Scope and Content Note
This series consists of the files and reports from a State Civil Service Commission investigation of the practices of the Lackawanna City Civil Service Commission between 1942 and 1948. Conducted between 1947 and 1949, the investigation was made in response to local veterans groups' legal actions against the municipal commission and petitions to the State Commission over a fire fighter examination.
The series contains four types of records as follows:
Commission's executive office files of the investigation contain correspondence relevant to the investigation; petitions from veterans' groups; memoranda concerning the investigation; and copies of legal documents submitted to the courts and the State Commission.
The working files of the investigation contain copies of legal documents and court proceedings (e.g. brief, mandamus, subpoenas, orders); copies of Municipal Commission records; correspondence; press clippings; copies of State Commission minutes and records; files on examinations, positions and individuals investigated; and early drafts of the investigator's report.
Verbatim transcripts of testimony before the State Commission by legal counsel for the Municipal Commission City of Lackawanna; State Commission; the Attorney General; aggrieved veterans; and Secretary and members of the Municipal Commission. Also included are stenographers' notebooks containing (in shorthand) interviews and statements of various applicants for city positions (transcriptions of these notes appear in the investigator's final report).
The final report of the investigation (in 2 typescript volumes) describes the events leading up to the investigation, how it was conducted, Municipal Commission recordkeeping and appointment procedures, and specific examinations and appointments. The report also contains copies of Municipal Commission documents, other documentary evidence, and transcripts and summaries of interviews of and statements for candidates for city positions and city employees.
This series contains detailed information on Lackawanna civil service and personnel practices during the 1940's, the operation of a State Commission investigation of the same period, and the civil service concerns of veterans groups after World War II.
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