Series consists of records concerning the formulation of policies, guidelines and standards, and advisory support for lending as well as economic sector work of the International Bank for Reconstruction of Development (IBRD). These records were maintained in the centralized files from 1946 to 1987. The 1987 records in this series are very few. The remainder of 1987 files were likely handed over to the functional departments following the closure of the NRIC in July 1987. The offices and non-regional departments whose records were centralized over time and are represented most prominently in this series include (but are not limited to): Office of the President and Vice President (beginning 1946); Research, later Economic Department (1946 - 1952); Technical Operations and sector divisions (1952 - 1965) and its successors Projects Department (1965 -1972), Central Projects Staff (1972 - 1982), and Operations Policy Vice Presidency (1982 - 1986).

Records in the series predominantly cover the period 1946 to 1986, apart from a file on pulp and paper that contains a copy of an external report dated 1944. The 1987 records are limited to a single file concerning urban development. Records are mostly in the form of internal memoranda or incoming and outgoing letters that are sometimes filed with cables, project data reports, evaluation reports, commodities notes, study reports or concept papers written by staff or consultants, private sector proposals, external publications and reports from governments and agencies, press clippings, external articles, conference and meeting invitations, list of participants, and booklets. Draft and final case studies, back-to-office reports, terms of reference, and progress reports are often in the form of internal memoranda.

The series contains a substantial quantity of records concerning the Bank lending policy and guidelines as well as economic sector work in the form of projects and studies for operational sectors including (but not limited to): agriculture; education; industry; rural and urban development; housing; energy; ecology; environment; population and family planning; health and nutrition; trade; transportation; water supply and waste; public utilities; and public finance. Specific industries covered in the files are mining, forestry, construction, ports and shipping, tourism, and science and technology, among others.

Sector lending policy and guidelines files consists mostly of internal memoranda originating in the Economic Department (1946 - 1952) and its successors later under the vice president then senior vice president of operations including Central Projects, its sector departments, and Operations Policy Vice Presidency. Correspondents outside of the Bank include consulting firms, assorted United Nations agency officers, country and university officials, and private industry representatives. The records contain general policy formulation and discussion on the following subjects: project evaluation; studies to support consideration of Bank loans and terms of reference for the studies; comments on concept papers and on industry guidelines; Bank staff visits to the field and missions; project performance audit reports; unit activities and work program; participation in seminars, conferences or other events; and requests for technical information from international industry experts regarding pulp and paper management, seed processing machinery, animal breeding, and other specialized topics.

Also included in the series are several files, many originating from the Projects Advisory Staff and units, concerning procurement (1978 - 1986), consultants and consulting services (1980 - 1986), cofinancing (1983 -1986), and feasibility program files which concern project and sector studies of the Development Service Department (1960 - 1965). There is also a single file dated 1978 regarding the Consultative Group on Food Production and Investment in Development Countries (CGFPI), and three photographs depicting a World Bank display of publications and posters for an environment sector event in the 1970s.

Project and study files also include the Bank's research and policy analyses on numerous commodities as well as commodity prices stabilization, development aid, economic data and reporting, capital markets and capital mobilization, imports and exports, Bank financing, and other subjects. The commodities files include several on coffee which provide information about statistics on prices, production, distribution and export, project participation with the International Coffee Organization and ICO meetings in which the Bank participated as observers, and the International Coffee Agreement (1969 - 1971). Other commodities included among the files are oil, gold, metals, sugar, jute, livestock, and several others.