The Public Documents Commission, as it was popularly known, studied and recommended action on the control, disposition, and preservation of documents produced by federal officials, particularly the President. Transcripts of public hearings, commissioned studies and reports, and print material compose the bulk of the collection. The complete Commission records are part of Record Group 220 at the National Archives.
The National Study Commission on Records and Documents of Federal Officials, also known as the Public Documents Commission, was established by Title II of the Presidential Records and Materials Preservation Act (Public Law 93‑526), signed December 19, 1974. Events during the last years of the Nixon Presidency aroused controversy concerning the traditional practice of a president treating documentary materials created during his term of office as private property. The Commission was charged with studying the status of records created by the President and all other elected and appointed federal officials, and making recommendations to Congress and the President.
Title I of the Presidential Records and Materials Preservation Act abrogated the so‑called Nixon‑Sampson Agreement and directed the Administrator of General Services to take possession and control of all of the Nixon presidential materials, make them available for use in any judicial proceeding, and provide for public access to the materials under regulations to be approved by the House and Senate. In September 1974, former President Nixon had entered into an agreement with Administrator Arthur Sampson which provided for the disposition of the Nixon presidential materials under the provisions of the 1955 Presidential Libraries Act. However, the Nixon‑Sampson Agreement not only gave to Mr. Nixon the right to control access to the materials, but also provided among other things for the destruction of Nixon's White House tapes by 1984 and permitted Mr. Nixon to withdraw materials of his own choosing from Federal custody after three years.
Title II directed the Public Documents Commission to consider the control, disposition, and preservation of records and documents produced by or on behalf of Federal officials, and to make recommendations to Congress and the President for appropriate legislation, rules, and procedures with respect to such control, deposition, and preservation.
‑‑ how the findings of the Commission relate to other Federal laws concerning the records and documents of Federal officials.
Title II provided that the Commission's membership should include three public members appointed by the President; two members of the House of Representatives; two members of the Senate; a representative of the Departments of State, Justice, and Defense; the Librarian of Congress (represented by the Assistant Librarian for American and Library Studies), the Administrator of General Services (who delegated his role to the Archivist of the United States); a Justice of the Supreme Court (later changed to a member of the Federal judiciary); and representatives of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Archivists.
The Public Documents Commission held a series of public meetings from December 15, 1975 through March 25, 1977 in San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. to elicit the views of scholars, lawyers, archivists and other interested parties. The Commission also convened a series of panel discussions in Washington, D.C. to solicit the views and advice of various specialists. Topics discussed included problems surrounding papers and records of the White House and the Congress, aspects of record‑keeping in government agencies, and journalists' views on these issues.
The Commission staff prepared legal memoranda, background papers and other studies. Additionally, the staffs of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Service and other governmental units prepared special studies and surveys for the Commission. A number of consultants under contract also prepared reports and studies. The Commission concluded its assignment in the spring of 1977 with the submission to Congress and the President of a Majority Report, signed by 15 Commissioners, and an Alternate Report, signed by Commission Chairman Herbert Brownell and Commissioner Lowell Weicker, Senator from Connecticut.
The Commission materials at the Ford Library consist of extra non‑ record copies of print and near‑print items culled from the Records of the Public Documents Commission accessioned by the National Archives in October 1977. The complete records of the Commission are available at the National Archives and most of the significant materials are available for sale on microfiche. The collection at the Ford Library consists of a complete set of public hearings and panel discussion transcripts, an incomplete set of background papers and studies submitted to the Commission, reference materials concerning Nixon presidential materials litigation, and miscellaneous printed matter.
A copy of the commission's final report (March 13, 1977) which includes both the majority and alternate reports. Also included are transcripts of two commission meetings held prior to submission of the majority and alternate report and a memoranda of law prepared by the legal staff.
Transcripts of hearings and discussion panels held between November 1976 and January 1977 in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. at which historians, archivists, and other members of the interested public presented their views to commission representatives; and special discussion panels, present and former government officials, journalists, and scholars to discuss the problems associated with the disposition of records of the Congress, the Federal Judiciary and the Presidency.
Reports and studies prepared at the request of the Public Documents Commission by commission staff, paid consultants, and the staff of cooperating federal agencies that relate to such matters as the legislative and judicial records held by the National Archives, the presidential libraries system, the records generated by organizations of the Executive Office of the President, and foreign archival practices.
Copies of laws, regulations, court decisions, affidavits, depositions, reports, file manuals, and other papers assembled as reference material. This file includes papers that relate to the basic laws and regulations that govern the creation, maintenance and availability of executive agency records as well as the institutional records of the Congress and the Federal Judiciary and the papers accumulated by the President. Also included are many items that related directly to the Nixon materials such as the depositions of Philip Buchen, Benton Becker, and Arthur Sampson. These papers also contain copies of related bills and hearings.
Arranged numerically by civil action docket number.
Books, pamphlets, printed hearings and investigations, and miscellaneous materials related to the creation, disposition, and preservation of records created by or on behalf of the federal officials.
Arranged alphabetically by main entry.
Duplicates of transcripts of public hearings and discussion panels.
Adams, Bruce "A Study of the Relationship Between GSA and NARS"
Forsythe, Dall W. "Recordkeeping and the Presidency"
Ham, Gerald F. "Accessioning the Papers of Public Officials: An Examination of the Laws and Practices of the States"
Leopold, Richard W. "The Historical Profession and Presidential Libraries"
Library of Congress "Personal Papers of Federal Officials", "Personal Papers of Federal Officials"
Lowe, David E. "Congressional Papers: Perspectives and Recommendations"
National Archives "Federal Law and Access to the Sources: The Freedom of Information Act, Security Classification, and the Privacy Act"
National Archives "Judicial Records in the National Archives"
National Archives "Legislative Records in the National Archives"
National Archives "Official Records and Private Papers"
National Archives "A Study of Records of Organizations in the Executive Office of the President and of Presidential Advisory Committees"
National Archives "Treatment of Presidential Papers in the Presidential Libraries Era"
Nelson, Anna K. "Foreign Policy and Papers: A Case Study of the Preservation and Accessibility of One Group of Documents"
Nelson, Anna K. "Government History Offices and Public Records"
Public Documents Commission "The Federal Depository Library Program"
Schuker, Stephen K. "Changes in Archival Legislation and Practice Now Under Consideration"
Schuker, Stephen K. "Laws and Practices Concerning Records and Documents in the United Kingdom and on the European Continent"
C.A. 74‑110 ‑ U.S.V. Mitchell et. al.