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Unit 1: Information Analysis, Repackaging and Consolidation

Arrangement according to a scheme is more important at this level than at the level of the record Notes
group. As in the case of the arrangement of record groups, the subgroups should be placed, insofar as
possible, in logical relation to each other — according to hierarchy, chronology, function, geographical
location, or subject. In the American Historical Review Dr. Leland wrote that records should be so
arranged that “they at once make clear the processes by which they have come into existence,” for
they “are the product and record of the performance of its functions by an organic body, and they
should faithfully reflect the workings of that organism.”
To arrange records in this manner the archivist must have a thorough knowledge of the
administrative history of the organism that produced them. He must know its origins, its functions,
and its organizational and functional development, including changes, transfers, or terminations of
its functions or organizational units.
The basic preliminary to the arrangement of records, therefore, is a study of the organizational
history of the record producing units, their administrative procedures, the functions for which they
were organized, and the records which they produced. On the basis of this study, the archivist must
determine which method of grouping records will best show their character, significance, and
relationships. Various methods, which are discussed below, may be followed either singly or in
combination.
Subgroups may be arranged in an organizational relationship to each other. Usually an agency for
which a record group has been established is subdivided into a number of smaller organizational
units, the records of which may be considered as subgroups. These subgroups may be arranged in
accordance with either the administrative status of the organizational units or the order in which
the units were created.
The arrangement of subgroups should normally reflect the hierarchical structure of the creating
agency. This arrangement will be possible whenever the record group consists of a number of
subgroups that are clearly distinguishable on the basis of their origins in particular organizational
units. Subgroups will be distinguishable on this basis in the degree to which the organizational
units that created them maintained their own filing systems. Usually “bureaus” of old-line executive
departments have “divisions” or “sections,” the functions of which are well-defined and result in
separable and identifiable bodies of records.
In such cases the administrative status of the organizational units should determine the placement
of the record subgroups; the subgroups created by the highest supervisory or central office should
be placed first, and after them the subgroups representing subordinate line or operating offices
should be arranged in descending order of authority. If the latter are coordinate in authority, as, for
example, “divisions” within a “bureau,” they should be arranged in alphabetical order or in the
order of their establishment.
The hierarchical approach to arrangement is also possible with respect to a record group containing
both central and field office records. The subgroups representing the central office should be placed
first, and after them the subgroups representing the field offices. The field office subgroups, however,
may be arranged in any one of several ways. Those of numbered regional offices, for example, may
be arranged numerically. This arrangement has been followed in arranging the regional records of
the Soil Conservation Service.
The subgroups of named units may be arranged alphabetically. Thus, in the record group of the
United States Army commands, the subgroups of the camps, posts, and stations of the continental
United States and Alaska have been placed in one alphabetical sequence. Or, the subgroups may be
arranged geographically, as is the case in the record group of the naval districts and shore
establishments, in which the numbered naval districts have a geographical basis.
The geographical and numerical arrangements are sometimes combined, as in the case of the minute
books of Selective Service local and appeal boards, which are arranged alphabetically by State and

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