The Records Act – Pieces of History

September 17 is Constitution Day. Visit the National Archives website for more information on how to commemorate the day. Today’s post looks at the records act Congress passed under the new constitution.

Charles Thomson served as the Secretary to Congress throughout the Revolutionary War and during the entire period of the government under the Articles of Confederation. Among his many responsiblities, he was in charge of maintaining the records of Congress.

When the federal government under the new constitution convened in New York City in April 1789, Thomson hoped he would be appointed Secretary of the Senate. But the Senate had other plans, instead selecting Samuel Otis as the first Secretary of the Senate.

In his letter of resignation, Thomson agreed to turn over the records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Great Seal of the United States to President George Washington. He suggested that they be placed in the custody of his deputy secretary, Roger Alden, for safekeeping. George Washington agreed, and on July 25, 1789, Alden acknowledged the receipt of the papers from Thompson and waited for further instructions. 

That summer, Congress passed legislation setting up the new government, and the first executive department it established was the Department of Foreign Affairs. The department’s name was short lived, however, and September 15, 1789, Congress passed legislation changing the name of the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Department of State.

This legislation, titled “To Provide for the Safekeeping of the Acts, Records, and Seal of the United States,” known as the Records Act, also expanded the State Department’s authority to include more domestic functions.

For the purposes of records management, it gave the Secretary of State responsibility for the safekeeping of and access to the federal government’s official records and the Great Seal of the United States. It also mandated that the department preserve all “books, records and papers, remaining in the office of the late Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled.”

After George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Alden turned the papers of the Continental Congress over to the State Department. The records included volumes such as Thomson’s daily rough journals of Congress, copies of correspondence sent from Congress, and copies of diplomatic dispatches. The loose papers included major documents such as Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution as well as credentials of delegates, committee reports, and other official communications.

In 1796, Washington transferred to the State Department the papers from the Constitutional Convention that he had been safekeeping. The documents remained in the custody of the department until 1903, moving from building to building as the State Department moved.

After Congress funded a new building for the Library of Congress, there was an effort to move the State Department’s historic collection there once it was open.

In 1903, after Congress passed legislation authorizing agencies to turn over any historic material not needed for current business, the State Department transferred some of its archives over to the library. The department kept some papers related to the Continental and Confederation Congresses, the Constitutional Convention, and other important documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

In 1920, the Secretary of State created a committee to look into preservation of the department’s historic documents, particularly the Declaration and Constitution. Future first Archivist of the United States R.D.W. Connor was a member of the committee.

The committee ultimately recommended that all the historic papers relating to the Continental and Confederation Congresses and Constitutional Convention be reunited in one place and that place should be the Library of Congress. 

Nothing immediately came from the report, but on September 29, 1921, President Warren Harding issued an executive order authorizing the transfer of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to the Library of Congress. 

When the National Archives was created on June 19, 1934, the legislation mandated all archives or records belonging to the United States government be under the charge of the Archivist. The expectation was that all the historic papers at the State Department, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution would come to the new agency.

The State Department held onto its remaining historic collection, including the Bill of Rights, until the late 1930s when they transferred the documents to the National Archives.

The Library of Congress held onto their collection until June 1952, when they sent the records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and Constitutional Convention to the National Archives. On December 13, 1952, the Library transferred the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Along with the Bill of Rights, the Declaration and Constitution are on permanent display in the National Archives Building.