2 Replies Latest reply on Nov 23, 2020 8:47 AM by Andrew Shi

    Seeking foreign ministry organizational charts

    Andrew Shi Newbie
    Andrew Shi Nov 13, 2020 9:53 AM

      This is something of a shot in the dark, but I'm wondering if the National Archives maintains a collection of the annual reports of other countries'  foreign ministries/ State Department equivalents, with particular interest in any organizational charts. These might be found in their equivalents to our State Department's Foreign Affairs Manuals. My thought is that our own State Department may have collected these over the years for intelligence purposes, but I admittedly have no evidence to support this intuition. I have struggled to receive answers from the archives of some of the countries whose foreign ministries I am interested in researching, perhaps for linguistic and Corona-related reasons. Thank you for any help you are able to provide, even if the answer is a hard nope!

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        • Re: Seeking foreign ministry organizational charts
          Jason Atkinson Ranger
          Jason Atkinson Expert Nov 20, 2020 1:20 PM (in response to Andrew Shi)

          Dear Mr. Shi,

           

          Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

          We were unable to locate a specific collection of these types of reports or organization charts in the records that the Department of State that have been accessioned to the National Archives. There may be occasional and incidental examples of such reports of charts attached to another report written by at a consulate or embassy, but without a specific file number we would be unable to locate them.  For general information about the major categories of Department of State records in NARA custody, see our Records of the Department of State web page. Questions about these records may be directed to the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov.

           

          Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

           

          If the Department of State collected these publications as general reference material, they may have been scheduled as non-record or temporary material and may have been either disposed of after their initial use, or have been retained by the agency’s Ralph J. Bunche Library. You may wish to contact their library at library@state.gov to inquire about their holdings.

           

          We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!