Note Concerning the Minutes of the Meetings of the Council of Heads of Delegations

After the signing of the treaty with Germany on June 28, 1919, the principal governing body of the Peace Conference was the Council of Heads of Delegations of the five great powers.

The minutes were prepared by a joint secretariat and were duplicated and distributed in the same manner as those of the Council of Ten and the Council of Four (see notes, volume III, page 468, and volume V, page vi).

The designation of the minutes of the early meetings of the Heads of Delegations was somewhat irregular. Thus the meetings of July 1 and 2 appear as FM–28 (IC–200) and FM–29 (IC–201) respectively, the minutes of the July 3 meeting are without formal designation, and those of the meeting of July 5 appear as BC–63 (IC–201A). Beginning with the meeting of July 7 the minutes are designated by the letters “HD” followed by a number and run in a series from HD–1 of July 7, 1919, 3:30 p.m., through HD–125 of January 10, 1920, 11:30 a.m.

The present volume ends with HD–41 (August 28); HD–2 through HD–84 (August 29–November 5) will be found in volume VIII, and HD–85 through HD–125 (November 6, 1919–January 10, 1920) in volume IX.