Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration [ADAMHA]

(Record Group 511)
1929-93

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 511.1 Administrative History
  • 511.2 Records of the National Institute of Mental Health 1929-85
    • 511.2.1 General records
    • 511.2.2 Records of the Fort Worth, TX, Clinical Research Center
    • 511.2.3 Records of the Lexington, KY, Clinical Research Center
    • 511.2.4 Records of the National Advisory Mental Health Council
  • 511.3 Records of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 1971-90
    • 511.3.1 Records of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
    • 511.3.2 Records of the Task Force on Grants and Contracts to National Organizations
  • 511.4 Records of the National Institute on Drug Abuse 1970-71
  • 511.5 Textual Records (General) 1969-90
  • 511.6 Cartographic Records (General)
  • 511.7 Motion Pictures (General)
  • 511.8 Still Pictures (General) 1993

511.1 Administrative History

Established: As a constituent unit of the Public Health Service (PHS), Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), effective September 25, 1973, by HEW reorganization. Consists of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Renamed Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration by an Act of July 10, 1992 (106 Stat. 325).

Predecessor Agencies:

In the Public Health Service, Department of the Treasury (1929- 39), Federal Security Agency (FSA, 1939-53), and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953-73):

  • Narcotics Division (1929-30)
  • Division of Mental Hygiene (1930-43)
  • Mental Hygiene Division, Bureau of Medical Services (1943-49)
  • NIMH, National Institutes of Health (NIH, 1949-67)
  • NIMH (1967-68)
  • NIMH, Health Services and Mental Health Administration (1968-73)
  • NIMH, NIH (1973)
  • NIAAA, NIMH (1970-73)
Transfers: To Department of Health and Human Services with PHS by Department of Education Organization Act (93 Stat. 695), October 17, 1979.

Functions: Administers, through its component units, programs of research and treatment in areas of substance abuse (alcohol and drugs) and mental health.

Abolished: By the ADAMHA Reorganization Act (106 Stat. 323), July 10, 1992, with treatment functions formerly exercised by NIMH, NIAAA, and NIDA transferred to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a PHS agency established by same act; and with NIMH, NIAAA, and NIDA transferred to the National Institutes of Health as research agencies.

Successor Agencies: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1992- )

Finding Aids: Preliminary Inventory in National Archives microfiche edition as a component of RG 90, Records of the Public Health Service.

Related Records:
Records of the Public Health Service, 1912-1968, RG 90.
Records of the National Institutes of Health, RG 443.
Records of the Health Resources and Services Administration, RG 512.
Records of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, RG 514.

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511.2 Records of the National Institute of Mental Health
1929-85

History: Narcotics Division established in PHS, Department of the Treasury, by the Narcotic Farms Act (45 Stat. 1086), January 19, 1929. Redesignated the Division of Mental Hygiene by an act of June 14, 1930 (46 Stat. 586). Transferred, with PHS, to the Federal Security Agency by Reorganization Plan No. I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939. Assigned, as the Mental Hygiene Division, to the Bureau of Medical Services in PHS reorganization of December 30, 1943, implementing the Public Health Service Act (57 Stat. 587), November 11, 1943. Superseded, effective April 15, 1949, by NIMH, a component of the National Institutes of Health, pursuant to the National Mental Health Act (60 Stat. 425), July 3, 1946. NIMH separated from NIH, January 1, 1967. Assigned to newly established Health Services and Mental Health Administration by HEW reorganization order, April 1, 1968. To NIH, July 1, 1973. To ADAMHA, September 25, 1973. With ADAMHA and PHS to Department of Health and Human Services, 1979. See 511.1.

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511.2.1 General records

Textual Records: Central files, 1940-57 (152 ft.). Historical file, 1947-76. Community services state plans, 1949-54. Annual summaries of state mental health programs, 1947-60. State mental health plans, 1965-85 (51 ft.). Comprehensive mental health planning reports submitted to HEW by states and territories, 1965-66. Research records of the Psychiatry Section, Laboratory of Clinical Sciences, 1954-60. Records of conferences and meetings, 1940-67. Transcripts of meetings of the National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, 1951-59, 1961-68.

Motion Pictures: Distant Drummer series, produced for the Department of Medical and Public Affairs of George Washington University, in cooperation with NIMH, DC Medical Society, and American Academy of General Practice, consisting of three films documenting medical, legal, and international aspects of drug addiction and drug dealing, 1969 (9 reels).

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511.2.2 Records of the Fort Worth, TX, Clinical Research Center

History: Opened as the Fort Worth Narcotics Hospital, October 28, 1938, pursuant to the Narcotic Farms Act (45 Stat. 1085), January 19, 1929, as one of two narcotics treatment facilities (the other was at Lexington, KY) under the Narcotics Division, Office of the Surgeon General, PHS, for addicted federal prisoners. Began accepting neuropsychiatric patients, 1942. Placed under NIMH, 1967, and designated a clinical research center. Closed, with facility transferred to Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, 1971.

Textual Records (in Fort Worth): Site selection files, 1931-44. Reports and correspondence, 1964-71. Correspondence relating to the closing of the center, 1970-72. Changes to organizational manuals ("Transmittal Letters"), 1971.

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511.2.3 Records of the Lexington, KY, Clinical Research Center

History: Opened as the Lexington Narcotics Hospital, May 29, 1935, pursuant to the Narcotic Farms Act (45 Stat. 1085), January 19, 1929, as one of two narcotics treatment facilities (the other was at Fort Worth, TX) under the Narcotics Division, Office of the Surgeon General, PHS, for addicted federal prisoners. Began accepting neuropsychiatric patients, 1942. Placed under NIMH, 1967, and designated a clinical research center. Closed, with facility transferred to Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, February 1974.

Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence, 1948-73. Program evaluation reports, 1970-72. Financial records, 1937-73. Property, buildings, and repair records, 1929-73. Personnel records, 1961-74. Public relations records, 1939-73.

Map (1 item, in Atlanta): Facilities, 1956.

Photographs (21 images, in Atlanta): Facilities, 1956-58.

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511.2.4 Records of the National Advisory Mental Health Council

History: Established by the National Mental Health Act (60 Stat. 422), July 3, 1946, to review research proposals, collect and disseminate information, and provide advice to the Surgeon General in the field of mental health.

Textual Records: Minutes of meetings, 1947-60 and (on 53 rolls of microfilm) 1946-67. Records of the Mental Health Study Section, 1948-55.

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511.3 Records of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism
1971-90

History: Established in NIMH by the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1848), December 31, 1970. NIAAA separated from NIMH to form part of ADAMHA, 1973. With ADAMHA and PHS to Department of Health and Human Services, 1979. See 511.1.

Separation from NIMH recognized legislatively in the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendments of 1974 (88 Stat. 135), May 14, 1974.

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511.3.1 Records of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism

History: Established by the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1853), December 31, 1970, to review proposed research projects and programs, collect and disseminate information, and provide advice to NIAAA.

Textual Records: Agendas, minutes, and transcripts of meetings, 1971-76. Committee management files, 1981-90.

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511.3.2 Records of the Task Force on Grants and Contracts to
National Organizations

History: Established, June 1976, in compliance with directives from the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to NIAAA to evaluate its efforts to provide assistance to state, local, and voluntary associations and to review for continuation of funding all active grants to national organizations, with a report due to the committee by December 15, 1976. Consisted of representatives of NIAAA, NIDA, NIMH, and the Office of the Administrator (ADAMHA).

Textual Records: Report of the task force, 1976.

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511.4 Records of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
1970-71

History: NIDA initially recognized legislatively in the Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act (86 Stat. 85), March 21, 1972, which directed its establishment, effective December 31, 1974, as a component of the National Institute of Mental Health. This provision was superseded prior to its effective date by the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendments of 1974 (88 Stat. 136), May 14, 1974, which declared its immediate establishment outside NIMH. NIDA had, in fact, already been established as a component of ADAMHA in the HEW reorganization of September 25, 1973. With ADAMHA and PHS to Department of Health and Human Services, 1979. See 511.1.

NIDA had no formal predecessors, but it drew upon the work of the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee (FDAPCC) in NIMH and the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) in the Executive Office of the President (EOP). FDAPCC had been established under the Director, NIMH, by HEW Secretary Elliot L. Richardson, pursuant to the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1238), October 27, 1970, as successor to the White House Ad Hoc Committee for Drug Abuse Information (1970), to serve as a multiagency coordinating committee on drug abuse health education. Met five times, February-October 1971. Absorbed, November 1971, by SAODAP, which had been established in the EOP by EO 11599, June 17, 1971, and recognized in law by the Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act (86 Stat. 65), March 21, 1972, which directed that it be reconstituted as an independent agency. Inactive after the establishment of NIDA and the designation of its last director as head of the new institute, it was formally terminated by provision of enabling act, June 30, 1975.

Textual Records: Records of the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee, including records relating to the establishment of the committee, 1970-71; minutes of meetings, 1971; general correspondence, 1971; subcommittee files, 1971; and quarterly report, June 1971.

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511.5 Textual Records (General)
1969-90

Records of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, including correspondence of the Office of the Administrator, 1970-72; records of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, 1969-72; records relating to the National Plan for the Chronologically Mentally Ill, 1979-80; and Institute Committee management files, 1977-90.

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511.6 Cartographic Records (General)

See Map under 511.2.3.

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511.7 Motion Pictures (General)

See under 511.2.1.

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511.8 Still Pictures (General)
1993

Posters: Promoting the prevention and treatment of addictive and mental disorders, 1993 (1 item).

See Photographs under 511.2.3.


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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