FDR Library Subject Reference Files, 1939-present | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

This finding aid shows all reference files compiled into a single, alphabetical list of folder titles. However, the collection itself is divided physically into two subject areas: Persons and Subjects and is stored in upright filing cabinets. Both portions are arranged alphabetically, by surname and subject heading, respectively. The only exceptions are the “Roosevelt, Franklin Delano” folders and the “Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor” folders which were filed within the Subjects category of cabinets because of the numerous topics directly related to each person.

All reference files showing in the Box/Folder List below can be accessed individually, by request, in the FDR Library’s research room or by distance reproduction service. The collection has not been digitized.

This reference collection was historically referred to as the “Vertical File,” as it was/is contained in upright file cabinets. It has been maintained and added to actively by archivists of the FDR Presidential Library since the Library’s creation in 1939. 

Sometime in the early processing of the presidential papers, archivists separated select printed items from the primary correspondence in President’s Official Files (OF) and the President’s Personal Files (PPF) and file them in the Vertical File within the pertinent subject folder.  These cases are limited, but users may be able to identify these items by handwritten file numbers visible on the item covers (“OF 105” for example). The vast majority of collection contents, however, were never part of the president’s papers.

Currently, the Vertical File is an active and growing collection. It continuously receives additions to existing folders, updated titles and subject terms, as well as completely new folders to accommodate more persons, organizations, or topics that illuminate and provide context for the Roosevelts’ legacy.