n.a United States law (Public Law 73-432, 48 Stat. 1122) passed in 1934 authorizing the creation of a federal repository with a national archivist and additional support to preserve and make available federal agency records with archival valueAdams 1939, 89The National Archives Act of 1934 empowers the national archivist “to inspect personally or by deputy the records of any agency of the United States Government whatsoever and wheresoever located” with a view to obtaining those records for the National Archives.Angel 1953, 14On September 5, 1950, the President approved a second statute, the Federal Records Act of 1950 (Public Law 754, 81st Congress), which enlarged upon and superseded the National Archives Act of 1934.Bahmer 1955, 203The National Archives Act adopted the last-mentioned compromise by establishing a National Archives Council, made up of representatives of the agencies and authorized to establish the classes of records subject to requisition by the Archivist.Posner 1955, 208That the National Archives was able to work out its own destiny may be due in part at least to the status as an independent agency that the National Archives Act assigned to it.Chatfield 1968, 243To bring this about the National Archives inaugurated its “Records Administration Program,” relying on the legal sanction of powers granted to the Archivist of the United States in the National Archives Act of 1934.Robertson 1976, 486The National Archives Act provided for both an independent Archivist of the United States, to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and a National Archives Council, to be composed of representatives of both the executive and legislative branches.Brichford 1977, 2In the United States, the National Archives Act of 1934 gave federal archivists the responsibility of reviewing records disposal requests to safeguard the preservation of valuable records.McCoy 1978, 10The National Archives Act was also concerned with things other than traditional archival activities. Thanks to action by the conference committee, the new agency was empowered to acquire and preserve motion pictures and sound recordings “pertaining to and illustrative of historical activities in the United States.” The act also created the National Historical Publications Commission, as a separate organization but with the archivist as chairman, to “make plans, estimates, and recommendations for such historical works and collections of sources as seem appropriate for publication and/or recording at the public expense.” This was J. Franklin Jameson’s idea, and he fought hard to get it incorporated into the National Archives Act.Gondos 1981, 17Although the word archives does not appear anywhere in the six-page bill, its clauses are the forerunners of those in the National Archives Act of 1934.Gondos 1981, 174The long-awaited organic act legally establishing the new archival agency, the National Archives Act, had been approved on June 19, 1934, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Poole 2017, 304The National Archives Act of 1934 formalized the archives’ mission, which granted Americans unprecedented access to their government’s records.legislation passed in any country to create and empower government agencies responsible for preserving official records with archival valueFant 1958a, 359In 1953 the territories of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland became the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. As a result existing legislation had to be revised, and this year a National Archives Act was passed by the Federal House of Assembly.Burke 1959, 290The Central African Archives became the National Archives of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; and the National Archives Act, 1958, enshrined the principle that each Government was the owner and disposer of its own property.Livelton 1996, 151With the passing of the Presidential Records Act in the United States and the National Archives Act in Canada, some archivists may have concluded that this issue is now dead, since both acts point toward the public nature of the records of high-ranking officials.Johnson 2005, 295Unfortunately, it is not accompanied by the long-anticipated National Archives Act, championed by Donald Dewar, First Minister of the Scottish Parliament at its creation in May 1999, before his untimely death in October 2000.Gilliland et al. 2008, 101Milestones in the development of Taiwan’s archival education infrastructure were the National Archives Act of Taiwan (1999), which led to the establishment of the National Archives in 2001, and the promulgation of a series of archival regulations.
