Records of the National Archives and Records Administration: Records of the Harry S. Truman Library: Harry S. Truman Death and Funeral Records

The Harry S. Truman Death and Funeral Records consist of Army Fact Sheets, Congressional statements, letters, funeral programs and plans, invitation lists, memos, medical bulletins, and reports.

Size: 10 linear inches (approximately 1600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Erwin J. Mueller (1973); Jan Davis (2016); David Clark (2010-2022).

The Records of the Harry S. Truman Library are included among the Records of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group 64. From the time of the Truman Library’s establishment in 1957 until 1985, the Library was part of NARA’s predecessor agency, the National Archives and Records Service (NARS), which in turn was part of the General Services Administration. NARA was established as an independent agency in 1985.

This series consists of Army Fact Sheets, Congressional statements, letters, funeral programs and plans, invitation lists, memos, medical bulletins, and reports related to the funeral planning, final illness, and death of Harry S. Truman. The series is arranged alphabetically.

The series includes 146 fact sheets on Harry S. Truman created by the Information Office of the Fifth Army. The fact sheets include information about Truman’s birthplace, homes, family, library, military career, employment, presidential administration, and funeral. The letters in the series are primarily related to Harry S. Truman, Bess Truman, Margaret Truman Daniel, Clifton Daniel, and Tom Evans.

Other records in the series include a florist record book, funeral plans, funeral programs, a guest book, invitation lists, Masonic services programs, medical bulletins from December 1972, information about memorial donations, memos, military police instructions, the Fifth Army’s funeral plan (OPLAN Missouri), photos, and the television broadcast plan for the funeral (Project Jefferson). The messages of condolence from world leaders consist of typed copies of messages sent to President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State William Rogers.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the Harry S. Truman Post-Presidential Papers, the Bess W. Truman Papers, and the Margaret Truman and Clifton Daniel Papers.