Conference on the Power of Free Inquiry and Cold War
International History Session VI: Non-traditional Resources and
Research Opportunities Historical Electronic Records Related to
the Cold War Preserved in the National Archives and Records
Administration by Margaret O'Neill Adams Reference Program
Manager, Center for Electronic Records Electronic and Special
Media Records Services Division National Archives and Records
Administration Copyright 1998 by Margaret O'Neill Adams. Data
files constitute most of the electronic records currently
accessioned into the National Archives. They come from the use
of data processing technologies, tools that have supported the
running of government and business throughout the 20th century.
The West has dominated the data or information processing
industry from the beginning of the century, through the epoch of
the Cold War, to the present. Note 1 It follows then that data
processing applications supported a wide range of U.S. federal
government programs related to the Cold W