THE ORGANIZATION, ARRANGEMENT, MANAGEMENT, AND DISPOSITION OF THE OL STILL PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: June 5, 1981
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
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VIA:
STAT FROM:
SUBJECT:
MEMORANDUM FOR: Office of Logistics
Records Management Officer
STAT
STAT
5 June 1981
Chief, Information Technology Branch
Agency Records Management Officer
Deputy Director for Administration, RMO
CIA Audiovisual Records Management Program Manager
The Organization, Arrangement, Management, and
Disposition of the OL Still Photography Collections
1. As you will recall, I have been working on the development of the
Agency's audiovisual records management program. my immediate work in this
area has concerned the photographic collections of PPD. One of these is
in the records center and the other is on the.premises. For the purpose
of preparing a draft schedule item and a filing organization plan, I
examined the collections in P&PD on 9 March and 1 May and the archival
collection on 9 April. For the purposes of direct policy guidance, a visit
to the audiovisual records custodial unit at MARS made was on 20 May.
2. The these-activities-is-the-attached plan fai-the -
_ _ _ _ ...
organization, - arrangement, and disposition - of the collection 1ease review
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the document and- contact me on extension at your earliest cenvenience.
Any comments which you have will be welcome. ? If the proposal meets your
_approval, mutually agreed-upon- plans can be _made for its implementatiOn.
Attachment:
a/s
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
File Plan for MD Photography Collection
1. The PE/PD still photograph collection comprises the following:
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(a) photos of DCI's, DDCI's, and General Donovan;
(b) official photographs of senior Agency personnel;
(c) official photos of various Presidents;
(d) photos of Presidential visits to the CIA;
(e) photos of former CIA occupied buildings;
(f) interior and exterior shots of the Headquarters building,.
including its construction;
(g) aerial shots of CIA buildings;
(h) Photographs of various employee activities and internal
events;
(i) pictures of the Agency seal and its various medals, shot
in 1978;
(j) the "Reber Project" (a collection of posed scenes with
overt Agency personnel used for public relations purposes);
(k) albums of a DCI staff meeting and of exterior Headquarters
scenes which are given as gifts to visiting VIP's;
(1) assorted PPD and general OL shots;
(m) photos of various secretaries and clerical personnel.
These photos are color and black and white and exist in both negative and
positive prints (in a number of cases, both for some discrete items).
2. Taken as a whole, this collection is a valuable one deserving permanent
retention. However, since it has essentially no preconceived organization and
was essentially thrown together in the course of P&PD's responsibilities, it
suffers from a variety of serious defects. These are:
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.-(a)_ an enormous number.of copies of? many pictures_ far:in-excess:
of any' reasonable heed (e.g. hundreds of prints of former DDA's Blake
and Wortman), _
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(6)--numerous pictures 'which have-no relevance to the CIA (e.g.
assorted Presidential photo portraits or pictures of public figures
such as Cyrus Vance,who never worked for the CIA);
(c) a broad scattering of rgrip and grin" photos of an emphemeral nature
(secretaries, training class mug shots, retirement ceremonies etc);
(d) negatives and positives filed in the same containers;
(e) no adequate identifiers or labels (usually crude hand
? lettering);
If) poor to non-existent storage containers (e.g. loose storage
in the file cabinet drawers, ragged manila envelopes, etc.);
(f) no clearly assigned responsibility for keeping the
collection in order (although several employees do work with it
in the course of other duties).
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
3. The following should be done to properly arrange these pictures:
(a) removal of all personalitY photos (both negative and positive)
not of senior Agency figures, passport photos, routine award and
retirement ceremonies, events and activities not related-to the
Agency's mission, photo portraits of Presidents and other U.S.
government officials having nothing to do with the CIA;
(b) disposition of multiple copies (both negativeand positive)
of all photographs to be retained;
(c) segregation of retained negative prints in a separate file;
(d) arrangement of each discrete file series (e.g. DCI's and
DDCI's seals and medals, Agency officials, buildings and grounds,
Presidential visits etc.) in an orderly fashion (either topically,
alphabetically or chronologically);
(e) storage of each photo in a proper container (see 4 below);
(f) labelling each container with identifying information;
.(g) disposition of the photograph albums;
(h) the folders holding the record copy of each print shOuld
be clearly labeled with an identifier;
(i) a determination of the retention merits of the "Reber Project"
(see 5 below)e--------
()-someone in P&PD;should be" given-theexplicit responsibility
for keeping the collection-in order and-up-to-date but if this is not
considered desirable thent e Collection should be retired to the -
Agency records center and maintained there. _
4. The audiovisual:custodial unit of NARS was contacted concerning
the appropriate containers for photographs. Negatives require acid-free
envelopes but such are not mandatory for positive prints. Such envelopes are
not stocked as standard it& but are available from the Hollinger Corporation,
from which NARS Orders them on an "as needed" basis. The CIA should also de.
this, once needs are determined.
5. The "Reber Project" was a program undertaken by the Office of Public
Affairs in 1978 to photograph posed scenes of such Headquarters facilities as
the library, credit union and auditorium. .These photos were shots by a
commercial photographer who was a former Agency employee and utilized overt
employees. The "outtakes" are part of the PPD collection. They should be
offered to OPA for their storage and use, or if no longer desired, disposed
of. ?
6. If the exces(Si photographs are considered necessary for gratis
distribution then PUD might wish to keep them at _hand, but they should remain
separate from the "official" collection.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0
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7. The same ground rules for the arrangement of these photographic
files would apply to the collection at the Agency records center. Should
KIT not wiss to maintain a permanent photographic collection, the two could
2? be and maintained as one at the records center, provided that
someone knowledgeable in proper archival procedures is given responsibility
for preparing the combined file.. However, since the History Staff is the OPI,
for this collection, their interest should be engaged before proceeding.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP10T01930R000100070020-0