The first venture to be undertaken by ARL was a project for the collection of data regarding manuscript collections. This project had little support and was relatively short-lived. However, the second project, the annual listings of the titles of the PhD theses was a significant contribution to the profession. The first volume of "Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities" was compiled by ARL and was published by H. W. Wilson in 1933. This series of publications would become the predecessor of what is now Dissertation Abstracts. Passed into law in 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act allowed trade associations and industry representatives to draft industrial codes of fair competition. In order to encourage the preservation of these records, ARL published "Address List of Local Code Authorities under N.R.A.: 1933-1935" in 1933 which had been prepared by the National Recovery Administration for the Joint Committee on Materials for Research established by the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Research Council. Two new members were added to ARL in 1936; Grosvenor Library (Buffalo) and New York University. The National Archives had expressed interest in joining but rejected the subsequent invitation.