RECORDS NOT IN PI NM-86

 

NACA CENTRAL FILES

 

 

 

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (NUMERIC FILE). 1915-1942. 

Boxes 1-297       
MLR Entry 1, A1
Location: 130/22/30/1

 

Arranged by a duplex numerical filing code, and thereunder chronologically by date of receipt.
 
The duplex numerical file is composed of textual materials, photographs, and engineering blueprints. The types of documents included in the series are; the files of many NACA committees and subcommittees; biographic folders on important aeronautical officials; material used in NACA's annual reports; budget estimates and appropriations; research suggestions; conference notes on meetings of manufacturers and NACA specialists; reports on annual inspections (i.e. conferences) at Langley; news clippings; press notices; patent procedure; and the reports of NACA's secretary.
 
Examples of subjects included within the file are: U.S. airplane manufacturers, aeronautical nomenclature of 1916-1943; aerial navigation; torpedoes; aerodynamics; wind tunnels; power plants; fuels; lubrication; and aeronautics safety. Records relating to meetings of the Executive Committee, which originally were part of the duplex numerical file, form a separate series entitled MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NACA.
 

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (NUMERIC FILE) is continued in the series entitled GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE).

 
An agency prepared index to the NACA decimal filing system: `Outline of "Concrete" Subjects to NACA DECIMAL FILE 1945-1952' appears in the last box of the GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE). This index does not include an explanation of decimal files 100 or 200.
 
There is also a listing of decimal categories and subjects in approximate chronological order, photocopied directly from the original Federal record center boxes. This list may be found in the last box of the series.
 
Additionally there is a combined index with the GENERAL RECORDS RELATING TO AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH series entitled, "NACA Filing System, Index to `Concrete' and `Abstract' Subjects". This index also appears in the last box of the GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE) series.
 
A NARA pre-accession description of the decimal file appears in W. Cunliffe and H. Goldbeck's "Special Study on the Records of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics", (Washington, D.C., NARA, 1973) pages 6-9.
 

 

CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE. 1945-1952. 

Boxes 1-30               
MLR Entry 2, A1
Location: 130/22/36/1

 

Arranged by date of communication.
 
The chronological index consists of 3-inch by 5-inch slips which NACA called "tickets". Most of the index cards refer to documents within the NACA decimal file, dated 1945 to 1952. The index also covers subjects and documents contained in both the GENERAL RECORDS RELATING TO AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH and the CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT FILE. The index also refers to oral communications (e.g. telephone inquiries) and to other NACA records between 1945 and 1952 that were not maintained in the above mentioned series.
 
Each "ticket" gives the writer's name, the agency he represented, the date of the communication, the date of NACA's reply, and a brief summary of the communication's content. Additionally, this index usually includes a pencilled file code which indicates the actual document's file location. This chronological index may be used on its own or in conjunction with the NACA ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE which provides "subject" and "source" access to documents filed in the above mentioned series. Both of these series cover the same files, but are arranged differently.

 

 

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE. 1945-52. 

Boxes 1-50
MLR Entry 3, A1
Location: 130/22/36/4

 

Arranged alphabetically by "source", (agency or company which prepared the communication) or by subject, and thereunder chronologically by date of communication.
 
The alphabetical index consists of 3-inch by 5-inch typed slips which NACA called "tickets". Most of the index cards refer to documents within the NACA decimal file dated between 1945 and 1952; however, the index also covers subjects and documents contained in the GENERAL RECORDS RELATING TO AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH and the CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT FILE. The index also refers to oral communications (e.g. telephone inquiries) and to other NACA records between 1945 and 1952 that were not maintained in the above mentioned series.
 
Each "ticket" gives the writer's name, the agency he represented, the date of the communication, the date of NACA's reply, and a brief summary of the communication's content. This index does not include the filing code connected with a particular document; however, documents are cross-indexed by date among index cards in the CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE. These cards usually contain the appropriate file code. Both the ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE and the CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE cover approximately the same documents, but are arranged differently.
 
 

 

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE). 1929-52. 

Boxes 1-412
MLR Entry 5, A1
Location:   130/22/32/2

 

Arranged numerically by a decimal number which represents concrete subject titles, and thereunder chronologically.
 
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE) contains textual materials, blueprints, and photographs relating to the NACA subjects coded between decimal numbers 050 and 852. Types of documents included in the files are: annual reports; budgets; administrative rules; patent files; and legislative correspondence. Examples of subjects covered in the correspondence are: research projects at the Langley, Ames, and Lewis Laboratories; construction and purchases relating to testing facilities; laboratory equipment; construction of, and experimentation with, wind tunnels and supersonic wind tunnels; loss due to accidents; naval aviation; Non-NACA engineering societies; engineering conferences attended by NACA staff; public and government agencies; and Congress.
 
Decimal files relating to NACA Committees and Subcommittees that originally formed part of the central decimal file now may be found in the series entitled, RECORDS RELATING TO NACA COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES.
 
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE) is related to the NACA series GENERAL RECORDS RELATING TO AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH. This latter series might have been filed originally with the decimal correspondence series.
 
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE) series is preceded by the GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (NUMERIC FILE), and is continued by the CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT FILE.

 

 

CORRESPONDENCE LOG BOOKS. 1943-44 

Boxes 1-5
MLR Entry 4, A1
Location: 130/27/37/1
Arranged chronologically.
 
The Log Books consist of loose sheets referring to correspondence located within the GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE). Each correspondence entry includes information concerning the content of the letter, to whom it was sent, and the date of the document.
 
The Log Books can be used as a chronological index to NACA correspondence between 1943-1945; however, they provide only sporadic references to actual NACA decimal filing codes.
 
Two related series which cover correspondence after the year 1945 are: the CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE and the ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE NACA DECIMAL FILE.

 

 

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS FILE (ALPHA-NUMERIC). 1942-1960. 

Boxes 1-626
MLR Entry 27, A1
Location: 130/22/45/7

 

Arranged alpha-numerically and thereunder chronologically by date of receipt.
 
This file contains textual material, blueprints, and photographs relating to a wide variety of documents including: budgets; patent and invention files; National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) annual reports; publicity clippings; and aircraft construction and testing reports. Examples of subjects included within the correspondence and reports are: research equipment; meteorological physics; aviation accidents; NACA meetings and conferences; awards and scholarships; aircraft; ailerons; stabilizers; wings; helicopters; missiles; hydrofoils; propellers; fuels; ceramics; wind tunnels; alloys; atomic energy; aircraft engines; propulsion; landing gear; anti-icing; and airfoils.
 
Two boxes which contain A-1 files are at the end of the series.
 
The Correspondence files contained between alpha-numeric codes B-1-4 and B-1-8 are classified as secret material and are not located within these files.
 
Most of the alpha-numeric files relating to NACA meetings and subcommittee meetings are part of a related series entitled, RECORDS RELATING TO NACA COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES.
 
Additionally, a related series, RECORDS RELATING TO NON-NACA COMMITTEES may have been originally filed with the CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORT FILE (ALPHA-NUMERIC).
 
The alpha-numeric series is preceded by the NACA GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE (DECIMAL FILE)

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