Articles

Assessing the Historical Value of the Historical Records Survey

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Abstract

The Historical Records Survey is fifty years old and is best known for its survey of the local records in the nation's 3000 counties. This article describes the activities of the HRS and the types of information gathered by HRS workers. The article compares the expectations of HRS officials on how the HRS records would be used, with the results of a poll of research use of the 104 repositories holding HRS records. Although used by a variety of researchers, archivists feel that the records are underutilized based on their historical value. With the states assessing their archival needs in the recent National Historical Publications and Records Commission-sponsored grants, the article concludes with parallels between these two federally-funded archival surveys of the nation's records.

How to Cite:

Adams, P. L., (1987) “Assessing the Historical Value of the Historical Records Survey”, Archival Issues 12(1), 5–12. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/archivalissues.10538