Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Smaller War Plants Corporation [SWPC]


(Record Group 240)
1940-48
278 cu. ft.

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 240.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
  • 240.2 GENERAL RECORDS OF THE SWPC 1942-46 33 lin. ft.
  • 240.2.1 Records of the Board of Directors
  • 240.2.2 Records of the Chairman of the Board
  • 240.3 RECORDS OF SWPC STAFF OFFICES 1941-47 203 lin. ft.
  • 240.3.1 Records of the Office of Special Consultants
  • 240.3.2 Records of the Office of Engineering Advisors
  • 240.3.3 Records of the Office of Administrative Finance and Management
  • 240.3.4 Records of the Office of Reports
  • 240.3.5 Records of the Office of Reconversion
  • 240.3.6 Records of other offices
  • 240.4 RECORDS OF SWPC BUREAUS 1942-46 70 lin. ft.
  • 240.4.1 Records of the Loan Bureau
  • 240.4.2 Records of the Operations Bureau
  • 240.4.3 Records of the Field Bureau
  • 240.5 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF SMALL BUSINESS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 1940-48 15 lin. ft.
  • 240.6 RECORDS OF FIELD OFFICES 1943-46 3 lin. ft.

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240.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Established: Under the general supervision of the War Production Board, by an act of June 11, 1942 (56 Stat. 351).

Functions: Promoted effective utilization of small businesses producing war material and essential civilian supplies.

Abolished: Effective January 28, 1946, by EO 9665, December 27, 1945.

Successor Agencies: Reconstruction Finance Corporation (lending activities); War Assets Corporation (surplus property allocation and disposal priorities); and Office of Small Business, Department of Commerce (all other functions). Functions transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation were abolished by act of June 30, 1947 (61 Stat. 202).

Finding Aids: Katherine H. Davison, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Smaller War Plants Corporation, PI 160 (1964).

Related Records: Records of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, RG 151.
Records of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, RG 234.

Subject Access Terms: World War II agency.

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240.2 GENERAL RECORDS OF THE SWPC
1942-46
33 lin. ft.

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240.2.1 Records of the Board of Directors

Textual Records: Minutes of board meetings, 1942-46. Records of board clerk Marion T. Woodruff, 1943-45. Records of board officials, 1942-46. SWPC general files, 1943-46.

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240.2.2 Records of the Chairman of the Board

Textual Records: Correspondence and memorandums relating to policy and legal matters, 1943-46. Correspondence and other records of Chairman Maury Maverick, 1943-46. Records of Acting Chairmen Albert M. Carter, 1942-45, and Lawrence F. Arnold, 1945- 46. Reports, correspondence, and memorandums of Secretary Jesse Robison, 1943-46.

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240.3 RECORDS OF SWPC STAFF OFFICES
1941-47
203 lin. ft.

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240.3.1 Records of the Office of Special Consultants

Textual Records: Records of special consultants William J. Bray, 1943; Louis C. Reynolds, 1943-45; Coronado Walter Fowler, 1942- 45; and Luther B. Gulick, 1944-45. Correspondence reflecting the attitude of small businesses toward the SWPC, 1943-44. Histories of the SWPC, 1945. Records relating to lumber and the SWPC lumber program, 1942-46. Records of the paint project, 1943-45.

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240.3.2 Records of the Office of Engineering Advisors

Textual Records: General file, 1943-44. Subject files relating to regional engineering advisory councils, primary contractors, aircraft, and shipbuilding, 1943-44.

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240.3.3 Records of the Office of Administrative Finance and
Management

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and reports, 1943- 46. Directives, forms, and other SWPC issuances, 1942-45. Personnel records and investigative reports, 1942-45. Washington office correspondence with regional offices, 1942-46. Central file of the Business Services Division, 1942-46.

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240.3.4 Records of the Office of Reports

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and reports of the Director's Office, 1944-46. Records relating to statistics and statistical reporting, 1943-45. Reports and other records accumulated by Directors C.C. Fichtner, 1944, and John M. Blair, 1945-46. Miscellaneous reports of the Research and Statistical Section, 1941-46; and correspondence and related records of section chief Frank A. Hanna, 1942-43. Records of the Planning and Research Branch, consisting of general records, 1943-44; records relating to small business associations, 1944; and economic studies, 1944. Correspondence and statistical and narrative reports maintained by Kenneth C. Beede, branch chief, Operating Analysis Branch, 1942-46. Records of the Reporting Branch relating to the submission of bimonthly reports to the President and to the Congress, 1942-46. Machine tool survey reports, working papers, tabulations, and other records of the Statistics Division, 1945-46.

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240.3.5 Records of the Office of Reconversion

Textual Records: Studies and correspondence of senior economist Siegfried S. Hirsch, relating to industrial development corporations, 1944-45. Company case files documenting procurement requests for materials and related services, 1943-46. Correspondence, memorandums, and other records maintained by officials of the Agency Contract, Labor Policy, Surplus Property, and Contract Settlement Divisions, 1943-46.

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240.3.6 Records of other offices

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, reports, and agendas maintained by General Counsel Joseph W. Kaufman and other officials of the Office of General Counsel, 1944-47. Records of Comptroller R.F. Nachtrieb, 1944-45. Correspondence, memorandums, and reports of Office of Information Director Paul H. Jordan, 1945-46.

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240.4 RECORDS OF SWPC BUREAUS
1942-46
70 lin. ft.

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240.4.1 Records of the Loan Bureau

Textual Records: Memorandums, reports, and time studies of assistant chief loan agent Carroll A. Gunderson, 1943-44. Miscellaneous records of the bureau chief, 1943-45. Loan management reports, correspondence, and memorandums, 1944-46. Correspondence and other records of officials of the Loan Management Division, 1943-46.

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240.4.2 Records of the Operations Bureau

Textual Records: General records, 1943-45. Records of the Office of the Chief of Operations, including surplus property correspondence, 1945-46; and records of senior bureau officials, including Jesse French, 1944, M. Rea Paul, 1943-46, and J. Kennard Weddell, 1944-46. Records of the Contracting Division, including records of the Pooling Section, 1942-46; and records of the Lumber Section, 1943-46. Records of the Maritime Division, including records of division chief William E. Flanagan, 1943-46; records relating to procurement and awards, 1943-45; correspondence with regional offices, 1943-44; and records of the predecessor Maritime Staff, 1942-45. Records of the Procurement Division, consisting of records of director Eugene F. Kinnaird, 1944-45; a crankshaft manufacturing plant facilities survey, 1942; tire and tube company procurement records, 1943; and records of the Army Branch, 1943-46. Records of the Production Service Division, including records relating to the paint project, 1943-45. Records of the Technical Advisory Service, 1943-46.

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240.4.3 Records of the Field Bureau

Textual Records: Correspondence of the bureau chief, 1943-44. Correspondence with field offices, 1944-45. Field letters and memorandums, 1943-45. Minutes, agendas, and other general records, 1943-46.

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240.5 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF SMALL BUSINESS, DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE
1940-48
15 lin. ft.

Textual Records: Reports on services rendered to small business, 1946-47. Records of the Publications Officer, 1940-47. Miscellaneous records of John E. Saunders, Office of the General Counsel, 1943-48. Records of Warren F. Hickernell, acting chief, Finance and Tax Division, 1946. Correspondence, memorandums, and letters of the Business Counseling Division, 1944-46. Correspondence, reports, and general records of the Management Division, 1942-47. Records of the Industrial Production Division, consisting of general records, 1947-48; and memorandums, correspondence, and reports maintained by Maj. Carroll W. Dunning, Harry E. Pontius, and other division officials, 1946-48.

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240.6 RECORDS OF FIELD OFFICES
1943-46
3 lin. ft.

Textual Records: Reports of the San Francisco, CA, Regional Office, 1943-44. Correspondence of the Baltimore, MD, Area Office, 1944-46. Miscellaneous records of regional and area offices, 1943-46.


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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