Series - Copies of George D. Woods used for the biography

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA WOODS-03

Title

Copies of George D. Woods used for the biography

Date(s)

  • 1935 - 1986 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

2.40 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Archival history

In the Preface to his biography of George D. Woods, Robert W. Oliver writes, Bernadette Schmitt, Woods' secretary, who served him from his days in the army until his death and who helped Louise Woods until Louise's death four years later, allowed me to go through many boxes of Woods's letters, articles, and speeches. In the end, she sent them to me at Caltech, where I perused them at leisure. In 1982, after George Woods' death, Louise Woods donated his papers to Butler Library at Columbia University, andthe papers were delivered in increments between 1983 and 1987, except for those that Oliver was using.

Oliver had 13 boxes of papers. In 1993, when the biography was completed and with the agreement of Columbia University, Oliver shipped the Woods papers in his possession to the World Bank. The Bank staff selected roughly half of these papers for copying, and then shipped the entire corpus of original papers to Butler Library at Columbia University. The Archives also had a few copies from the Woods papers that had been deposited at the Columbia University Library prior to the deposit of the papers that Oliver had in his possession; these copies were added to the Bank's copies of the papers Oliver had used and can be identified by the Columbia University Library stamp on the copies.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Spanning Woods' life both before and after he was President of the World Bank, this material provides insight into his principal interests, as seen by his biographer. Particularly well represented in the copies are memoranda and correspondence on India. A number of items concern Woods' part in the IBRD negotiations of the Suez Canal dispute in 1958, prior to his tenure at the Bank. Internal Bank documents include notes on the Economic Development Institute and the economic work of the Bank, correspondence relating to the IDA replenishment deadlock of 1965-1966, and documents regarding the nomination of a new president. Later documents include his 1974 statement to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on IDA replenishment and correspondence with notable figures such as Barbara Ward.

The topic file consist of: Aid (E. Martin, DAC), Brookings Institution SDR [Special Drawing Rights], Study Group, Columbia University, John Foster Dulles Oral History Project, First Boston Corporation, Foreign - Miscellaneous (India - Egypt), Foreign Economic Assistance Task Force, India, IBRD, Miscellaneous personal messages, Notre Dame University, New York Times, Suez Canal, UN, and White House, Trip to Europe, Yugoslavia and Egypt.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Accruals are not expected.

System of arrangement

Records are arranged in four parts:

*Correspondence, A-W

  • Topic files

  • Clippings

  • Speeches

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Interviews are subject to the conditions in the donor's instrument of gift for each interview and to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

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Script of material

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Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Notes area

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

15 March 2013

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