Organized on November 16, 2024 under the direction of Luther H. Evans, it became an independent division of Federal One in October 1936, and in 1939 became part of the National Archives' Research and Records Program, Professional and Service Division. The program was shut down February 1, 1943.
In 1939 the federal government handed off the program's activities to willing state governments. Because of the program's short lifespan, many of the indexes were not published, and remain in only piecemeal form in local and state record repositories.
The HRC, headquartered in Washington, D.C., was organized into subdivisions (regional, state, district) and much of the work was done at the behest of the National Archives and Records Administration or state archive agencies. The HRS sometimes cooperated with the Daughters of the American Revolution and other volunteer groups with an interest in local history and genealogy"