A Guide to Presidential Papers, Congressional Papers, and Classified Materials

For the first 150 years of the existence of the United States, little attention was paid to the question of who owned the papers generated by the country's elected federal officials. In particular, the papers generated by the President of the United States, the head of state as well as the head of the executive branch, and the papers created by members of the U.S. Congress, representing the legislative branch, were assumed to be the personal property of these officials. As such, they could do whatever they wanted with their papers after leaving office. However, the problem was that many of the papers documenting the decisions made at the highest levels of government were often lost, destroyed, stored in inadequate conditions, dispersed by an official's heirs, and otherwise made inaccessible to the American people. This resulted in gaps in the historical record and therefore a loss of historical memory. 

By the 1930s, Congress and the President began to recognize the need to preserve and protect the official records of the United States and passed legislation to establish the National Archives and Records Administration, the "nation's record keeper." However, the question of the ownership of presidential papers - whether they were privately owned by the President or publicly owned by the federal government and thus the American public - would not be settled and inscribed in law until 1978. During the 1970s, Congress and the media actively debated the question of public versus private ownership of presidential papers. More recently, in the early 2020s, questions such as these were again in the news. 

This guide is meant to provide a brief overview of the ownership of presidential papers as well as papers of members of the U.S. Congress. Additionally, information is provided about classified information - why certain information is deemed to be classified, what that means, and who can declassify government information. Resources are provided for further information about and research into this topic. 

Image credit: Screenshot from the National Archives and Records Administration website.