evidence: But it was not until the Federal Register Act in 1936 that a more thorough contemporaneous documentation of Executive Orders began. Before then, and occasionally afterwards, discovery of an order not previously counted has resulted in assigning a number already in use together with an associated letter (e.g., 7709, 7709-A). This practice explains why the total number of orders issued may be greater than the result that would be obtained by subtracting a president’s first order number from his last (and adding 1). [...] In this table we present the total number of Executive Orders issued by presidential term (not calendar year). Thus, this table does not include other forms of written presidential orders (such as memorandums), or discretionary executive actions not accompanied by a published presidential directive. For an illustration of the many different kinds of presidential directives that are NOT called "Executive Orders" see our Analysis "Biden in Action." For further illustrations of the problems involved in simply counting documents, see another Analysis looking at presidential use of discretion in the first two years of elected presidents starting with Nixon. [...] Lord, Clifford L., ed. 1943. List and Index of Presidential Executive Orders (Unnumbered Series, 1789 – 1941). New Jersey Historical Records Survey, Works Progress Administration, Newark, NJ