Office of the Historian

Toward “Thorough, Accurate, and Reliable”: A History of the Foreign Relations of the United States Series

Appendix B: FRUS Production Chart, 1861–19351

Volume Year(s)2 Copies Printed3 Copies Printed for DOS4 Remarks
The Civil War FRUS: 1861–1865
1861 4,350–6,550+ 2,000–4,000
1862 20,000+
1863 10,000+ 2 volumes produced
18645 21,000+ 4 volumes produced
1865 22,500+ 10,000 3 volumes produced
1865, Volume 4 28,550 special volume of Lincoln memorial documents
The Contemporaneous FRUS: 1866–1905
1866–18746 10,050–10,675 2,500–3,000 (usually 2,500) 18 total volumes; the two 1868 volumes produced 6–8 months late; no volume produced for 18697
1875–1885 7,900–8,000 1,900–2,0008 13 total volumes produced
1886–1894 6,558–7,000 500–2,0009 12 total volumes produced
1895–189710 3,640–4,64011 500–1,000 4 total volumes produced
189812 3,640 600+ 24 month delay; completed by May 1901 and published in June 1901
189913 3,640 600+ 6–8 month delay; completed in early 1901 and published in Summer 1901
190014 3,640 600+ 3–5 month delay; completed in fall 1901 and published in spring 1902
1901 3,642 600+ 1 annual and one supplementary volume15
1902 3,680 550 1 annual and two supplementary volumes16
1903 3,680 525
1904 3,680 525
1905 1,856+17 52518
Volume Year Copies Printed Copies Printed for DOS Publication Month and Year19 Years, Months Behind Currency20
The Laggard FRUS: “Regular” Annual Volumes Covering 1906–1922
1906 (2 volumes) 3,452? 525 April 190921 2 years, 4 months
1907 (2 volumes) 3,919? 525 1910 1–2 years
1908 4,000 500 1912 2–3 years
1909 4,000 500 1914 3–4 years
1910 525 1915 3–4 years
1911 525 1918 5–6 years
1912 3,536 536 1919 5–6 years
1913 525 192022 5–6 years
1914 3,143 525 1922 6–7 years
1915 2,416+ 375/500? December 1924 8 years
1916 375 February 192623 8 years, 2 months
1917 2,121? 375/500? 1926 7–8 years
1918 500 September 1930 9 years, 9 months
1919 (2 volumes) 2,581 500 December 1934 14 years
1920, Volume 1 1,600 1935 13–14 years
1920, Volume 2 1,600 March 1936 14 years, 3 months
1920, Volume 3 April 1936 14 years, 4 months
1921 (2 volumes) 1,600 September 1936 13 years, 9 months
1922, Volume 1 1,600 June 1938 14 years, 6 months
1922, Volume 2 June 1938 14 years, 6 months
The Expanded FRUS: Great War Supplemental Volumes Covering 1914–1918
1914 Supplement 500 March 1928 8 years, 3 months
1915 Supplement 200 December 1928 9 years
1916 Supplement 500? October 1930 10 years, 10 months
1917 Supplement 1 500 October 1931 11 years, 10 months
1918 Russia, Volume 1 2,578+ 500 October 1931 11 years, 10 months
1918 Russia, Volume 2 2,081+ July 1932 12 years, 7 months
1918 Russia, Volume 3 2,081+ November 1932 12 years, 11 months
1917 Supplement 2 (2 volumes) 2,131+24 November 1932 12 years, 11 months
1918 Supplement 1 2,481+ 200+25 June 1933 13 years, 6 months
1918 Supplement 1 (2 volumes) 2,081+ June 1933 13 years, 6 months
1918 Supplement 2 2,081+ 500 August 1933 13 years, 8 months
  1. The information in this appendix is drawn from U.S. Government, Government Printing Office (hereafter GPO), Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Printing for the years 1861–1866; GPO, Annual Report of the Congressional Printer for the years 1867–75; GPO, Annual Report of the Public Printer for the years 1876–1915 (after 1915, the Annual Report does not provide any specific information about FRUS publication); Report to the Senate Committee on Printing, July 29, 1891, NARA, RG 59, Reports of the Secretary of State to Congress and the President, 1790–1906, Vol. 17; Report of Congressional Printing Investigation Commission, Vol. 2: Appendix and Preliminary Report, January 1, 1906. See also the following records, which are refereed to throughout this work as the “GPO Ledgers,” all part of NARA, RG 149: Registers of Printing for Executive and Other Departments (1861–1887); Records of Orders for printing (1877–1930); and Allotment Records (1887–1935). The GPO Ledgers provide a substantial, but not complete, record of dates upon which the Government Printing Office received orders to prepare FRUS manuscripts for publication, completed printing the number of copies ordered for a particular FRUS volume, and performed other FRUS-related tasks like binding and wrapping of unbound volumes into packages for delivery. It is not possible; however, to assume that the figures in the GPO Ledgers provide the exact production dates or precise number of copies printed for any given volume, for several reasons. First, information does not exist for all volumes. Second, the “order received” dates did not necessarily signal that the State Department had completed compilation and redaction of an entire volume; often the Department sent a portion of a volume to the printers, thereby “opening” the order so GPO could begin work, and then the Department submitted additional sections subsequently. Third, the “completion date” did not necessarily conform to the official publication date; in some instances the GPO received printing funds before the volumes were ready to publish, and in many cases Department and congress each paid for their copies at different times as funds became available. Finally, the “number ordered” for any individual entry did not necessarily correspond with the number of volumes printed for any given year. The GPO Ledgers contain a substantially complete accounting of Department of State orders, but records of orders for the House or Senate is much less comprehensive. Moreover, both the Department and congress sometimes ordered more or fewer volumes than the number prescribed in the laws of 1864, 1866, and 1895 cited below. Nevertheless, by comparing the figures in the GPO Ledgers with the other sources listed above, and with a few of the narrative archival documents cited elsewhere in this work and newspaper accounts announcing the release of many FRUS volumes, it is possible to build up a fairly accurate picture of (a) how many volumes were printed, and (b) after 1906, the dimensions of the publication lag (see chapters 5 and 6).↩
  2. If more than one volume was published for a given year, the number of volumes is noted. Only those volumes for which specific publication information exists through 1935 are included: these tables do not include information about the Lansing Papers, covering the years 1914–1920, and several volumes covering 1918 because those volumes were published after 1935.↩
  3. Approximate total number of copies (congressional, Department, and other orders) printed for the volume. All figures are approximate because the records do not allow for definitive accuracy (see note 1 above). When the sources are at significant variance about the number of copies produced, see footnotes for additional information. In years that multiple volumes were produced, a similar number of copies were printed for each volume unless otherwise stated. “+” signifies the likelihood that more copies were published. “?” signifies less certainty about the number copies published.↩
  4. Number of copies printed for the Department of State. All figures are approximate because the records do not allow for definitive accuracy (see note 1 above). When the sources are at significant variance about the number of copies printed, see footnotes additional information. In years that multiple volumes were produced, a similar number of copies were printed for each volume unless otherwise stated.↩
  5. U.S. Code, Section 11, 13 Stat. 184 (June 25, 1864), in force during 1864–65, stipulated that GPO print 4,000 copies for the Senate and 7,000 copies for the House of Representatives.↩
  6. U.S. Code, Section 2, 14 Stat. L. 305 (July 27, 1866), in force during 1866–1895 stipulated that GPO print 2,000 copies for the Senate, 4,000 for the House of Representatives, and 2,500 for the Department of State. When other information is not available, figures for the 1866–1895 volumes assume that the GPO printed at least the minimum number of copies required by law.↩
  7. See chapter 3 for explanations of the late publication of the two 1868 volumes and the absent 1869 volume.↩
  8. GPO Ledgers can only confirm DOS procurement of 1,000 copies for the 1881 volume.↩
  9. Most commonly 1,000. GPO Ledgers suggest 3,000 copies for the 1887–1888 volume.↩
  10. 28 Stat. L., Chapter 23, Sect. 54 and Sect. 73 (January 12, 1895) stipulates that the GPO print 1,000 copies for the Senate, 2,000 copies for the House, and “the usual number” (originally designated as 1,682 copies) for the Department of State. U.S. Code, Title 44, section 1317, page 596–597 (2006) indicates this law is still in force but is modified by PL 94–59, Title VIII, 89 Stat. 296 (July 25, 1975), which requires the GPO to print only the number of copies from the Congressional allotment that are necessary to fulfill requests from Congress for a particular FRUS volume.↩
  11. GPO Ledgers suggest 4,640 copies for the 1896 volume.↩
  12. See chapter 4 for explanation of delayed publication.↩
  13. See chapter 4 for explanation of delayed publication.↩
  14. See chapter 4 for explanation of delayed publication.↩
  15. No production figures available for the supplementary volume on China published in 1901.↩
  16. No production figures available for the supplementary volumes on Russia and Mexico published in 1902.↩
  17. GPO Ledgers can only confirm 1,856 copies for the 1905 volume, but the number was probably in line with the figures for recent previous years.↩
  18. Report of Congressional Printing Investigation Commission, Vol. 1, October 26, 1905, p. 8, states: “five hundred copies of [FRUS] are ordered annually for official use by the Department in lieu of 1,000 formerly.”↩
  19. Drawn from newspaper reports; U.S. Government, Department of State, Press Releases, 1919–1938; and congressional testimony as cited in chapters 5 and 6.↩
  20. Assumes a current volume would appear no later than December of the year subsequent to the events documented. Volumes for which a publication month cannot be established indicate the range of the possible years of delay. For the Great War supplemental volumes, assumes, according to earlier FRUS practice, that a timely volume would appear by the end of 1919, one year after the end of the war.↩
  21. Compilation of this volume was probably completed in October 1908.↩
  22. Compilation of this volume was probably completed in October 1919.↩
  23. Although the title page for the 1916 FRUS volume indicates a publication year of 1925, see New York Times, February 16, 1926, which indicates the volume was not released until 1926, probably in February. GPO Ledgers support the February 1926 timeframe. Compilation of this volume was probably completed in November 1925.↩
  24. GPO Ledgers indicate 50 copies were made up for London Naval Conference.↩
  25. GPO Ledgers indicate 200 copies were made up for London Naval Conference.↩