SUBJECT FILES Series Overview,, 1952-1982.

SUBJECT FILES, taken as a whole, was not an original set of files maintained by HAW or his office staff. The series was organized by the archivist and includes, for the most part, disparate subject files that were not part of LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE FILES, NATIONAL INFORMATION FILES, or other structured filing systems maintained in HAW's office. The predominant bulk of the series came directly from HAW's office when he left the Senate in March 1982. The balance of the series includes various small sets of folders sent to the Federal Records Center over time by HAW's office. Overall, and with some exceptions described at the sub-series level, the files comprising SUBJECT FILES appear to be materials maintained by individual staff members for their reference use.

The bulk of the series consists of background reference material, especially in relation to energy, conservation, and environmental matters from the 1970s. Nonetheless, there is a wide diversity of types of material in the series. The series includes some legislative working papers and correspondence on mass transit, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Commission, economic and military support for Israel, and many other topics. Staff notes directed to HAW are found throughout the series, though often intermixed with reference materials. Substantive correspondence from President Jimmy Carter to HAW is in the series. National and New Jersey-related topics can be found in the series. HAW-centered materials, such as financial disclosures, press releases, schedules, radio scripts, etc. are in the series.

Although comprised of disparate files, SUBJECT FILES is not a mass of individual folders with no connection to each other. Folders within one original box of material, and often across boxes of material, could be perceived, albeit tenuously at points, by the archivist as part of original sets of folders that could be linked to individual staff members or office positions, based on content of the folders, original descriptions, etc. This was especially so for the materials sent to the Records Center by HAW's staff. Accordingly, SUBJECT FILES is organized in two sub-series:

Although the bulk of material could be readily established as belonging to one or the other sub-series, it should be understood that the placement of materials was a result of the archivist's interpretation and considered judgment as to the source of the material. It should also be recalled that neither of these sub-series, as presented, existed in HAW's office, but were created by the archivist solely as a means of facilitating the organization and description of the material.