Evening star., 1949-11-27
By Nelson M. Shepord

by nelson M. onepoIQ
In move declared "unprece-
dented in our history" trustees Of
the 100000 to 100000 state,
political and personal papers of
the late President Franklin D.
Roosevelt will permit at least IS
per cent of them to be opened for
public research next March II. less
than five years after his death.
Few of the remaining papers,
according to Miss Grace Tully
and Judge Sam Rosenman of New
York, will have to be kept conf
Dental - for fear of political
repercussions and embarrassments
for a period longer than Is years
from the date of Mr.. Roosevelt's
death on April IL, 1945.
The Is per cent of the papers
include seven categories which are
being withheld from public
scrutiny until the lapse of
reasonable period and will be re-
examined from time to time.
When circumstances permit, Ger
tain ones of these papers then will
be taken off the restricted" list.
All Papers at Hyde Park.
All the Roosevelt papers are
being preserved in the Roosevelt
Library at Hyde Park, N. Y. A
staff of 20 persons, carefully
chosen for their discretion and
skill. has been examining them
since they were taken there.
The announcement that the
Roosevelt collection would be
opened to research students,
writer's and historians was made
yesterday through the General
Services Administration. The
agency made public an exchange
of letters between DR.. Wayne c.
Grover. Archivist of the United
States, and Miss Tully and Judge
Rosenman.
Miss Tully, the late Presidents
personal secretary for so many
years and Judge Rosenman, his
close friend and adviser, are the
two surviving members of a COM
mittee which Mr.. Roosevelt desig-
mated, in memorandum of July
Is. 1943. to 60 through his papers.
They were to select those which
were to be kept confidential for
reasonable period after his
death.
The third member of the COM
mittee was the late Harry L.
Hopkins. closest political adviser
to the late President.
1t was DR.. Grover who called
attention to the unprecedented"
decision to make public so many
of the letters of deceased Presi-
dent after so short a while. He
did 50 in writing to Miss Tully
and Judge Rosenman to thank
them for their fine public
service"
The two trustees announced the
following categories of papers to
be restricted: /
i. Investigative reports on in
dividuals. 4
2. Applications and recommen-
dations for positions. i
8. Documents containing derog-
atory remarks concerning stfle
character. loyalty. integrity, or
ability of individuals. /
4. Documents containing infor- |
nation concerning personal or
family affairs of individuals. I
5. Documents containing infor-
nation Of a type that could be
used in the harassment of living
persons or the relatives of recently
deceased persons.
6. Documents containing infor-
nation the release of which would
be prejudicial to national security.
7. Documents containing infor-
nation the release of which would
be prejudicial to the maintenance
of friendly relations with foreign
nations.
Ceremony to Be Held.
Mr.. Grover said the March II
date will be marked by a cere-
mony at Hyde Park. 1t was esti-
mated the work of asserting the
papers would be accomplished by
that time. March II is also the
Roosevelt wedding anniversary. It
comes on Friday and was chosen
as a convenient weekend date.
The task of analyzing the near
ly 100000 papers in the Roose-
welt files and of segregating those
to be restricted was too large for
Miss Tully and Judge Rosenman
to undertake personally. Arrange
ments were made with the Arch
twist. who administers the Roose-
velt Library, for the staff of the
library to make the preliminary
selections This was done in ac-