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Guide to the Records of the U.S. Senate at the National Archives (Record Group 46)

Table of Contents

Chapter 16. Records of the Committee on Public Works and Related Committees, 1820-1968

Records of the Committee on Public Works and Related Committees, 1820-1968 from Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States

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Committee records discussed in this chapter:

• Committee on Roads and Canals, 1820-1857
• Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, 1838-1946
• Committee on Public Works, 1947-68

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Records of the Committee on Public Works and Related Committees, 1820-1968 (344 ft.)

16.1. The Committee on Public Works was established on January 2, 1947, by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (Public Law 79-601). Among the purposes of this act was the reduction of the number of standing and select committees of both Houses of Congress and one of the ways this was achieved was by combining and regrouping committee jurisdiction areas. In this instance, the legislative responsibilities of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds were combined with several jurisdictional areas of the Committee on Commerce and the responsibility for highways of the former Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads.

16.2. This chapter describes the records of the Committee on Environment and Public Works and certain related committees: the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds and the Committee on Roads and Canals (whose functions were taken over by the Committee on Commerce in 1857). In 1977, the Committee on Public Works was renamed the Committee on Environment and Public Works to emphasize the increasing importance of its work in environmental matters. The Committee published a history to commemorate the 150th anniversary of its founding. Published in 1988 as Senate Document 100-45, the volume summarizes major legislative achievements relating to public works and environmental issues.

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Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition (Doct. No. 100-42). By Robert W. Coren, Mary Rephlo, David Kepley, and Charles South. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989.