Guide to NARA Collection
Social Security Textual Records in NARA II
Part 1: Researching Social Security
Related Sources in Other Federal Records
Editor's Note: This narrative is
from Abe Bortz's 1969 book, slightly edited and updated for currency.
SINCE ITS BEGINNING, the Social Security Administration has carried
on extensive dealings with various elements of the executive, judicial,
and legislative branches of the Federal Government. Among these are
the Departments of Labor, Agriculture, and Justice; the Treasury and
its Internal Revenue Service; the Bureau of the Budget; the Veterans'
Administration; and the Supreme Court. In the files of these agencies
may be found some documents that can supplement, or round out, the
history gleaned from social security records.
Of primary interest, perhaps, are the records of the Federal Security
Agency, which in 1939 was established as a parent organization for
the Social Security Board and certain other previously independent
agencies. In 1953 it was given cabinet status and renamed the Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare. Its records are retained under
Record Group 235. (Editorial
Note: In 1980 HEW was replaced by the Department of Health & Human
Services (HHS), whose records are housed in RG-468. SSA was part of
HHS until 1995 when it became an independent agency within the Federal
government.) The following
file classifications of this agency's records may be especially important:
010-019, covering legislation, health insurance, etc.; 030, correspondence
with Congress and the President; 040, dealings with other Federal
agencies; 050, research and statistics (including studies made by
outside organizations for the Social Security Administration, and
its subordinate bureaus); 110, appropriations; 320, history, reorganization,
cabinet status, Hoover Commission findings, and transfers of bureaus
in and out of the agency; 370, national meetings, conferences; 500,
employment security matters; 600, public assistance; and 700, old-age
and survivors insurance.
Not surprisingly, a great deal of information on social security is
to be found in records of the Department of Labor. After all, the
Social Security Board was originally to have been placed in that Department,
according to proposals in the CES Report and the initial Wagner-Lewis
and Doughton measures.
Miss Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor, was chairman of the
CES; her second Assistant Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Altmeyer,
headed its technical board, later served on the three-man Social Security
Board, and subsequently became its chairman; Thomas Eliot, a young
lawyer on Miss Perkins legal staff, had a major role in drafting the
social security measure itself, and became the first general counsel
of the Board when it was established. Miss Perkins represented the
Social Security Board at cabinet meetings, and the President consulted
with her on social security matters dealing with personnel appointments,
amendments, and other issues. Thus, throughout her tenure in office
close coordination was maintained between the Board and the Department
of Labor.{1}
For information on events taking place during Miss Perkins' period
of service, the researcher should turn to records of the Office of
the Secretary (of Labor), general subject file, 1933-1940 and 1940-1944.
These are in Record Group 174 at the National Archives Building. Preliminary
Checklists 28 and 58 are helpful in securing an understanding of the
records. Also, an index has been developed that covers some 20,000
Department-level documents dating from 1913, when the Department was
established, to 1932. For the next 10-year period, only a small amount
of administrative material is included. The index carries a brief
summary of each document.{2}
Records of that Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics are separately
maintained under Record Group 257. No preliminary inventory has as
yet been prepared for them. These records provide an additional source
for materials on the social insurance movement before 1935. From them
can be gained a picture of the progress of the earlier movement all
around the country (including Alaska), as well as the fate of the
earlier Federal proposals to provide benefits under old-age and unemployment
insurance. They also include information on procedures used in several
foreign countries.
A number of the standing committees in Congress have through the years
taken up various aspects of social security, but the two that have
had the greatest impact on the design and direction of the law are
the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, and
the Finance Committee of the Senate. Others whose records may contain
pertinent references are: the Appropriations Committees of both Houses,
the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, the Senate Committee
on Education and Labor, the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce, the Senate's Special Committee to Investigate Unemployment
and Relief (1937-1938), and various other special committees, such
as the Senate Finance Committee's Special Committee to Investigate
the Old Age Pension System (1940-1941), and the Senate's more recent
Special Committee on the Aging.
The hearings held by these committees have been printed and thus present
no problem to the researcher with access to a good library. For further
details on legislative records one may turn to Preliminary Inventory
23 which relates to Record Group 46 (the Senate), and to Preliminary
Inventory 113, relative to Record Group 233 (the House of Representatives)
Records of these congressional committees also contain bills that
were introduced and rejected, or on which action was never taken;
and some resolutions, petitions, and memorials from private-interest
groups, political subdivisions, and individuals. However, since the
proceedings of the executive sessions of the committees are not open
to scholars, reliance must be placed on materials to be found in records
of executive departments, in magazine and newspaper articles, secondary
works, and the personal papers of leading figures in Congress. Significant
in a history of social security might be the personal papers of Congressman
Robert L. Doughton, which are at the University of North Carolina;
papers of Congressman David J. Lewis, at the Duke University Library;
those of Senator James L. Murray, at Montana State University; and
those of Senator Robert F. Wagner, at Georgetown University.
Records of the National Resources Planning Board and its predecessors
may prove of interest. Originating in 1934, the body's purpose was
to attack the economic ills of the Nation on several fronts. In accomplishing
this, it was to prepare and present to the President a program for
the development and use of land, water, and other national resources.
Until it went out of existence in 1944, it conducted studies in such
areas as employment security, manpower planning, and related human
resources. National Archives maintains it records under Record Group
187. Preliminary Inventories 50 and 64 apply to these files.
Here may also be mentioned the National Emergency Council, established
by the President in November of 1933. It was made up of cabinet members
and heads of important agencies, and had as its purpose the coordination
of interagency organization and the work of new government agencies,
so as to secure greater efficiency and productivity. It was consolidated
with the Executive Council a year later, and finally abolished in
mid-1939. It is noteworthy for the researcher because of the insight
into social security history and into the New Deal as a whole that
its records may provide.{3}
The minutes of the Council meetings are available at National Archives
under Record Group 44. Preliminary Inventory 35 applies to these records.
In 1947 the Congress established the Commission on Organization of
the Executive Branch of the Government. It was to serve for a 2-year
period, to study and recommend organizational changes for economy,
efficiency, and improved service. Headed by ex-President Herbert Hoover,
it was generally referred to as the Hoover Commission. Among the recommendations
in its report were some relating to the Social Security Administration.
A second Hoover Commission was set up in 1953. Records of these groups
are stored at Archives under Record Group 264.
Because the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional some of the
New Deal programs, the Social Security Board had difficulty in securing
public acceptance of its programs until after a ruling on the constitutionality
of the act itself. Some of the agency's activities in connection with
cases involving constitutionality are indicated in the Informal Minutes
of the Social Security Board, in the chairman's files and those of
the executive director, and, particularly, in the collection of the
Board's general counsel. Since the Office of the General Counsel was
transferred to the parent agency in 1939, the records are stored with
those of the Federal Security Agency, in Record Group 235.
The retired files of the Supreme Court repose in the National Archives
under Record Group 267, and Preliminary Inventory 139 and Checklist
81 are available for use in identifying their content. However, records
on a case decided by the Court are not received by the National Archives
until 50 years after the case is closed.{4}
A check of the stored records indicates there is little archival matter
that can be made available to researchers other than that which has
already been printed or bound in volumes. This material includes lower
court records as certified to the Supreme Court, actions, motions
filed, and briefs submitted--as well as decisions of the Supreme Court
itself. These can be used in the library of the Supreme Court or Department
of Justice, or in the Library of Congress.
Another source on the constitutionality decision and on other significant
issues is provided by records of the Department of Justice. Its stored
files are in Record Group 60, and Preliminary Checklists 11, 24, and
38 supply some guidance to them. In addition, there is an extensive
card catalog that refers to individual documents by number. These
include all the pertinent court cases dealing with the Social Security
Act. The general classification number for social security matters
is 137; under this number the following subgroups may be of interest:
01, legislation; 012, policy and procedure; 016, definitions and interpretations;
02, Department orders and memoranda; and 03, coordination, conferences,
and agreements.
Some of the issues represented in these records are: proposed amendments
to the Social Security Act, and technical details regarding their
wording; application of the confidentiality rule for social security
records in cases of deserting parents or fugitives from justice; proposals
to deny coverage to Communist Party members and similar groups; bankruptcy
cases involving social security taxes; differences with operating
officials in interpreting the statute; problems in social security
coverage of certain religious groups, such as the Amish, and the development
of procedures for the detection and investigation of violations of
the act, including fraud cases.
The Treasury Department has had an interest in social security matters,
extending from the time the Economic Security Bill was first introduced
in Congress. Its stand has generally been most influential in deciding
the fate of proposed changes in the Social Security Act. In the beginning,
and for a number of years thereafter, the Treasury had its own internal
Committee on Social Security. An examination of the Treasury records
can supply the researcher with an understanding of the Department's
position on a particular matter, and its reasons for taking that position.
Through the years there have been some differences of opinion between
officials of the Treasury and of the Social Security Administration
in regard to taxation and the technical and administrative questions
involved in the operation of the act. The differences undoubtedly
stemmed from the fact that the tax and benefit determinations were
being made by two separate agencies.
Records of the Treasury Department are not the easiest to work with,
since they are not centrally maintained. However, a considerable portion
of the most pertinent material remains in the office of the Treasury
Secretary or Assistant Secretary. Records lodged with the National
Archives are stored under Record Group 56, but no preliminary inventory
is available to assist in their use.
Although the Internal Revenue Service is a part of the Department
of the Treasury, the records it has sent to the National Archives
have been kept completely separate. These make up Record Group 58,
for which Preliminary Inventory 14 has been prepared. In this case
also, most of the pertinent records remain with the agency and, to
a large extent, these have been decentralized to various sub-units.
Thus, the researcher must know specifically what he is looking for
or resign himself to considerable loss of time.
In studying the various amendments to the Social Security Act, it
would be well to turn to the records of the Bureau of the Budget.
Since each measure brought up for presidential action must receive
the consideration of the Budget Bureau, the researcher can see in
these records the presidential views on issues, as officially expressed
by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget--and, in some instances,
in handwritten notes by the President himself. Some of the comments
of congressional leaders and of the Government officials to be involved
in carrying out the proposed changes provide an interesting sidelight.
Records of the Budget Bureau are excellently maintained, both as to
those lodged with National Archives under Record Group 51, and those
that are retained by the agency. Preliminary Inventory 98 applies
to the stored records. Of the files still kept by the Bureau, those
relating to the Eisenhower years and earlier are available to scholars.
Some phases of social security history are reflected in Veterans'
Administration records. In carrying out the Servicemen's Readjustment
Act of 1944, the Veterans' Administration certified to the Social
Security Administration the amounts needed by the individual State
agencies. In the 1940's and 1950's, several pieces of legislation
provided certain groups of veterans with coverage under social security
in a stipulated amount for each month of wartime service performed
between 1940 and 1956. Subsequently, the agency also worked closely
with the Social Security Administration in carrying out the disability
provisions of the Social Security Act.
Retired files of the Veterans' Administration are in Record Group
15, and the material is easy to identify and to secure. Useful, too,
are Preliminary Inventory 55 and a number of checklists and subject
lists. A central file, in subject-numerical order, was maintained
from 1929 until the records were decentralized in 1959. The general
category for social security matters in these files is 003.
2. For additional details, see Oswald L. Harvey, "Inventory of Department of Labor Archives," Labor History, Spring 1963, vol.4, No.2, pp. 196-198.
3. Records of the National Emergency Council are on microfilm at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at Hyde Park, New York. For the printed verbatim account of the meetings of the Council, see New New Deal Mosiac: Roosevelt Confers with his National Emergency Council, 1933-1936; edited by Lester O. Seligman and Elmer E. Cornwell, Jr.; University of Oregon Books, 1965.
4. See H. C. Hallam, et al., "U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs: A Union List with a Note on Their Distribution and Microfiiming" Law Library Journal, vol.40, May 1947, pp. 82-84.