Records of the Chief Clerk's office consist mostly of records of Chief Clerk William J. Rhees, 1869-1905. Rhees, who joined the Smithsonian staff in 1852, performed many functions over the years, including general correspondence supervision, distribution of scientific publications, supervision of Smithsonian publications, and archival duties. For the most part, Clerk's records are retained here while papers relating to Rhees' work on Smithsonian history and other projects remain in his personal papers; but some overlapping is unavoidable. Some records among the incoming correspondence probably belong with secretarial records, and some records very similar to those retained here in the Clerk's series may be found among secretarial records. The paperwork system of the offices is not fully understood, a problem compounded by later rearrangements of the records.

The most valuable part of this record unit is the incoming correspondence from Spencer F. Baird, 1875-1887, and, to a lesser degree, incoming correspondence from Samuel P. Langley.

Box 1 of 14

• Letters Received - Spencer F. Baird to William J. Rhees, 1875-1883

Box 2 of 14

• Letters Received - Spencer F. Baird to William J. Rhees, 1884-1887
• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1898-1901

Box 3 of 14

• Letters Received - Samuel P. Langley to William J. Rhees, 1887-1892

Box 4 of 14

• Index to Letters, Langley to Rhees, A-Z (4 folders)
• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1880-1882

Box 5 of 14

• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1880-1882
• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, July 1881-July 1883

Box 6 of 14

• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1883-1884
• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1884-1885

Box 7 of 14

• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, 1885-1890
• Letters and Memoranda by Rhees - Personal and Official, December 20, 1899-May 19, 1905
• Letters and Memoranda by Rhees - Personal and Official, May 17, 1901-June 2, 1906

Box 8 of 14

• Letters and Memoranda by Rhees - Personal and Official, 1890-1895
• Letters and Memoranda by Rhees - Personal and Official, 1895-1899
• Letters and Memoranda by Rhees - Personal and Official, 1898-1905
• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, October 15, 1886-April 23, 1890

Box 9 of 14

• Letters Written by William J. Rhees, May 1890-November 1898
• Occasion Book, circa 1897-1902
• Letters Received from Filing System Circular, 1882 (3 folders)

Box 10 of 14

• Letters Received from Diplomatic Review Circular, 1885 (2 folders)
• Letters Received from Journals/Societies Circular, 1887 (4 folders)

Box 11 of 14

• Letters Received from Journals/Societies Circular, 1887 (3 folders)
• Index Cards of Scientific Journals (Domestic and Foreign)
• Employee Self-Reports of Duties, 1887
• Forms and Blanks Used in Smithsonian Offices, 1887

Box 12 of 14

• Employee Questionnaires, 1890 (2 folders)
• Miscellaneous Letters and Memoranda between Smithsonian Officials, 1863-1893
• Miscellaneous Letters and Memoranda between Smithsonian Officials, 1894-1896
• Miscellaneous Letters and Memoranda between Smithsonian Officials, 1897-1911
• Rhees' Plans for Business Operations of the Smithsonian, 1870-1880

Box 13 of 14

• Miscellaneous Smithsonian Publications (2 folders)
• Specimen Plaques

Box 14 of 14

• Smithsonian Employee Salaries, 1846-1904 (E-Z)
• Rhees' List of Smithsonian Employees, 1846-1904 (E-Z)
• Employment Applications