This index to the Records of the Department of State relating to political relations between the United States and France, 1910-1929, collection provides the dates each reel covers. Government Information MAY NOT hold all of these reels. The record in the library catalog describes the extent of our holdings. For help, or to make an appointment to view a reel, email rad@colorado.edu
On the 5 rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced the records from the decimal file of the Department of State, 1910-29, that concern political relations between the United States and France, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Indochina, the Society Islands, and Tunis. The records, consisting of bound volumes and unbound documents, are mostly instructions to and despatches from diplomatic and consular officials; the despatches are often accompanied by enclosures. Also included in these records are notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomatic representatives in the United States, memoranda prepared by officials of the Department, and correspondence with officials of other Government departments and with private firms and persons. The Lists of Documents or "purport sheets" filmed at the beginning of roll 1 give brief abstracts of the documents reproduced in this microfilm publication and serve as a finding aid to the documents themselves. The arrangement of the entries on these lists generally corresponds to the arrangement of the documents in the file.
From 1910 to 1963 the Department of State used a decimal system for its central files, assembling and arranging individual documents according to subject and assigning decimal file numbers. The decimal file consists of nine primary classes numbered 0 through 8, each covering a broad subject area. The records reproduced in this microfilm publication are in Class 7, Political Relations of States. The country numbers assigned to the United States and to France are 11 and 51, respectively. Thus the documents bear the file number 711-51 and concern political relations between the United States and France. The six areas for which records are also included in this series were each assigned a letter as follows: a (St. Pierre and Miquelon), b (Martinique), c (Guadeloupe), £ (French Indochina), m (Society Islands), and s_ "(Tunis), which is placed after the country number for France (51). Thus the documents bearing the file number 711.51a, for example, concern political relations between the United States and St. Pierre and Miquelon.
When one or more digits follow the second country number, they represent a specific subject. This number, in turn, may be followed by a slant mark (/). In such cases the numbers after the slant mark were assigned to individual documents as they were accumulated on a specific subject. For example, a decimal file number taken from a document reproduced in this publication is 711.5127/24. The number 27 following the country number for France (51) signifies that the subject is an aerial navigation agreement, and the number after the slant mark indicates the number of documents on this subject.
When one or more digits follow the second country number, they represent a specific subject. This number, in turn, may be followed by a slant mark (/). In such cases the numbers after the slant mark were assigned to individual documents as they were accumulated on a specific subject. For example, a decimal file number taken from a document reproduced in this publication is 711.5127/24. The number 27 following the country number for France (51) signifies that the subject is an aerial navigation agreement, and the number after the slant mark indicates the number of documents on this subject.
The documents under one subject classification are generally in chronological order, coinciding with the document number assigned (which follows the slant mark). There are instances, however, when a document file number was not assigned until a date considerably later than the one on which the document was received.
Cross-reference sheets referring to related records under other subject classifications in the decimal file have been reproduced as they occur, and appropriate cross-reference notations appear in the Lists of Documents. Other cross-reference notations are to documents in the "numerical file," a system used for the central files of the Department of State for the period 1906-10. The checkmarks that appear by most entries in the left-hand column of the Lists of Documents indicate that the papers are in the file; entries without marks, it is believed, refer to documents that were not among the records when they were received from the Department of State.
Some of the documents that have been checked in the Lists of Documents do not appear in this microfilm publication. The file contains security-classified documents and communications received from and classified by foreign governments and Federal agencies, in addition to those classified by the Department of State. Documents that have not been declassified are not available as part of this publication. The National Archives and Records Service does not have authority to make reproductions of such documents available to searchers.
The largest group of records reproduced in this publication concern the Kellogg Anti-War Pact. The records reproduced in this microfilm publication are part of the records in the National Archives designated as General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59-.
The spreadsheet attached below contains a reel-by-reel description of the complete collection.