CASE FILES, NEWARK OFFICE,, 1969-1981.
Dates
- 1969-1981.
Scope and Contents
CASE FILES, NEWARK OFFICE includes case files created and originally maintained in HAW's Newark office. Similar to the CASE FILES, WASHINGTON OFFICE series, the Newark Office case work includes appeals for assistance made to HAW by individual constituents and institutions (e.g., companies, union locals, non-profit organizations, county and municipal agencies, etc.). Generally, these appeals call on HAW to intercede with an authority—most commonly a Federal or state government department/agency—in matters concerning benefits, grants, contracts, jobs, services, visas, loans, etc. in order to bring about a ruling or other result favorable to the correspondent. However, the Newark Office acted principally only as a local contact point and intermediary with the Washington Office for these matters. Because of this limited role, these files often contain little documentation, often only initial contact information in the form of notes from phone calls or discussions with office walk-ins, and not full case histories typically found in the Washington-based files. CASE FILES, NEWARK OFFICE is useful for illustrating HAW's in-state constituent service operations, for understanding constituent interaction with HAW through his local representatives, and for documentation of institutional programs, arrangements for local hearings and visits, and other matters not necessarily found in the Washington files.
Language of Materials
Undetermined .
Physical Description
(4.5 cubic feet)
Restrictions
The cases of individuals vary in their sensitivity. While it is possible to identify those cases that are either highly sensitive or obviously benign, there is no clear demarcation between those that might be regarded as sensitive and those that are not. Further, to sort cases at that level would have required a detailed item level review of each case, which was impractical. Given these constraints and sensitivities, cases of individuals are restricted from access by researchers for a period of 50 years, that is until 2025.
Casework of individuals, when opened, will be made available only to researchers that agree not to use names or other personally-identifiable data in their work.
Arrangement
Case files from the 1969-1975 set are followed by those selected for retention from the 1976-1981 set. The 1969-1975 files were originally in alphabetical order by correspondent, subject, or other reference used by the Newark Office on the folder label (as were, separately, the 1976-1981 files). However, because cases involving individuals are restricted (see below), cases not involving individuals were separated during processing and follow those cases involving individuals. The alphabetical arrangement is retained within each set of files.
CASE FILES, NEWARK OFFICE is retained in the original folders. The folder name for each case involving an individual was not recorded in the Container List; only a one-line summary of the alphabetical range included in the box was recorded. Each folder description containing institutional or subject matter was recorded in the Container List. Dates used in the container list are from the folder label, not from the documents in the folder. Containers with restricted access do not appear in the container list.
Appraisal and Discard Information
The Newark Office sent these files, originally amounting to about 12 cubic feet, to the Washington Office in two batches identifiable to the processing archivists—cases from 1969-1975 and from 1976-1981. Because the content of the Newark Office's files were generally spare, often non-substantive, and well-represented in the Washington files, particularly with respect to cases of individual constituents, these files were retained on a sample basis. For individual constituents, all cases from the 1969-1975 set only were retained; cases of individuals from 1976-1981 were discarded. For files referencing institutional or subject matters, all cases from the 1969-1975 set and any cases from the 1976-1981 set with substantive documentation were retained. Files of office administrative matters, such as phone bills or supplies of government pamphlets for use in satisfying routine civil service employment and other requests, were discarded.
General
Index Terms
Key index terms were used institutional cases. Municipality name was a consistent index term used for institutions, unless the folder name included that already or unless the case did not include this information.
Part of the New Brunswick Special Collections Repository