Note on Provenance and Access

The Simon Papers came to Lafayette College in two major installments. The first and largest group arrived in early February 1977 directly from the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. The papers in this group are, for the most part, those that now make up Series I-V of the collection. The second installment was brought to the Lafayette Library from Simon's home in New Jersey in 1982. These are items of a more personal nature that Simon had taken with him when he left office in January 1977. This second set of materials generally comprises Series VI-X of the papers.

The materials which came directly from the Treasury represent a duplicate set of the official records of Simon's office. As such, they are not subject to the disposition provisions required by federal law. As explained by the Archivist of the United States in his November 1976 memorandum to the heads of federal agencies on the disposition of personal papers and official records: "A government official may accumulate for convenience of reference extra copies of papers and other materials which he has drafted, reviewed, or otherwise acted upon. When deposited in a research institution, extra copies can serve the needs of historical scholarship." The official records themselves are still in the custody of the Department of the Treasury, and they will remain there until such time as they are offered to the National Archives--approximately twenty to thirty years after the date of their creation. An inventory of the Treasury Department's official records from the Simon secretaryship is on file at Lafayette. Any inquiries regarding these official records should be addressed to the Treasury's Office of the Executive Secretariat.

Access to Lafayette's Simon Papers by qualified researchers is without restriction, save for a small group of files that have been temporarily closed for legal reasons of confidentiality and privacy. Most of the collection, especially the internal memoranda, was reviewed by Treasury staff members, who declassified or removed sensitive documents before the papers were turned over to Lafayette. Photocopying and publishing from the collection are allowed, subject to the guidelines of the repository and the laws of copyright.

The Simon Papers are also available on microfiche at Lafayette, as well as the Gerald R. Ford Library and the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace. Interlibrary Loan of microfiche on a limited scale may be possible from Lafayette. Inquiries about access at the Ford and Nixon Libraries should be directed to:

The Gerald R. Ford Library
1000 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114

The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, CA 92696


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August 1995