The Historical Records Survey (HRS) was a project of the Works Progress Administration New Deal program in the United States.

Originally part of the Federal Writers' Project, it was devoted to surveying and indexing historically significant records in state, county and local archives.

The official mission statement was the "discovery, preservation, and listing of basic materials for research in the history of the United States".

However, 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.

[7] To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men living in the future, a nation must believe in three things.

It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its people so to learn from the past that they can gain in Judgment for the creation of the future.According to regional historian Clifton Dale Foster, "In most states, several diverse projects were operating simultaneously.

The achievements of the extensive Wisconsin records survey, for one, included the usual indices as well as further: "a guide to the newspapers of one county, an index of governor's messages, a history of Galesville University, a style manual, a directory of U.S. government agencies in the state, and a checklist of statutory requirements for county records".