The President's Council was established by President Woods in March 1965. Originally composed of the Vice-Presidents, the Economic Adviser to the President, the General Counsel and the Directors of the Information, Administration, and Development Services Departments, the size of the President's Council increased to more than twenty members after the McNamara reorganization of 1972, including the Senior Vice-Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Department Directors. For discussion of special topics, additional persons attended on an as needed basis.

This series consists of the minutes of the President's Council meetings prepared by the Personal Assistant to the President. It contains occasional notes, drafts and annotations by President McNamara. Minutes of the Council record President McNamara's reports on official trips, meetings or interviews, recommendations, and special assignments, and members' reports on the activities of their sector or department. Issues discussed at the weekly meeting included relations with the Board of Directors, the Annual Meeting, lending and borrowing programs, the IBRD and IFC capital increases, the IDA replenishments, the Third Window, and the work of the Pearson and Brandt Commissions. The organization of the Bank, personnel issues, the status of particular projects, and studies on population control, rural development, urban poverty, health, women or energy were also major topics on the Council's agenda.

This series consists of sample reports compiled by the President's office to provide President McNamara with examples of the various types of documents and reports commonly produced throughout the Bank. Each sample is an actual Bank report, accompanied by a short description of the report type explaining the report structure and function within the operations and management of the Bank. Standard report types included in the series are: Monthly Operational Summary; IBRD Financial Policies Report; Administrative Budget; President's Report; Appraisal Report; Supervision Report; Audit Report; Evaluation Report; and Country Economic Report. The reports used for this sample are dated between 1971 and 1973.

Shortly after assuming the presidency, Barber Conable discontinued the Managing Committee that, during the Clausen years, had provided overall administrative control of the World Bank Group. In its place, Conable created an advisory body made up of the Bank Group vice presidents who reported directly to the president (some vice presidents reported to other vice presidents; they were excluded). This body was originally known as the Policy Committee, then renamed the President's Council in May 1988. It advised on policy decisions for consideration by the Board of Executive Directors, on strategic objectives, resource mobilization and allocation, workforce strategies, and other managerial and operational policy issues. A staff member in the president's office served as the secretary for the committee/council.

This series contains the official records of the council, from May 1987 to July 1991, grouped in two subseries. The files in the first subseries, amounting to 10 linear feet, are the records of the weekly meetings of the council, including agendas, minutes and other committee minutes, memoranda, talking points, internal working papers and reports (including Board papers), country strategy notes, operational directives, speeches, press releases and clippings, and other documents discussed. The second subseries, 2 linear feet, is the set of papers distributed to the council members for background information; the first seven files (of a total of nine) include a list at the beginning of the file providing the title of each document in the file, the originator, and the date. The files include a few pieces of correspondence and a few annotations and comments from council members.

These records document internal deliberations within the Bank Group during the Conable era, covering a wide spectrum of topics. Discussion topics relate to country strategy papers, lending activities (resumption of lending to countries, loan prepayment fee policy, impact on the Bank Group's net income, lending guidelines for tobacco), experience with adjustment lending,operations strategy in heavily indebted middle income countries, private sector development, a proposed AIDS program for Africa, the preparation of the Annual Portfolio Review, and approaches to budget. Discussions also concern IDA-9 negotiations, IFC capital increase, implications of the Montreal Protocol for the Bank Group and involvement in the Global Environment Facility, development of committees and working groups (private sector development working group, task forces on poverty and technical assistance review), the Bank Group's environmental policy and position including revamping the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, a pilot cooperation program for the Brazilian rainforest, Development Committee work and reports, World Bank Group history project, management of records, information disclosure, information management and technology strategy, relations with the Bank Group's Staff Association, internal audit program, and staffing and compensation matters.

This series contains letters and memoranda signed and sent by the President. Topics range from substantive issues of development assistance to social and public relations messages. Letters are addressed to foreign heads of state, government officials, banks, private citizens, US Senators and Congressmen, scholars, development institutions and academics, heads of organizations, diplomats, and journalists. Some internal messages and memorandam, including memoranda to the files, are included.

This is a verycomplete record of Conable's views on all matters that came before him and of the people with whom he corresponded. Although these are duplicate copies of records that should appear elsewhere in the files of the President's office or the Bank, this is a particularly useful series when other files have gaps.

The files in this fragmentary series contain primarily memoranda and reports on a few administrative topics. Some of the items in the files had been accumulated by Khann's predecessor as Special Assistant, Josue Tanaka. Some files are useful because they continue a subject found elsewhere; for example, the environment file in this series complements and extends the environment file found in the Haug subject files. The private sector development file postdates the Conable Presidency.

The series consists of FY88 budget appeals and the effect of reorganization on the budget, budget policy and discussions, planning and budget guidelines; a budget framework paper; records of midyear budget reviews, the FY89 work program, and budgets for regional offices. The records also include the initial budget guidelines provided to the senior management group by President Conable.

This series provides an unusually good overview of the scope of issues handled by staff assistants in the Office of the President. Unlike the Stanton files in WB IBRD/IDA 03 EXC-11-02 which are focused on reorganization and space needs, the Haug files cover a very wide range of administrative matters and program topics. The Bank's increasing emphasis on environmental and social issues is reflected here, in such files as environment, forestry, population, and women in development. The monitoring of program operations can be traced in such files as annual sector reviews and strategy papers from Bank entities. Haug also had special interests in staff issues, reflected in files on outside interests and activities, the staff association, the staff retirement plan and staff compensation.

Haug brought some files with her to the President's office, including those on the Joint Committee on Staff Compensation and the Outside Interests Committee, from which she resigned when she joined the President's staff. In addition, a few documents from 1991 in the U.S. estate tax file post-date her tenure and presumably were filed by the President's office staff into Haug's subject file after she departed.

The series concerns the expansion, retrofit and reconstruction options for buildings occupied by the Bank in Washington, DC (known as Buildings A, B, C, D, E, F and I). It is the most complete set of records in the President's office on space issues facing the Bank.

More than half of the files are reports submitted to the Bank by architects, real estate appraisers, and real estate developers. The internal memoranda and external correspondence cover such topics as the space needs of the Bank, real estate values, and the acquisition and sale of properties, in particular the agreement between the Bank and the IFC regarding the transfer of the responsibility for the IFC building. The International Monetary Fund's expansion is the subject of one file.

This series contains the records of President Preston's interaction with both Congressional and Executive branches of the U.S. Government. The files include information on legislation affecting the Bank or its staff, briefing notes and minutes of the meetings with the Members of Congress and senior officials in the Executive Branch, and correspondence with the White House. The file on the White House contains mostly records from the Conable Presidency.