Research

Scope and Content Note

This series contains correspondence, memoranda, booklets, and reports documenting the Office of Civilian Protection's efforts to establish and monitor adequate civil defense measures for New York State. This series contains: correspondence with local war councils documenting personnel, activities, and equipment inventory; monthly reports from deputy directors on local war councils' civil defense organization and status; bulletins, regulations, and memoranda from the OCP's director to local civil defense directors, including Official Memoranda Numbers 1-24 and 38-91; "white sheets" documenting air raid drill practices and listing the stations, persons receiving the calls, and the date and time the call was placed; a secret report discussing civil defense preparations in Germany; a complete organization and program manual from the United States Office of Civilian Defense; a booklet from the New York City Citizens Defense Corps entitled "Manual for Public Works Officers"; and New York City precinct maps.

Correspondence found in this series discusses: airplane spotting; awards and commendations; blackout practices; blood plasma collection; cooperative civil defense efforts with Canadians; equipment distribution; medical personnel and equipment requirements; personnel address changes; volunteer recruitment and training; war industry plant protection; and the Wayland train wreck of 1943 in which the OCP's local unit provided emergency medical assistance.