United States. Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service miscellaneous records, 1941-1946

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Summary

Creators:
United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Abstract:
Sound recordings of radio broadcasts, and translations of transcripts of Chinese communist broadcasts from Yenan, China. Digital copies of select records also available at https://digitalcollections.hoover.org.
Extent:
1 manuscript box, 1,077 sound discs, 2 sound tape reels (108.1 Linear Feet)
Language:
In English, Japanese, and unidentified languages
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], United States. Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service miscellaneous records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

Sound recordings of radio broadcasts, and translations of transcripts of Chinese communist broadcasts from Yenan, China.

Biographical / historical:

This service was established by the U.S. government as the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service, a unit within the Federal Communications Commission, in February 1941. It recorded, translated, analyzed, and reported to other agencies of the U.S. government on broadcasts of foreign origin. It set up listening posts at Silver Hill, Maryland; London; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Kingsville, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and other places to intercept broadcasts of foreign news, intelligence, or propaganda emanating from authorized stations and clandestine transmitters in belligerent, occupied, and neutral countries.

At the listening posts, translations of the intercepted broadcasts were made and immediately teletyped or cabled to Washington headquarters. Some broadcasts were also recorded on discs. At Washington, incoming wires and transcriptions were edited and the more significant parts, or the full texts, were teletyped to the government agencies that were waging war on the military, diplomatic, and propaganda fronts. Special interpretations and daily and weekly summaries were prepared at headquarters and distributed to appropriate government agencies and officials.

Through cooperative arrangements with the Office of War Information, the British Ministry of Information, and the British Broadcasting Corporation, editors of the service were assigned to overseas posts maintained by those agencies to select material valuable for transmission to Washington. Editors and monitors of the service acted as part of the Army Psychological Warfare Branch in North Africa when Allied troops were landed there in 1943.

On December 30, 1945, the service was transferred to the War Department, and in 1946 the functions of the service were transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Source: National Archives and Records Service. Federal Records of World War II. Vol. 1, Civilian Agencies. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1950.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1958.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], United States. Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service miscellaneous records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US