FOIA - Hilary Putnam (National Archives and Records Administration)
| Tracking # |
NARA-NGC-2020-000813 |
| Multi Request | FOIA - Hilary Putnam |
| Submitted | July 8, 2020 |
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Communications
From: J Ader
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All documents mentioning Hilary Whitehall Putnam (July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016), American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Putnam).
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
J Ader
From: National Archives and Records Administration
Please see the attached letter in response to your FOiA request.
From: National Archives and Records Administration
NARA-NGC-2020-000813 has been processed with the following final disposition: Records Not Reasonably Described.
Sent via FOIAonline
July 16, 2020
J. Ader
MuckRock News
Dept MR 97969
411A Highland Ave.
Somerville, MA 02144
RE: Freedom of Information Act Request NGC20-511
Dear J. Ader:
This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated, July 8, 2020, which we received in our office on the same date via FOIAonline. We assigned your request the above internal tracking number in addition to your FOIAonline tracking number NARA-NGC-2020-000813. In your request, you asked for:
All documents mentioning Hilary Whitehall Putnam (July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016), American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the repository for documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by agencies of the Executive branch of the United States Federal government. Federal agencies usually transfer their permanent records to NARA no earlier than 15 years from the date of creation, but we receive many well after 30 years from the date of creation. Agency records transferred to our legal custody are known as archival records.
The FOIA does not require agencies to conduct research, answer questions, or analyze data. In order for an agency to locate responsive records, the requester needs to describe the type of records he is looking for, the name of any federal agency he thinks may be the creator of such records, a brief description of the records, the time period of the records, and any case number or file number assigned to the records, if applicable. For federal agency records transferred to the legal custody of NARA, there is no way to retrieve individual records merely by a name. Agency archival records are not described to the item level. You can search our archival records by topic, by agency or by record group number in our online catalog at www.archives.gov . A FOIA request is not required for records that are open to the public for research.
Unfortunately, you did not provide enough information to enable us to do a search. Therefore, your request is an improper FOIA.
This completes the processing of your FOIA request to us.
If you are not satisfied with our action on this request, you have the right to file an administrative appeal within ninety (90) calendar days from the date of this letter via regular U.S. mail or email. By filing an appeal, you preserve your rights under FOIA and give the agency a chance to review and reconsider your request and the agency’s decision. If you submit your appeal in writing, please address it to the Deputy Archivist of the United States (ND), National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 20740. Both the letter and the envelope should be clearly marked “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.” If you submit your appeal by e-mail please send it to FOIA@nara.gov, also addressed to the Deputy Archivist of the United States. Please be sure to explain why you believe this response does not meet the requirements of the FOIA. All correspondence should reference your case tracking number NGC20-511 and your FOIAonline tracking number.
If you would like to discuss our response before filing an appeal to attempt to resolve your dispute without going through the appeals process, you may contact our FOIA Public Liaison Gary M. Stern for assistance at:
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 3110
College Park, MD 20740-6001
301-837-1750
garym.stern@nara.gov
If you are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through our FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), the Federal FOIA Ombudsman’s office, offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is noted below:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road–OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001
ogis@nara.gov
ogis.archives.gov
202-741-5770
1-877-684-6448
Sincerely,
Susan Gillett
Government Information Specialist
Office of General Counsel
foia@nara.gov
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