44. Editorial Note
In the final report of the Committee on Public Information, dated June 1, 1919, Director of the Foreign Section Edgar Sisson wrote: “From Paris the first Sunday in February, 1919 [February 2], I cabled around the world demobilization orders for all offices of the committee, except those of New York, London, and Paris. The offices demobilized by that order were Copenhagen, Stockholm, The Hague, Berne, Prague, Rome, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Lima, Colon, Mexico City, Peking, Vladivostok, Harbin, Irkutsk, Omsk, and Archangel.
“To the Siberian and Russian offices the chief leeway in time was granted, but it was impossible to allow them to operate beyond March 15. The last members of the group did not reach the United States until late in June, 1919.” (Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, page 213)
Despite the cut-off, some offices continued to produce material well into 1919. See the Online Supplement, Appendix A.12 for an example of such work. This newsletter was produced by the CPI for distribution in Russia, where the civil war was ongoing, on March 17, 1919. (National Archives, RG 63, Entry 106, Correspondence, Cables, Reports, and Newspapers Received from Employees of the Committee Abroad, Nov. 1917–Apr. 1919, Box 2)
Commissioners of the CPI at the various overseas offices submitted their final reports to Chairman of the Committee on Public Information George Creel, which are included in Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, pages 149–290. President Woodrow Wilson formally abolished the Committee on Public Information by means of Executive Order 3154 of August 21, 1919.