Pennsylvania State Archives
RG-25
Records of the SPECIAL COMMISSIONS
The records of temporary independent commissions have been placed in one record
group. These commissions were temporary since they were created to perform a
specific function and then go out of existence. They were independent in that
they were not established as a dependent commission under the purview of an
on-going executive department. As can be readily ascertained from their names,
these commissions were formed to serve primarily as investigatory or planning
bodies, or as vehicles to erect public monuments and promote the official commemoration
of historic events.
Over the years more than a hundred temporary special commissions were created
by acts of the General Assembly to function as independent administrative bodies
for limited periods of time under the jurisdiction of the Governor. Their life
spans were determined by the amount of time required for them to fulfill their
purposes. The typical commission consisted of some combination of private citizens
appointed by the Governor, members from either or both the House and Senate,
the Speaker of the House, the President pro-tempore of the Senate, and certain
heads of state agencies whose functions were related to the purpose for which
the commission was created. Special commissions generally met upon the call
of their chairmen or presidents and operated under a set of prescribed rules
and regulations. Some commissions possessed the power to subpoena witnesses,
books and papers. Special commissions generally submitted final written reports
on their activities to the Governor and the General Assembly.
The records of two special commissions established within parent agencies will
be found within the records of their respective agencies. These are the Records
of the Bicentennial Commission of Pennsylvania, 1968-1977 that are in
Record Group 31, Records of the Department of Commerce and the Records
of the Pennsylvania War History Commission, 1915-1920 that are in Record
Group 19, Records of the Department of Military Affairs. Additional materials
related to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission will be found in Papers
of Governor William A. Stone (Manuscript Group 181) and the Samuel W.
Pennypacker Papers (Manuscript Group 171). Among the John S. Fisher
Papers (Manuscript Group 159) are copies of the procedures and report of
the Capitol Investigation Commission. For additional information on records
generated by special commissions see also the Guide to the Records of
Special Commissions in the Pennsylvania State Archives compiled by Henry
E. Bown and edited by Roland M. Bauman (Harrisburg: 1979).
Commemorative, Monument and Exposition Commissions
Battle of Gettysburg 125th Anniversary
Commission
- Files of the Battle of Gettysburg
125th Anniversary Commission, 1950-1988. (5 cartons, 3 boxes) {#25.171}
[Description] [Holdings]
Board of Commissioners on Gettysburg
Monuments
Board of World's Fair Managers
of Pennsylvania (Columbian Exposition)
Committee to Commemorate the 175th Anniversary
of the Bushy Run Battle
Camp Curtin Commission
Commission to Supervise the Transfer
of Flags from the Library and Museum Building to the Cases in the Rotunda of
the Capitol Building of Certain Flags of Pennsylvania Commands
- Correspondence, Photographs, Accounts, and Miscellaneous Records Relating
to the Transfer of Flags to the Capitol Building, 1913-1922. (1 box) {#25.17}
[Description] [Holdings]
- General Correspondence, Accounts, and Rosters or Lists relating to Flags
used by State Regiments, circa 1861-1907. (1 box) {#25.18}
[Description] [Holdings]
Cotton States and International Exposition
Commission of Pennsylvania
Delaware Tercentenary Commission
Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Battle of Gettysburg Commission
- Badges, 1913. (1 folder) {#25.21} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Cash Books, 1909-1913. (1 volume) {#25.22} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Final Commission Report, 1913. (1 volume) {#25.23} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Correspondence, circa 1909-1914. (31 boxes) {#25.24} [Description]
[Holdings]
- List of Veterans and Others Granted Transportation to and from Gettysburg,
1913. (1 volume) {#25.25} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Maps, 1913. (1 folder) {#25.26} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minute Book of the Executive, Regional, and Special Committee, 1909-1914.
(2 volumes) {#25.27} [Description] [Holdings]
- Report of the Commissioner of Health, 1913. (1 folder) {#25.28} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Registers of Participants, 1913. (2 volumes) {#25.29} [Description]
[Holdings]
Fort Meigs Memorial Commission
- General Correspondence, Acts of Legislature, Dedication, Blueprints, circa
1905-1923. (2 folders, 2 sheets) {#25.31} [Description]
[Holdings]
General George Gordon Meade National
Statue Commission
Independence Celebration Commission
Keystone State Commission of the Pan
American Exposition
Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Mexican War Monument Commission
Pennsylvania at Cold Harbor, Virginia,
Commission
Pennsylvania Chickamauga-Chattanooga
Battlefield Commission
Pennsylvania Commission to the South
Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition
Pennsylvania Constitution Commemoration
Committee
- Accounts, 1937-1938. (6 folders) {#25.49} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Articles and Sketches, 1937. (1 folder) {#25.50} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Committee Records Inventory, 1938. (1 folder) {#25.51} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Correspondence, 1935-1938. (11 boxes, 6 folders) {#25.52} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Plan for Statewide Commemoration, 1937. (1 folder) {#25.53} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Legislation, 1936-1938. (1 folder) {#25.54} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Mailing Lists, 1936-1938. (4 folders) {#25.55} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minutes of the Executive, Regional, and Special Committees, circa 1937-1938.
(2 folders) {#25.56} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Pamphlets, 1937-1938. (1 folder) {#25.57} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Press Releases, 1937-1938. (2 folders) {#25.58} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Proclamation, 1936. (1 folder) {#25.59} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Publications, 1937. (2 folders) {#25.60} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Publicity and Newsclippings, 1936-1938. (7 boxes, 32 folders) {#25.61} [Description] [Holdings]
- Reports, circa 1937-1938. (2 folder) {#25.62} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Research Notes, 1937-1938. (1 folder) {#25.63} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Speeches, 1937-1938. (1 folder) {#25.64} [Description]
[Holdings]
Pennsylvania State World's Fair Commission
- Agreements, 1938-1940. (2 folders) {#25.65} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Allocation Records, 1939. (1 folder) {#25.66} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Daily Reports and Memoranda, circa 1939-1940. (1 folder) {#25.67} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Display Items, 1939-1940. (3 folders) {#25.68} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Drawings, 1939-1940. (1 folder) {#25.69} [Description]
[Holdings]
- File on Gropius and Breyer, Architects, 1938-1939. (1 folder) {#25.70} [Description] [Holdings]
- Financial Statements, 1939-1940. (1 folder) {#25.71} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Contractors File, 1939-1941. (3 folders) {#25.72} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Correspondence, 1938-1941. (8 folders) {#25.73} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minutes, circa 1938-1940. (1 folder) {#25.74} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Miscellaneous, 1939-1941. (8 folders) {#25.75} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Opinions, 1939. (1 folder) {#25.76} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Property Release File, 1939-1941. (1 folder) {#25.77} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Publicity File, 1939. (1 folder) {#25.78} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Purchased Materials File, 1939-1941. (1 folder) {#25.79} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Returned Materials File, 1940. (1 folder) {#25.80} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Specification File, 1939. (1 folder) {#25.81} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Unity Bridge File, 1939-1940. (1 folder) {#25.82} [Description]
[Holdings]
Pennsylvania Three Hundredth
Anniversary Commission (Swedish Tercentenary)
- Accounts, 1937-1939. (1 box) {#25.83} [Description]
[Holdings]
- General Correspondence, 1936-1939. (4 boxes, 24 folders) {#25.84} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Historical Data, undated. (7 folders) {#25.85} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Legislation, 1935-1937. (1 folder) {#25.86} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minutes of the Meeting to Organize a General Tercentenary Committee, 1935.
(1 volume) {#25.87} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minutes of the Commission's Executive and Women's Executive Committees,
1938. (1 folder) {#25.88} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Press Releases, 1937-1938. (1 folder) {#25.89} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Publications, undated. (1 folder) {#25.90} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Publicity Files, 1937-1939. (4 boxes, 3 folders) {#25.91} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Speeches, 1937-1938. (3 folders) {#25.92} [Description]
[Holdings]
Pennsylvania Veterans' Memorial Commission
- Records of the Pennsylvania Veterans' Memorial Commission, 1988-2005. (2
cartons, 1 box) {#25.172} [Description]
[Holdings]
Pennsylvania Week
Presentation to the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania of William Penn's First Charter
Sesqui-Centennial Commission
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
State Board of Centennial Managers
250th Anniversary of the First
Landing of William Penn
Wayne Monument Commission
- Journal Containing Minutes, Notes on Activities, Correspondence, Contracts,
and Job Specifications, 1905-1908. (1 volume) {#25.104} [Description]
[Holdings]
William Penn Tercentenary Committee
Investigating Commissions
21st Century Environment
Commission
Capitol Investigation Commission
Commission for the Investigation
and Control of the Chestnut Tree Blight Disease in Pennsylvania
Commission to Devise a Plan
for the Segregation, Care and Treatment of the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic Persons
in Pennsylvania
Commission to Locate the Site of
the Frontier Forts in Pennsylvania
- Drawings, Photographs, Maps, and Prints Used to Illustrate the 1896 Reports,
circa 1896. (1 box) {#25.124} [Description]
[Holdings]
Commonwealth
Compensation Commissions
Delaware River Bridge Joint
Commission
Governor's Commission on Modern State
Government
Joint Legislative Committee on the
Revision of the Corporation and Revenue Laws of the Commonwealth
Pennsylvania Abortion Law Commission
Pennsylvania Commission on Three
Mile Island (TMI)
State Municipal Commission
- Minute Book of the State Municipal Commission and its Committees, 1876-1877.
(1 volume) {#25.148} [Description]
[Holdings]
Planning And Other Commissions
Highway and Planning Commission
Johnstown Flood Relief Commission
- Report of the Secretary of the Johnstown Flood Relief Commission, 1889.
(1 volume) {#25.151} [Description]
[Holdings]
Pennsylvania Post-War Planning
Commission
Pennsylvania State Commission for the
Construction of a Public Steamboat Landing at the Port of Erie
- General Correspondence, Job Specifications, Blueprint, and Bidder Information
(Printed), 1907-1909. (1 box) {#25.158} [Description]
[Holdings]
- Minute Books of the Erie Dock Commission, 1907-1909. (2 volumes) {#25.159} [Description] [Holdings]
River and Harbor Commissions
Delaware River Joint Commission
Delaware River
Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Delaware River
Port Authority
Interstate Commission on the
Delaware River Basin
Interstate Advisory Committee on
the Susquehanna River Basin
- Records of the Interstate Advisory Committee on the Susquehanna River Basin,
1964-1976. (14 cartons, 1 box) {#25.174} [Description]
[Holdings]
Last processing update: 03/29/2011, acc. #4575