26. Subject correspondence, 1963-67.

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143.2.2 Other records

Textual Records:Annual reports of the Paymaster General of the Navy, 1893-1940. Special orders and bureau memoranda, 1902-31. War plans, 1918-42. Security-classified planning files, 1949-64. Specification files, 1918-60. Papers, speeches, lectures, and other records, 1922-60. Subject files, 1945-59. Bulletins, standing orders, intra-bureau orders, and intra-bureau memoranda, 1942-50. Training documents and publications, 1952-53. Files relating to organization of field activities of the bureau, 1947-59. Publications and related records concerning financial, fuel, retail, contract, transportation, food service, supply, medical material, and personnel management, 1922-64. Naval Expenditures, 1934-53. Selected Decisions of the Comptroller General, 1937-50. Reports concerning royalty payments on oil reserve leases, 1931-41. Reports of the inspector of naval petroleum leases in California, 1928-38. Reports of labor-saving devices and storehouse equipment, 1926-33. Tables concerning use of materials, 1935-42. Data concerning a working fund, 1937-42. Appropriation ledgers, 1910-26. History of the bureau during World War I, n.d. Narrative account of the development, construction, commissioning, and operation of the Clearfield, Utah, supply depot, 1942-45 (in Denver). Records of the Supply Department, Naval Air Station, Atlanta, Georgia, 1941-44 (in Atlanta). Planning files, 1956-66. Records relating to navy logistics and supply, 1943-67.

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143.3 Records of Divisions and Branches
1932-65

Textual Records: Project files of the Advanced Supply Research and Development Division, 1932-60. General correspondence of the Storage Division, 1939-43. General correspondence of the War Plans Division, 1940-42. Correspondence of the Logistics Planning Branch relating to the procurement and transportation of supplies, 1943-44. Statistical reports of the Controlled Material Branch of the Stock Division relating to procurement allotments, 1943-46. Project files of the Equipment and Materials Research Division, 1944-59. Correspondence and planning files of the Assistant Chief for Transportation, 1944-52. General property redistribution and disposal records of the Inventory Systems Branch, 1956-65.

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143.4 Aerial Photographs
1945-48

Navy storage facilities and bases, 1945-48 (SF: 1,612 images).

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143.5 Motion Pictures (General)
1945, 1963

Silent film documenting the transport of Japanese internees to the Shimobaru U.S. Military Government Camp, Okinawa, Japan, and camp living conditions, April 14, 1945 (4 reels). Training film, Measuring Readiness--Introduction, 1963 (1 reel).

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143.6 Sound Recordings (General)
1944

Briefings on, and discussions of, various aspects of the movement and procurement of naval supplies, March 27-June 16, 1944 (5 items).


Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


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