Finding Aid for China Projects File, 1938-48 | The American Library Association Archives

Title: China Projects File, 1938-48

ID: 7/1/51

Primary Creator: International Relations Office (IRO)

Extent: 2.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: Arranged by project and by subject title thereunder

Date Acquired: 04/26/1974

Subjects: Books for China Project, Boone Library School, Brown, Charles H., China Project, Chinese Universities, Fairbank, Wilma, Milam, Carl H., Peiping, National Library At, Sipes, Leonore, White, Carl M., Yuan, T. L. (Yuan Tongli)

Languages: English

Files of China Projects, contains book lists, correspondence, meeting agenda, newspaper clippings, proposals, and reports about Books for China Project (1938-40, 1944-48), the National Library at Peiping (1943-47), Boone Library School, Chinese libraries, private and public Chinese universities, war damage, a proposal for an American Library in China, and multiple proposals for library services developments in China, includes correspondence with Charles H. Brown, Wilma Fairbank, Carl Milam, Leonore Sipes, Carl White, T. L. Yuan, Dr. Chih Meng, A. Kaiming Chiu, Dr. Hu Shih, Mark Tseng, Associated Boards for Christian Colleges in China, United China Relief, Inc., Jorge Basadre Grohmann, Rae Cecilia Kipp, Mortimer Graves, Chinese News Service, Mason City Globe-Gazette, The China Foundation, Committee on Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students, and the Library of Congress.

The International Relations Board (International Relations Round Table) creatred the International Relations Office (IRO) in June 1942 (1).  The IRO was set up to "carry on its work in cooperation with the other committees of the Association whose work had international implications" (2).  The IRO also functioned as an advisory agency for libraries abroad (3).  In 1942-45, the IRO served "as an operational agency for various projects of the Department of State, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other foundations and libraries" (4).  A "new" IRO was created in 1956 (5).  The IRO concentrated its efforts on library development and the director was charged to "study and investigate the state of library education in various parts of the world" (6).  The director was expected to spend several months of each year in nations on the continents of Asia, Africa, and South America (7).  In 1959, the IRO sponsored (with Rockefeller Foundation monies) a group of ten visiting Japanese librarians who studied reference and advisory services in the United States (8).  The IRO was disbanded in 1972 (9). The office reopened in 1976 before closing again in 1982, then reopening.

Repository: The American Library Association Archives

Finding Aid Revision History: 03/02/2023 - digitzed a folder;

Other Note: 6 Pages

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/alasfa/0701051a.pdf

PDF finding aid for China Projects File (7/1/51)