Brief Description: Files of Latin American Projects contains files of the ALA International Relations Office, International Relations Board and Committee on Library Cooperation with Latin America - LCWLA (1927, 1937-43), includes International Library Cooperation in Latin America (1927-45), the Books for Latin America project - BLA (1939- 50), International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (1927-39), Committee on Inter-American Affairs (1942-44), cooperative programs with the United States State Department's Division of Cultural Relations and the Rockefeller Foundation, book purchases and reorders, meetings and conferences and staff trips and reports. The files include material on libraries, books and library education in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela and especially the Biblioteca Benjamin Franklin (Mexico City), Biblioteca National (Lima), Biblioteca Americana de Nicaragua (Managua) and Biblioteca Artigas-Washington (Montevideo). Correspondents include Carl Milam, Marion A. Milczewski, Charles F. Gosnell, William Haygood, Rodolfo O. Rivera, Arthur Gropp and H. M. Lydenberg.

Record Series Number: 7/1/50

Created by: International Relations Office (IRO)

Volume: 13.0 Cubic Feet

Acquired: 04/26/1974. 3/2/2000

Arrangement: Arranged by project title and by subject title thereunder

Biographical Note for International Relations Office (IRO) : 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.

Subject Index

Languages of Materials