Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-01
ARCHIVES BUILDING
TO COST s6,9DO,0(l)
Structure Will Save 1900.
600 Feet of Space in De-
partmentS' Offices.
BY WILL T.. KENNEDY.

! ID " I'LL Il. N1I4>A<ELDl.
Recognizing that the archives OF a
| nation are the basis of its history,
Congress is appropriating $1,000, goo
immediately and authorizing contracts
| for 100000 for the great hall of
records. or archives building. TO be
erected on the square bounded by
Twelfth and Thirteenth, and {
streets. which is now diagonally inter
/ sected by Ohio avenue. This is one OF
eight building projects under the Ave
year public building program.
This treasury of the priceless docu'
ments of the Government is 10 be a
semi-monumental building, $40 feet
by 400. and SO feet high, containing
300. 600 feet OF document filing
space. 1t is an important step to-
ward redeeming the triangle between
| Pennsylvania avenue and the Mall.
and will release Office space in other
! Government buildings equivalent TO
an entire new structure the size OF
the Treasury Building. But the most
| important consideration of all is the
proper preservation of irreplaceable
| Government records.
Will Require Three Years.
Supervising Architect Wetmore told
| the House appropriations committee
| that the estimated cost of the site IL
| 500 900. of the building itself S4.n0o,-
600 and Of the stacks $4,000 900. 1hls
| would provide an absolutely hreproot
| building II requires a pile tounda-
| ton costing approximately $500 900.
| That makes up, with the cost of the
site and the cost of the foundation,
the 81 900 900 to be Immediately avail
able.
The design already has heen pre-
pared and the entire period OF con
struction will probably be in the
neighborhood of 3 years. Mr.. Wet
more estimated.
In giving the appropriations com
mittee a minds picture or the long
years Of thought put into this struc-
ture and the special care for preser-
walton of the records, Mr.. Wetmore
said:
There was an act passed some
wears ago authorizing the preparation
Of plans in connection with that build
ing. They were prepared ana ap-
proved BY a commission consisting or
the Speaker OF the House. the Presi-
dent of the Senate. the Secretary of
War, the Secretary of the interior,
and the Secretary of the Treasury.
Those plans called for building OF
the type used abroad for archives
buildings. We were not able to comply
with the provisions Of the original act
to make an examination OF the
archives buildings abroad during that
period because the war was then
being waged. However. the law was
subsequently, amended to eliminate
that requirement and through the
courtesy of the State Department we
got the plans Of number OF foreign
archives buildings, and the interior
arrangement Of this proposed building
is on the order of those that they have
abroad"
Files Kept From Light.
THE files are kept so that there is
only artificial light reaching them.
The temperature Is maintained at
certain point and there Is freedom
from moisture and that sort of thing.
The whole purpose is preservation.
You will have to use artificial light
to get your files, but you can bring
them out in the administrative part
of the building to examine them.
1T is not only fireproof building.
but it is constructed so as 10 pre-
serve the papers from the rarages OF
time and the elements"
There are some 100000 cubic feet
OF files in the Government buildings
that would go into this archives build
ing as soon as It is completed. These
are now stored in all sorts OF places
in Washington. some in the perma
nent buildings. some in fireprOof places
and some in non1reproof buildings.
and many Of them where they are de
teriorating. These are not the useless
files but the valuable flies that have
L. lt a~I, L,n
filerooms oyercrowded. but files are
stored in rooms that would be avail
able for clerical use If the files could
he put elsewhere.
Provisions for Expansion.
The appropriations committee en-
phasized in it's report that the archives
building is to be constructed on an
extension scale to provide for future
expansion.
Ten years ago the Public Buildings
Commission. after a most careful sur
vey of the Government housing prob
lem and conferences regarding the
public building program with refer
ence to general Capital development.
reported that an archives building for
the use of the executive departments
would be one of the most important
area south of Pennsylvania avenue.
The report said further:
Here, too. may be located the
bureau of archives, an institution
urgently demanded on the score both
of economy and utility. At present
the Government archives occupy val
liable space in buildings of the first
order, and even there they are packed
away so that they are not available
to the departments themselves. They
are always q fire risk to the buildings
in which they are stored and they
are in constant danger of being de-
stroyed. as has happened from time to
time. BY reason of theft and mutila
ton many of the most significant and
valuable archives have been lost or
destroyed. No other civilized govern
ment Is so regardless of it's archives
will Aid Scholars.
1.-THE archives of a nation are the
basis of its history. They should be
housed in fireproof building and
should be classified, arranged and in
deXed 40 az to make them availab BILE
both to Government employees and to
students of American history The
building should be designed chiefly
for the purpose of storing documents.
1t may be simple in character, with
adequate rooms for the office force
and for the consultation Of docu-
ments. So constructed. 1t would re-
lieve the departments. where room is
always In demand. and at the same
time II would expedite their work in
making researches"
The identical site on which the
Archives Building is now to be erected
was then designated as an ideal one.
,oeetfpp the requirements SDecifed' in