I happen to know someone at the National Fire Protection Association who
provided the tidbit below:

NFPA 232: Protection of Records, 1947 edition would have been the
appropriate NFPA standard at the time and it included specifications for
"fire resistive file rooms"  They recommended Carbon Dioxide fire
extinguishing systems.

Fire Protection Equipment for File Rooms.
First-aid fire appliances of type suitable for Class A fires (see N.F.P.A.
Standards for First-Aid Fire Appliances and Standpipe and Hose Systems)
shall be provided at a conveniently accessible location outside the file
room,
except that fire extinguishers may be located inside the room. Such
protection
is recommended in all cases and is particularly indicated where automatic
fire extinguishing equipment is not provided inside the file room.
It is ordinarily unnecessary to provide automatic fire protection equipment
in file rooms. A system of automatic carbon dioxide fire protection
installed
in accordance with the N.F.P.A. Standards for Carbon Dioxide
Fire Extinguishing Systems affords excellent protection for records and is
particularly adaptable where large values are concentrated in a relatively
small space. Automatic relief vents, normally closed and of a type suitable
for record vaults, must be provided, preferably at or near the top of the
file room, to prevent building up of pressure by the gas discharge that
would
rupture the room construction. Floors and roofs of file rooms shall not be
pierced for piping.
Automatic fire-detecting systems installed in accordance with the
recommendations
of the N.F.P.A. Standards for Protective Signalling Systems
are valuable in giving warning of fire inside file rooms. They should be
relied upon only when there is assurance that the alarm will bring prompt
response at all times

Christopher Ferry, CRM
Boston, MA

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