---

RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

MID-ATLANTIC REGION

RECORD GROUP 255

---

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was preceded by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), created by an act of March 3, 1915. The principal activities of the Committee were the scientific study of flight and aeronautical research and experiment. Committee membership included the Chairman of the Research and Development Board of the Department of Defense and representatives from the Departments of the Air Force and Navy, Civil Aeronautics Authority, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Weather Bureau, and the National Bureau of Standards. The Committee was terminated by the act of July 29, 1958, that created NASA and transferred to it Committee functions and records.

 

The records in this record group consist of correspondence files from NASA's Langley Research Center (LRC) in Hampton, Virginia. The files have been arranged into three series created by the National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region (Click here for more info on the Mid-Atlantic Region).

 

The three series are listed as follows:

 

1) Entry 1-Project Correspondence Files, 1918-1978.

 

2) Entry 2-Subject Correspondence Files, 1918-1978.

 

3) Entry 3-Microfilm copies of Subject Correspondence Files, 1920-1970.

 

The correspondence records in this record group reflect the LRC's organizational methods regarding it's written communications.

 

All outgoing correspondence was reviewed and revised up through the division level until sanctioned in its final form by the office of the chief of research; then it was signed by the engineer-in-charge, the top man in the laboratory organization.

 

Incoming letters to individuals were routed directly to them, but only after being opened by the mail clerks. Copies of all letters, incoming and outgoing, were made for central files. Each letter was placed into one or more subject files, which were arranged according to an alphanumeric code unique to Langley. Within each subject, papers were then arranged by date.

---