North Carolina Office of Archives and History

Guide to the Records in the National ArchivesReview by: E. G. RobertsThe North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1949), pp. 472-473Published by: North Carolina Office of Archives and HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23515824 .

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472 The North Carolina Historical Review

as those narrated in this unpretentious book will contribute more

to its spiritual history than the most complete set of names, dates, and statistical data. The six chapters tell of the pyromaniac who

was never caught, the student who ate fried cat as the result of a

bet, the abandoned liquor of a bootlegger's wrecked automobile, the plight of the student-editor who wrote about the "real life"

of the less fortunate country folk, the slug-fest between the stu

dens and the entertainers from the last circus to visit the com

munity, and, best of all, "Doctor" Tom, the colored janitor with

a flair for stupendous malapropisms. These are all good stories, and Wake Forest graduates will

doubtless discern much actual history behind the "legends." To

this reviewer, however, it seems rather unfortunate that the two

young authors felt it necessary to resort to an undistinguished dialecticism to tell their tales. The stories are good enough to

stand alone without the questionable embellishment of laborious

slang.

North Carolina State College,

Raleigh, N. C.

Richard Walser.

Guide to the Records in the National Archives. The National Archives Publication no. 43-13. (Washington: United States Government Print

ing Office, 1948. Pp. xvi, 684.)

This book is an outline or guide to the more than 800,000 cubic feet of public records deposited in The National Archives

through June 30, 1947. Of necessity it is general in scope and is designed to suggest to the research student the types of in formation which can be found in the records. It is a conspectus not a catalog of the records. While the bulk of the materials summarized are manuscript records, there are included also large numbers of maps, motion picture films, still pictures, and sound

recording units. This Guide completely supersedes its predeces sor, The Guide to the Material in the National Archives (Wash ington, 1940), and is supplemented by a quarterly publication, National Archives Accessions, which lists in short form all cur rent accessions of materials.

The descriptions of the records are arranged by "record

groups," the unit of records control adopted in 1944, in the nu

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Book Reviews 473

merical order of the transfer of the records to the National

Archives. A "record group" is a body of records, generally of

a bureau or other agency, which has been brought together

largely because of provenance and convenience of control. The

descriptions are written with painstaking accuracy and con

ciseness. Each contains an outline of the administrative history,

functions, and organization of the agency which has produced the records. Such background knowledge has proved to be one

of the greatest aids for any understanding of the records them

selves which are characterized as to type, quantity, and chron

ological span. For many "record groups" useful bibliographical references on the records or to their producing agencies are

listed. Often these references include important inventories,

indices, finding lists, and the like which were compiled in the

offices of the original agency or in the National Archives.

, A well-written introduction explains the nature, scope, and

limitations of the Guide and outlines the aims, functions, and

services of the National Archives. Information on the regula tions and restrictions governing the use of records is found in

the appendices. A classified list of the "record groups" offers

an approach to the materials which is based on the hierarchical

organization of the government, while a subject and name ap

proach is available through an excellent analytical index.

Duke University Library,

Durham, N. C.

E. G. Roberts.

Michigan and the Cleveland Era, Sketches of University of Michigan Staff

Members and Alumni Who Served the Cleveland Administrations, 1885-89, 1893-97. Edited by Earl D. Babst and Lewis G. Vander Velde. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1948, Pp. 372. Photographs.

$2.50.)

Michigan and the Cleveland Era is in reality not a study of the

state of Michigan during the two administrations of Grover

Cleveland, but it is, as the sub-title indicates, a collection of

biographies of University of Michigan alumni and staff members

who held elective or appointive offices during those years.

In a state which has been predominantly Republican the Demo

cratic party was usually the "out" party. From 1872 until 1932,

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