The compilation of the records of the soldiers and sailors who served in World War I by enlistment from the state of Tennessee, compiled by Mrs. Rutledge Smith of Nashville, and a committee working under Mrs. Smith's supervision, consisting of separate volumes for each county, are declared to be public records of the state, and shall be carefully preserved by the state librarian and archivist as a part of the official records of this state, and copies thereof, duly certified by the state librarian and archivist, shall be receivable in evidence in all courts of competent jurisdiction in this state as to the truth of the facts therein recited.