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Montgomery County Archives
The Red Brick Courthouse
29 Courthouse Square
Room G-09
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 279-1218

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

The Office of Consumer Affairs was created as the enforcing agency for the Montgomery County Consumer Protection Law. Established in 1972, the office investigates and conciliates consumer complaints; takes legal action when warranted; represents the consumer's interest before legislative bodies at federal, state, and local levels; educates the buyer; works with area businesses to promote good relations; and published consumer information on a wide variety of topics.

PROCESSING PROCEDURES

General processing procedures consisted of discarding duplicates, unnecessary binders, and routine transmittals. Oversized documents and photographs were removed from the original location in their assigned series and placed in separate containers. Separation sheets were inserted in the original location within the folder to indicate the new location of any records placed elsewhere.

Preservation copying of newspaper clippings were performed whenever feasible. Records in folders were arranged, unless otherwise indicated, in forward chronological order, with undated records appearing at the end of the folder.

PROVENANCE

Records are arranged according to the basic tenets of provenance. When ever possible the original order was maintained to provide evidence of the activities that created the records. That is, records from different sources are not intermingled and the original filing order of the creator, if useable, is retained. Such principles of arrangement insure both that records will continue to be useful for the creating organization and that later users can evaluate the content of records in the context of their creation.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The documents in this collection document the Office of Consumer Affairs' activities as an educator of the consumer. Document types include pamphlets, workshop outlines, and publications and are dated 1976 to 1980.

The collection has been arranged as one series:

Series I: Subject Files

See also the Guide to Printed Material of Record Group 10: Community Development and Housing, Consumer Affairs series.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Series I: Subject Files, 1976-1980 (1 file)

The series consists of informational pamphlets and outlines from specific workshops and classes held for the consumer. These sessions provided information for home buyers and owners, and for car owners, relating, for instance, to car repairs and home improvement. The collection also includes a bibliography of books providing the consumer with information about such matters as insurance, money management, food, and electrical appliances. Copies of the Annotated Code of Maryland originally included in the collection and used by the Office for reference purposes, have been transferred to the Montgomery County Archives' reference collection.

The series has been arranged as one folder.

BOX INVENTORY

Box 1

Series 1: Subject Files, 1976-1980

Office of Consumer Affairs, 1976-1980