Office of Price Administration, Hartford Branch Records

Series I: Price Control Reports (1943-1947) consists primarily of reports and memoranda generated by the Hartford Branch of the OPA. The majority of the reports are brief in nature and tend to be memorandum-like in format. A notable exception is “The History of Milk Pricing in New England” which is considerably longer and more detailed than other reports. Many of the reports are concerned with specific cases of the local OPA office, attempting to resolve disputes concerning the legal maximum prices of goods and services. The series is arranged alphabetically by business type and chronologically therein.

Series II: Price Control Master File (1941-1946) contains the cumulative set of regulations. [Regulations are also located in Series III, although arranged differently.] There are six types of regulations arranged in four sets of independently numbered sequences: 1. Food Products Regulations (FPRs) 2. Maximum Price Regulations (MPRs), Revised Price Schedules (RPSs), and Supplementary Storage Regulations (SSRs) 3. Supplementary Regulations (SRs) 4. Supplementary Orders (SOs) In addition to the six basic types of regulations, there are revised and temporary versions. For example, the folder labeled “RMPR 129” is listed as an MPR with the notation “Rev.” Each regulation may include one or more of the following: the most recent version, previous versions, teletypes, forms, government booklets, and local memoranda. Those few folders that do not follow this pattern are typically unnumbered and highly specialized in nature.

Series III: Handbooks and Manuals (1942-1951) contains a set of four handbooks and a set of three manuals that originated within the OPA during and immediately after World War II. In addition to these materials, the series also contains external reports presented to Congressional committees by the OPA, a publications from the Office of War Information on controlling the cost of living, and a folder entitled “General Ceiling Price Regulations” from the Office of Price Stabilization. The handbooks and manuals document the workings of the OPA and, to a lesser extent, one of its successors.

Series IV: Desk Books (undated) contains a four column General Desk Book, eighteen volumes of the Commodity Desk Books and an Opinions and Decisions Desk Book consisting of five, non-consecutive volumes. These materials also contain the price regulations. Unlike the items in Series II, which document the development of the individual regulations, these materials provide a “snapshot” if the regulations as updated versions were issued, placed in the books and the superceded materials thrown out.

Series V: Posters and Propaganda (circa 1941-1943) contains war bond drive material. These materials were not created by the OPA but were used by the OPA in their activities. The series contains numerous posters, pamphlets and empty war bond stamp booklets.