Sub-series consists of central registry files of the Physical Fitness Division, Welfare Branch.These records reflect the National Fitness Division's main function, which was to provide the administrative machinery to carry out the funding decisions made by the National Council on Physical Fitness as well as a general programme promoting physical fitness and sport. The entire 219 block, for example, relates directly to the Council and covers such subjects as the appointment of members, cooperation with organizations outside the federal government, agenda and arrangements for meetings, and minutes of those meetings. In order to promote fitness and physical education, the Division entered into financial agreements with the provinces; records relating to those agreements are found in the 214 block. Other outreach activities include attendance at national and international conferences and arranging conferences (block 220), leadership training courses (block 222), evaluation of physical fitness (testing), recreational resources needs assessments, physical and health education (block 223), and liaison with a wide variety of organizations (block 224). Some of those organizations include: the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the National Hockey League, the International Labour Organization, and the Canadian Water Ski Association, as well as other nations.
The organization of these records reflects the period of transition between the work of the National Fitness Division and its successor, the Fitness and Amateur Sport Directorate. The files are arranged according to Fitness and Amateur Sport's early block numeric registry system in the range 210-229, but many of the files have been converted from an older filing system (the 290-294 blocks) implemented in 1959 after the repeal of the National Fitness Act and used by the Fitness and Recreation Consultants until the early 1960s. Many of the files have been closed twice, once in the 1950s in the older system, and again in 1961-1962 during the conversion of the system. Many later volumes of these records may be found in the Early Central Registry Series, the "200 Block".
