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| Social Security
Textual Records in NARA II |
Part 1: Researching
Social Security
NARA's Brief Overview of RG-47 |
In
1976, the National Archives published a brief overview of RG-47 in
its entirety, including audio-visual and other material not included
in the present work. This brief overview is known as Preliminary Inventory
#183 (PI-183). It has also been published as part of NARA comprehensive
Guide
to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States.
This version of the PI-183 inventory is from the NARA website and
is being reproduced here for the convenience of researchers. |
Records of the Social Security
Administration [SSA]
(RECORD GROUP 47) 1934-79 (783 cu. ft.) |
Table of Contents
47.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
47.2 RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SECURITY
1934-35 25 lin. ft.
47.3 RECORDS OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY BOARD (SSB)
1935-48 427 lin. ft.
47.3.1 General records
47.3.2 Records of the Informational Service
47.4 GENERAL RECORDS OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
1935-73 120 lin. ft.
47.4.1 Records of the Office of the Commissioner
47.4.2 Records of the Office of Public Affairs
and its predecessors
47.5 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND STATISTICS
1962-79 7 lin ft.
47.5.1 Records of the Division of Economic and
Long Range Studies
47.5.2 Records of the Division of Retirement and
Survivors Studies
47.5.3 Records of the Division of Family Assistance
Studies
47.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS
INSURANCE 1936-45 191 lin. ft.
47.7 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY
INCOME 1974-77 11 lin. ft.
47.8 RECORDS OF THE WELFARE ADMINISTRATION 1963-67
5 lin. ft.
47.9 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)
47.10 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL)
47.11 MACHINE-READABLE RECORDS (GENERAL)
47.12 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL) |
| RECORD TYPES |
RECORD LOCATIONS |
QUANTITIES |
| Textual Records |
College Park |
678 cu. ft. |
| Motion Pictures |
College Park |
366 reels |
| Sound Recordings |
College Park |
6 items |
| Machine-Readable Records |
College Park |
22 data sets |
| Still Pictures |
College Park |
72,788 images |
| Filmstrips |
College Park |
10 items |
|
47.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
Established: In the Federal Security Agency (FSA)
by Reorganization Plan No. II of 1946, effective July 16, 1946.
Predecessor Agencies:
Committee on Economic Security, 1934-36 Social Security Board,
1935-39 Social Security Board, FSA, 1939-46
Transfers:
To Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) by Reorganization
Plan No. 1 of 1953, effective April 11, 1953; to Department of Health
and Human Services, formerly HEW, by Department of Education Organization
Act (93 Stat. 695), October 17, 1979.
Functions:
Administers national contributory social insurance programs including
the Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance Program; supplemental
security income program for aged, blind, and disabled; and aspects
of the black lung benefits provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Health
and Safety Act of 1969 (83 Stat. 793).
Finding Aids:
Debra L. Newman, comp., Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the
Social Security Administration, PI 183 (1976); supplement in National
Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories.
Related
Records: Record copies of publications of the Social Security
Administration in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government. Records
of the Public Health Service, RG 90.
Records of the Children's Bureau, 1912-1968, RG 102.
General Records of the Department of Labor, RG 174.
Records of the Office of Employment Security, RG 183.
General Records of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
RG 235.
Records of the Social and Rehabilitation Service, RG 363.
General Records of the Department of Health and Human Services, RG
468. |
47.2 RECORDS OF THE COMMITTEE
ON ECONOMIC SECURITY
1934-35
25 lin. ft.
History: Created by EO 6757, June 29, 1934, to study problems
relating to economic security of individuals and make recommendations
for a national social security system. Members included Secretary
of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, Attorney General, Secretary of
Agriculture, and Federal Emergency Relief Administrator. Report submitted
to the President January 15, 1935, with recommendations for unemployment
compensation, old age insurance, and aid to dependent children, the
aged, blind, and disabled. Officially terminated in April 1936.
Textual Records: Correspondence and other general
records, 1934- 35. Subject files, statistical files, and reports,
1934-35. Correspondence and other records relating to pension plans,
state legislation, and proposals for the Economic Security Program,
1934-35.
Subject Access Terms: National
Conference on Economic Security; Townsend Plan. |
47.3 RECORDS OF THE SOCIAL
SECURITY BOARD (SSB) 1935-48 (427 lin. ft.)
History: Established as an independent agency by the Social
Security Act (49 Stat. 620), August 14, 1935. Consisted of program
area Bureaus of Federal Old-Age Benefits (SEE 47.6), Unemployment
Compensation, and Public Assistance. Assigned to FSA by Reorganization
Plan No. I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939, under which Bureau of
Unemployment Compensation was redesignated Bureau of Employment Security
and given responsibility for U.S. Employment Service, which was transferred
from Department of Labor. SSB abolished by Reorganization Plan No.
II of 1946, effective July 16, 1946, and functions transferred to
SSA.
47.3.1 General records
Textual Records: Records of the board including agenda and
minutes of meetings, 1935-46. Correspondence, speeches, reports, and
other records, 1935-40, arranged in subject, state, and alphabetical
files. Records of the Executive Director, 1935-40, including subject,
regional, state, and alphabetical files. Central files, 1936-45, including
a master file, and regional, state, and alphabetical files.
Related Records: Additional records of the Social
Security Board and of the U.S. Employment Service, in RG 183, Records
of the Office of Employment Security.
47.3.2
Records of the Informational Service
Textual Records: Memorandums requesting approval of policy
recommendations, 1938-45.
Motion Pictures (19 reels):
Public information films describing procedures for obtaining benefits,
1936-40 (12 reels), including Social Security Explained, 1936; Social
Security Benefits, 1940; Your Job Insurance, 1937; The Workers' Old
Age and Survivors Insurance, 1936; Security for the People, 1939;
and Old-Age and Family Security, 1936. Newsreels on the debate for
the Social Security Act and the beginning of the Social Security program,
1936 (7 reels). SEE ALSO 47.9.
Sound Recordings (6
items): "The Year 1939," explaining unemployment
compensation, 1939 (1 item). "Our Town and Social Security,"
depicting the effect of Social Security on the lives of people, n.d.
(1 item). "Labor Registration for National Defense," encouraging
registration for defense work, ca. 1942 (1 item). Recordings accompanying
filmstrips described below (3 items).
Photographs
(25,557 images): Social security programs and benefits; recipients,
workers, unemployed individuals, agency personnel, posters and exhibits,
and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Social Security Act, 1936-48
(G, N, 25,000 images), with indexes. Activities of the Social Security
Board, 1936-48 (GA, 500 images). Activities of the Children's Bureau,
1936-48 (M-CB, 28 images); Office of Education, 1936-48 (M-OE, 19
images); and Public Health Service, 1936-38 (PH, 10 images). SEE ALSO
47.12.
Filmstrips (10 items): "The
Account Number Interview," n.d.; "Finding Men and Jobs,"
n.d.; "I Built That Plane," n.d.; "Looking Forward,"
n.d.; "Operations of the Control Division," n.d.; "Training
Trainers to Train Trainers," n.d.; "Women Working for Victory,"
n.d.; "Families Without Fear," n.d.; "Security for
Today and Tomorrow," n.d.; and "For the Benefit of All,"
n.d., and accompanying sound recordings (FS). SEE ALSO 47.12.
Finding Aids: Partial index to photographic
series N. Index and shelflist to photographic series G.
Subject
Access Terms: Evans, Walker; Lange, Dorothea; Rothstein,
Arthur. |
| 47.4 GENERAL RECORDS
OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION 1935-73 (120 lin. ft.)
History: SSA as constituted under Reorganization
Order No. II of 1946, consisted of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors
Insurance (SEE 47.6), Bureau of Employment Security, and Bureau
of Public Assistance (renamed Bureau of Family Services, January
1962), all from former SSB; and the Children's Bureau, transferred
from the Department of Labor. Bureau of Federal Credit Unions established
in SSA, effective July 29, 1948, to administer FSA responsibility,
under an act of June 29, 1948 (62 Stat. 1091), for the Federal Credit
Union System. Bureau of Employment Security transferred to Department
of Labor by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1949, effective August
20, 1949. Children's Bureau and Bureau of Family Services transferred
to Welfare Administration by HEW reorganization, January 28, 1963.
To implement Title I (Health Insurance for the Aged [Medicare]
Act) of the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (79 Stat. 290), July
30, 1965, SSA was reorganized, pursuant to Commissioner's Bulletin,
July 26, 1965, into Bureau of Disability and Health Insurance, Bureau
of Federal Credit Unions, and Bureau of Retirement and Survivors
Insurance. Bureau of Disability and Health Insurance split into
Bureau of Disability Insurance and Bureau of Health Insurance by
Commissioner's Bulletin, August 19, 1965. Functions of Bureau of
Federal Credit Unions transferred to newly established National
Credit Union Administration by an act of March 10, 1970 (84 Stat.
49). Bureau of Supplemental Security Income (SEE 47.7) established
in SSA, January 1973, to administer Title III (Supplemental Security
Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) of the Social Security
Amendments of 1972 (86 Stat. 1465), October 30, 1972.
SSA reorganization announced in Commissioner's Bulletin 142, January
28, 1975, established the Office of Program Operations under an
Associate Commissioner for Program Operations, to which were assigned
the Bureaus of Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income,
and Retirement and Survivors Insurance, with the Bureau of Health
Insurance continuing to report directly to the SSA Commissioner.
This latter bureau, which administered SSA responsibility, under
Title I of the Social Security Amendments of 1965, for Medicare
and Medicaid programs, transferred to Health Care Financing Administration
by HEW reorganization, March 8, 1977. In this reorganization SSA
acquired the Assistance Payments Administration and the Office of
Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) from the abolished Social and Rehabilitation
Service. OCSE was continued as an autonomous unit, separate from
SSA, but under the direction of the SSA Commissioner. The Assistance
Payments Administration was redesignated the Office of Family Assistance
under an Associate Commissioner for Family Assistance.
SSA reorganization announced in Commissioner's Bulletin, January
5, 1979, but not fully implemented until November 1979, established
positions of Deputy Commissioner (Operations) and Deputy Commissioner
(Programs). To the latter were assigned the Office of Family Assistance
and the Office of Program Operations, redesignated the Office of
Operations, Policy, and Procedures. The bureaus under the former
Office of Program Operations were redesignated offices: Bureau of
Disability Insurance became Office of Disability Programs, Bureau
of Supplemental Security Income became Office of Assistance Programs,
and Bureau of Retirement and Survivors Insurance became Office of
Insurance Programs.
In SSA reorganization of June 1983, the number of deputy commissioners
was expanded to four. Former Deputy Commissioner (Programs), redesignated
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Programs and Policy, was made responsible
for the Office of Family Assistance, Office of Retirement and Survivors
Insurance (formerly the Office of Insurance Programs), Office of
Supplemental Security Income (formerly Office of Assistance Programs),
and the Office of Disability (formerly Office of Disability Programs).
OCSE made an autonomous unit under HHS, April 1985. Assigned, with
Office of Family Assistance, SSA, to newly established Family Assistance
Administration in HHS reorganization, April 4, 1986. Office of Programs
and Policy redesignated Office of Programs, October 1986.
47.4.1 Records of the Office of the
Commissioner
Textual Records: Agenda and minutes of meetings,
1946-63. Minutes of meetings of the Social Security Commissioner
and the Welfare Commissioner, 1946-67. Recommendations, submittals,
notes relating to policy and procedural decisions of the Board of
Social Security, Commissioner of Social Security, and Welfare Commissioner,
with index, 1935-67. General correspondence of the Division of Program
Research, and of the Division of Actuary, 1951-59.
47.4.2 Records of the Office of Public
Affairs and its
predecessors
Motion Pictures (347 reels): Public service documentaries,
newsreels, and shorts, 1951-73 (30 reels), explaining history and
function of social security, Medicare, survivors and disability
insurance, and supplemental security income programs, including
Your Social Security, 1951; The Social Security Story, 1970; You
and Medicare, 1966; Medicare: Health Insurance for People 65 and
Older, 1965; Social Security in the Soviet Union, ca. 1959; Getting
in the Act: A Short History of Social Security, 1973; and Social
Security in America, 1966. Weekly public service television series,
Social Security in Action, 1958-66 (317 reels), discussing the lives
and careers of public personalities, including producer Cecil B.
DeMille, prizefighter Archie Moore, cartoonist Dave Fleisher, writer
Rod Serling, composer Max Steiner, director George Cukor, and such
entertainers as Eddie Cantor, Danny Thomas, Joey Bishop, Jonathan
Winters, Edward G. Robinson, Dick Van Dyke, Edgar Bergen, Harold
Lloyd, Rex Ingram, Paul Lynde, Jane Russell, Rudy Vallee, David
Nelson, and Francis X. Bushman. SEE ALSO 47.9.
Photographs (45,000 images): SSA personnel, conferences
and conventions, beneficiaries, and social service programs; SSA
personnel visiting rural and urban areas; Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower
and Harry S. Truman; and President Lyndon B. Johnson signing Medicare
law, 1953-70 (SSA). SEE ALSO 47.12.
Color Slides (2,211 images): Trip by SSA personnel
to Soviet Union, Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Berlin, and West Germany,
1958 (SSC, 597 images). African-American children, 1968 (SSD, 64
images). SSA personnel; conventions; advertising campaigns; disabled
people; migrant workers in California; and Presidents Truman, Kennedy,
and Johnson, 1955-67 (SSB, 1,570 images). SEE ALSO 47.12. |
| 47.5 RECORDS OF THE
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND STATISTICS
1962-79
7 lin ft.
History: SSA Division of Program Research redesignated
Division of Research and Statistics by HEW reorganization, January
28, 1963. Redesignated Office of Research and Statistics in SSA
reorganization pursuant to Commissioner's Bulletin, July 26, 1965.
47.5.1 Records of the Division
of Economic and Long Range Studies
History: Established in the Office of Research
and Statistics, April 1968. With Census Bureau and Internal Revenue
Service, conducted 1973 Exact Match Study.
Machine-Readable Records (6 data sets): 1973 Exact
Match Study, linking Social Security and Internal Revenue Service
data with Census Bureau information, with supporting documentation.
SEE ALSO 47.11.
Related Records: Statistics of Income, in RG 58,
Records of the Internal Revenue Service. Current Population Surveys,
in RG 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census.
47.5.2 Records of the Division of Retirement and
Survivors
Studies
History: Established in the Office of Research
and Statistics, April 1968.
Machine-Readable Records (10 data sets): Longitudinal
Retirement History Study (RHS), 1969-79 (9 data sets), with supporting
documentation. Study of 1967 demographic and economic characteristics
of the aged, 1967-75 (1 data set), with supporting documentation.
SEE ALSO 47.11.
47.5.3 Records of the Division of Family Assistance Studies
History: Established in the Office of Research
and Statistics in 1980.
Textual Records: Correspondence and other records
relating to eligibility review of aid to families with dependent
children (AFDC), 1962-64.
Machine-Readable Records (6 data sets): Characteristics
of households receiving AFDC benefits, 1967-77, with supporting
documentation. SEE ALSO 47.10. |
47.6 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU
OF OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE
1936-45 (191 lin. ft.)
History: Established in the Social Security Board as the
Bureau of Federal Old-Age Benefits under Title II of the Social Security
Act (49 Stat. 620), August 14, 1935. Renamed Bureau of Old-Age Insurance,
June 1937, following Supreme Court decision of May 24, 1937, upholding
constitutionality of Titles II and VIII of the Social Security Act.
Redesignated Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, August 1939,
with responsibility for administering monthly survivors benefits under
Title II (Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Benefits), effective
January 1, 1940, of the Social Security Act Amendments of 1939 (53
Stat. 136), August 10, 1939. Abolished in HEW reorganization of January
28, 1963, with SSA Commissioner assuming direct administration of
former components. Reconstituted as Bureau of Retirement and Survivors
Insurance in SSA reorganization pursuant to Commissioner's Bulletin,
July 26, 1965. Assigned in SSA reorganization to newly established
Office of Program Operations under Assistant Commissioner for Program
Operations, by Commissioner's Bulletin 142, January 28, 1975. Redesignated
Office of Insurance Programs in SSA reorganization, and assigned to
redesignated Office of Operations, Policy, and Procedures, under Deputy
Commissioner (Programs), by Commissioner's Bulletin, January 5, 1979.
Redesignated Office of Retirement and Survivors Insurance, under redesignated
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Programs and Policy in SSA reorganization,
June 1983.
Textual Records: General correspondence
("Master File"), 1936-45. Correspondence with regional offices
("Regional File"), 1936-45; field offices ("Field File"),
1936-45; and area offices ("Area File"), 1942-45. Weekly,
monthly, and annual reports, 1936-40. |
47.7 RECORDS OF THE OFFICE
OF SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME
1974-77 (11 lin. ft.)
History: Adult Assistance Task Force and Program Policy Staff
established in SSA, October 1971, to deal with proposed legislation
federalizing adult welfare benefits. Two units merged to form Adult
Assistance Planning Staff, February 1972. Superseded by Bureau of
Supplemental Security Income, established January 1973, to administer
SSA responsibilities under Title III (Supplemental Security Income
for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) of the Social Security Amendments
of 1972 (86 Stat. 1465), October 30, 1972, effective January 1, 1974.
Assigned in SSA reorganization to newly established Office of Program
Operations, under Associate Commissioner for Program Operations, by
Commissioner's Bulletin 142, January 28, 1975. Redesignated Office
of Assistance Programs in SSA reorganization and assigned to redesignated
Office of Operations, Policy, and Procedures, under Deputy Commissioner
(Programs) by Commissioner's Bulletin, January 5, 1979. Redesignated
Office of Supplemental Security Income, under redesignated Deputy
Commissioner, Office of Programs and Policy in SSA reorganization,
June 1983.
Textual Records: State supplemental
agreements, 1974-77. |
47.8 RECORDS OF THE WELFARE
ADMINISTRATION 1963-67 (5 lin. ft.)
History: Established by HEW reorganization of January 28,
1963. Consisted of Bureau of Family Services, Children's Bureau, Office
of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development, and Cuban Refugee Staff.
Abolished and functions assigned to Social and Rehabilitation Service
in HEW reorganization, August 15, 1967.
Textual Records:
Minutes of staff meetings, 1963-67. State emergency welfare file,
1963-67. Organizational planning studies, 1967. Records relating to
the Cuban Refugee Program, 1962-65. |
47.9 MOTION PICTURES
(GENERAL)
SEE UNDER 47.3.2 and 47.4.2.
47.10
SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL)
SEE UNDER 47.3.2.
47.11
MACHINE-READABLE RECORDS (GENERAL)
SEE UNDER 47.5.1-47.5.3.
47.12
STILL PICTURES (GENERAL)
SEE Photographs UNDER 47.3.2 and 47.4.2.
SEE Color Slides UNDER 47.4.2. SEE Filmstrips UNDER 47.3.2. |
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 |
|
www.socialsecurity.gov
