SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Domestic Council administrative staff tracked memoranda, letters, and enrolled bills by computer after November 1975. Document inventories (print-outs) in box 1 provide awkward access to succeeding boxes of material arranged by control number. Much of this material is duplicated in collections of Domestic Council staff.

QUANTITY
13.6 linear feet (ca. 27,200 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-35, 77-40, 77-107)

ACCESS
Open. Some items are temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Barbara J. White, August 1982
[s:\bin\findaid\domestic council computer office - files.doc]

INTRODUCTION

The Computer Office provided the Domestic Council staff with correspondence control, priority tracking, enrolled bill status and coordination, along with the White House staff, of Presidential - Congressional mail. In the fall of 1975, the Council began to organize its paperwork by computer. After January 1976, the computer functioned to control correspondence and track the status of enrolled bills. Kathleen D. Meehan operated the Domestic Council terminal of the White House computer; she was assigned to the administrative staff and was supervised by Judith Johnson, staff secretary of the Domestic Council operations.

The Computer Office files document the Domestic Council's administrative computer operations from the fall of 1975 through 1976. As incoming material was received, a computer ID number was assigned and a Domestic Council Correspondence Profile form was attached to the material. Information from the form was then entered into the White House computer and included control number, type of document, correspondents, subject and action taken. The Computer Office kept track of the documents as they progressed through the Domestic Council offices and closed out each document case as the action was completed. Near the end of the administration, the computer printed out entries, arranged by year and thereunder by control number.

The Computer Office files are divided into three series: document inventories (print - outs), correspondence, and Computer Office working documents. They consist largely of letters, memoranda, studies, congressional recommendations and Executive Orders originated by congressmen, federal agencies, private citizens, the President, and White House and Domestic Council staffs. They often concern congressional topics such as legislation, appointments, special interest lobbying, and meetings, appearances and other appointments. Incoming documents and supporting material are covered by the Correspondence Profile forms and arranged by their assigned number.

The usefulness of the Computer Office material is limited. The numerical arrangement makes it difficult to locate specific materials. The majority of the documents controlled by the computer can be located elsewhere in the Domestic Council staff files, usually under more convenient subject headings. The remainder of the Computer Office working file is routine and narrowly focused.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Document Inventories File, 1975-76.  (Box 1, 0.4 linear feet)
Computer print - outs which inventory materials in the Correspondence File. The print - outs indicate type of document, correspondents, brief subject, action taken, closure.

Arranged by year and thereunder by control number.

View container list for this series

Correspondence File, 1975-76. (Boxes 2 - 33, 12.6 linear feet)
Letters, memoranda, studies, congressional recommendations, executive orders. This file contains incoming correspondence, presidential - congressional mail, enrolled bills, and attached related materials. A Correspondence Profile form covers each document case. Numerical order approximates chronology.

Arranged by year and thereunder by control number.

Review on request - Identify your request from the print out inventory.

View container list for this series

Computer Office Administrative File, 1975-76.  (Boxes 33 - 34, 0.6 linear feet)
Printout sheet changes, log sheets and tracking forms; Domestic Council status index; and presidential - congressional mail duplicates. Many handwritten notes of updates and changes appear. This working file consists of documents used to track correspondence and enrolled bills, and log worksheets used to program the computer. Domestic Council status index to the magnetic computer tape, on which is stored the Domestic Council Correspondence Profile information, is included; the tape is part of the audio - visual collection.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Document Inventories
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 1975 (7500001 - 7501605)
• 1976 (7600001 - 7602705)
• Completed Record Actions for 11/09/1976 - 12/02/1976

Box 2 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500001 - 7500112

Box 3 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500113 - 7500235

Box 4 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500236 - 7500349

Box 5 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500350 - 7500446

Box 6 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500447 - 7500569

Box 7 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500570 - 7500700

Box 8 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500703 - 7500805

Box 9 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500806 - 7500912

Box 10 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7500913 - 7501060

Box 11 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7501061 - 7501226

Box 12 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7501227 - 7501330

Box 13 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7501331 - 7501480

Box 14 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7501481 – 7501588

Box 15 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7501589 - 7600100

Box 16 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600101 - 7600222

Box 17 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600223 - 7600349

Box 18 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600350 - 7600466

Box 19 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600467 - 7600601

Box 20 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600602 - 7600721

Box 21 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600722 - 7600848

Box 22 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600849 - 7600979

Box 23 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7600980 - 7601109

Box 24 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601110 - 7601265

Box 25 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601266 - 7601399

Box 26 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601400 - 7601548

Box 27 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601550 - 7601730

Box 28 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601731 - 761865

Box 29 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7601866 - 7602023

Box 30 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7602024 - 7602184

Box 31 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7602185 - 7602349

Box 32 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7602350 - 7602573

Box 33 - Correspondence File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• 7602574 - 7602704

Box 33 (Continued) - Computer Office Administrative File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• Congressional (1) - (2)
• Domestic Council Correspondence Profile
• Enrolled Bills (1) - (2)

Box 34 - Computer Office Administrative File
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.)

• Enrolled Bills (3)
• Interim Reports (1) - (4)
• Presidential Mail from Congress (1) - (5)
• Printout Sheet Changes (1) - (3)