Preface

     Special lists are published by the National Archives and Records 
Service (NARS) as part of its records description program. The special 
list describes in detail the contents of certain important records 
series; that is, units of records of the same form or that deal with 
the same subject or activity or that are arranged serially. Its form 
and style are not fixed but vary according to the nature of the records 
to which it relates. Its distinguishing characteristic is that it goes 
beyond the general description contained in a record group registration 
statement, a preliminary inventory, or an inventory and describes 
records in terms of individual record items.

     In addition to lists and other finding aids that relate to 
particular record groups, NARS issues publications that give an overall 
picture of materials in its custody. A new, comprehensive Guide to the 
National Archives of the United States and a revised and expanded Guide 
to Materials on Latin America in the National Archives of the United 
States were published in 1974. Reference information papers analyze 
records in the National Archives of the United States (hereafter called 
the Archives) on such subjects as transportation, small business, and 
the Middle East. Records of the Civil War are described in Guide to 
Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War (1962), Guide to the 
Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America (1968), 
and Civil War Maps in the National Archives (1964); those of World War 
I in Handbook of Federal World War Agencies and Their Records, 1917-
1921 (1943); and those of World War II in the two-volume guide Federal 
Records of World War II (1950-51). Genealogical records are described 
in Guide to Genealogical Records in the National Archives (1964). In 
the Archives are large quantities of audiovisual materials received 
from all sources: Government, private, and commercial. The Guide to the 
Ford Film Collection in the National Archives (1970) describes one of 
the largest private gift collections. The extensive body of maps and 
charts is described in the Guide to Cartographic Records in the 
National Archives (1971).

     Many bodies of records of high research value have been 
microfilmed by NARS as a form of publication. Positive prints of these 
microfilm publications, many of which are described in the current 
Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications, are available for 
purchase. For other publications, see the most recent Select List of 
Publications of the National Archives and Records Service, General 
Information Leaflet No. 3.

                            JAMES B. RHOADS
                       Archivist of the United States



Extracted from:

Special List No. 36

List of Black Servicemen
Compiled From the War Department
Collection of Revolutionary War Records
Compiled by Debra L. Newman
National Archives and Records Service
General Services Administration
Washington: 1974

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 73-600311