Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Rural Electrification Administration

(Record Group 221)
1934-73

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 221.1 Administrative History
  • 221.2 Records of the Rural Electrification Administration 1934-73
    • 221.2.1 Records of the Administrator's Office 1934-65
    • 221.2.2 Records of REA Divisions 1935-73
      • 221.2.2.1 Records of the Applications and Loans Division
      • 221.2.2.2 Records of the Finance Division and the Administrative and Loan Accounting Division
      • 221.2.2.3 Records of the Engineering Standards Division
      • 221.2.2.4 Records of the Technical Standards Division
      • 221.2.2.5 Records of the Cooperatives' Operations and Management Divisions
      • 221.2.2.6 Records of the Power and Utilization Divisions
      • 221.2.2.7 Records of the Information Services and Personnel Divisions
      • 221.2.2.8 Records of the Administrative Services Division
      • 221.2.2.9 Records of the Telecommunications Engineering Standards Division
      • 221.2.2.10 Records of the Management Service Division
      • 221.2.2.11 Records of the Electric Loans and Management Division
    • 221.2.3 Records of Area Offices 1952-53
    • 221.2.4 Still Pictures (General) 1936-64

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221.1 Administrative History

Established: In the Department of Agriculture by Section 232 of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (108 Stat. 3219), October 13, 1994; and implemented by Secretary's Memorandum 1010-1, October 20, 1994. RUS acquired the administration of electricity and telephone loan programs from the abolished Rural Electrification Administration (REA); and the administration of water and waste facility loan and grant programs from the abolished Rural Development Administration (RDA).

Predecessor Agencies:

  • Public Works Agency (PWA, rural electrification functions, 1933-35)
  • Rural Electrification Administration (1935-94)
  • Rural Development Administration (1991-94)

Functions: Makes loans and loan guarantees to electric utilities that supply and distribute electricity in rural areas, for the expansion and modernization of generating plants and of transmission and distribution lines. Makes loans and loan guarantees to telecommunications entities for the provision of telephone service and high-speed internet access to rural areas. Makes loans, loan guarantees, and grants to rural communities of 10,000 population or less for the establishment, expansion, and modernization of water treatment and waste disposal facilities. Makes loans and grants to corporate entities for the development and expansion of distance learning programs in rural schools and telemedicine programs in rural health care facilities.

Finding Aids: Patrick G. Garabedian, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Rural Electrification Administration, PI 189 (1977).

Related Records:
Records of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, RG 445.
Records of the Rural Housing Service, RG 572.

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221.2 Records of the Rural Electrification Administration
1934-73

221.2.1 Records of the Administrator's Office
1934-65

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221.2.1.1 General records

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1935-65 (128 ft.). Project case files, consisting primarily of correspondence, 1934- 51 (108 ft. and 75 rolls of microfilm), including PWA projects continued by the REA, 1934-35; and defense projects, 1941-43.

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221.2.1.2 Records of REA administrators and other officials

Textual Records: Correspondence, subject files, and other records of Administrators Morris L. Cooke, 1935-37; John M. Carmody, 1937-39; Harry Slattery, 1939-45; and Claude R. Wickard, 1945-53. Records of Acting and Deputy Administrators Robert B. Craig, 1939-43; and William J. Neal, 1943-49. Records of Deputy Administrator William C. Wise, 1948-52. Records of Assistant Administrator Riggs Shepperd, 1946-54. Reference files of consulting economist Harlow S. Person, 1936-53; and of Assistant Chief Robert D. Partridge, Division of Program Analysis, 1946-54. Records of other officials, 1949-61.

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221.2.1.3 Miscellaneous records

Textual Records: Minutes and agendas of meetings of the Administrative Policy Advisory Committee, 1943-46. Correspondence concerning REA state and territorial programs, 1938-39. Correspondence with state organizations, 1938-42, and with REA borrowers concerning telephone interference, 1935-39.

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221.2.2 Records of REA Divisions
1935-73

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221.2.2.1 Records of the Applications and Loans Division

Textual Records: Correspondence concerning the REA power use education program, 1946-53. Field activities reports, summarizing services to borrower cooperatives, 1946-51. Project case files of the Economic Analysis Section, 1937-48. Subject correspondence, 1939-54, and project case files, 1940-47, concerning proposed acquisitions of property by REA electric and telephone borrowers.

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221.2.2.2 Records of the Finance Division and the Administrative
and Loan Accounting Division

Textual Records: Correspondence, 1935-57.

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221.2.2.3 Records of the Engineering Standards Division

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1939-52. Correspondence with borrower cooperatives' associations, 1948-53. Records of the assistant chief, 1950-58. Subject files, 1937-53. Project case files and correspondence relating to wholesale electric power planning, 1946-52. Records relating to power pole pricing and inspection, 1946-51. Records relating to agency programs for electric systems, 1945-60.

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221.2.2.4 Records of the Technical Standards Division

Textual Records: Summarized and verbatim minutes of meetings, memorandums, correspondence, and other records of Technical Standards Committees A, 1946-54; B, 1941-52; and C, 1942-45. Records concerning technical engineering problems, 1936-49. Correspondence concerning inductive coordination, 1939-51.

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221.2.2.5 Records of the Cooperatives' Operations and Management
Divisions

Textual Records: Minutes of meetings of REA borrower cooperatives, 1941-53 (253 ft.). Records relating to retail electric power rates, 1935-51 (137 ft.). Records of management surveys, 1948-51. Case and subject files relating to electric service for national defense installations, 1940-45.

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221.2.2.6 Records of the Power and Utilization Divisions

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and other records relating to wholesale electric power rates, 1935-51 (112 ft.). Correspondence relating to the greater use of electric power by members of borrower cooperatives, 1938-40.

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221.2.2.7 Records of the Information Services and Personnel
Divisions

Textual Records: Records of the Office of the Chief of the Information Services Division, 1937-73. Subject file of the Cooperative Education Section, 1937-52. Correspondence and other records relating to borrower cooperatives' bylaws, 1938-53. Records relating to construction loans and contracts, 1938-45. Minutes of meetings and correspondence of REA committees and training conferences, 1937-52. REA progress bulletins, 1937-40. Rural Electrification News, 1935-53. Miscellaneous printed or processed records, 1935-62. Records of the Training Section, Personnel Division, 1949-52.

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221.2.2.8 Records of the Administrative Services Division

Maps: Created by the Mapping Service Section, showing the location of REA projects and their completion status, semiannually and annually, 1939-51 (1,211 items); state electric systems, 1949-51 (37 items); state electric transmission facilities, 1951-53 (23 items); borrower cooperatives' service areas, n.d. (11 items); and nationwide percentages of farms with telephones and electricity, 1950-52 (3 items).

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221.2.2.9 Records of the Telecommunications Engineering Standards
Division

Textual Records: Correspondence with telephone associations, 1951-52. Records relating to the design and construction of telephone systems, 1945-60. Records of the Telephone Area Office, 1960-66.

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221.2.2.10 Records of the Management Service Division

Textual Records: General records, 1950-63.

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221.2.2.11 Records of the Electric Loans and Management Division

Textual Records: Records relating to approved retail rate schedules, 1956-62, and REA borrower cooperatives, 1954-59.

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221.2.3 Records of Area Offices
1952-53

Textual Records: Project case files, field activity reports, minutes of meetings of borrower cooperatives, records relating to retail and wholesale electric power rates, and records of management surveys, 1952-53.

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221.2.4 Still Pictures (General)
1936-64
13,660 images

Photographic Prints and Negatives: Electrification of farms and the subsequent transformation of rural life, including the installation of equipment and telephones; uses of electricity in rural areas; and REA buildings, administrative activities, and personalities, including Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, 1936-64 (P, G, GUSF, GA, GS, GIFS, GH).

Finding Aids: Annotated selective item list for series G. Box and folder list and microfiche for series P.

Related Records: Photographic series G in RG 16, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture. Photographic series S in RG 33, Records of the Extension Service. Photographic series G in RG 83, Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Photographic series LU in RG 208, Records of the Office of War Information.

Subject Access Terms: Churches (photographs of); cooperatives (photographs of); Einstein, Albert (photographs of); Johnson, Lady Bird (photographs of); Johnson, Lyndon (photographs of); Norris, George (photographs of); radios (photographs of); Rayburn, Sam (photographs of); Roosevelt, Eleanor (photographs of); schools, rural (photographs of); Wallace, Henry (photographs of).


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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