Área de identidad
Código de referencia
Título
Fecha(s)
- 1932 - 1947 (Creación)
Nivel de descripción
Fondo
Volumen y soporte
2.40 linear feet of textual records
Área de contexto
Nombre del productor
Historia biográfica
Orvis A. Schmidt was an economist who specialized in South American economics, with an emphasis on Brazil. He received his M.A. degree from the Department of Sociology and Economics of Tufts College in 1935 with a thesis titled "The examination of the international trade of Brazil, 1926-1934, with special reference to forces operating during boom and depression". He then enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of Chicago with a proposed thesis on the history of Brazilian monetary policy, working under Jacob Viner. Despite a nearly completed draft, he did not finish the dissertation.
In 1936 the United States Department of the Treasury hired Schmidt, and he was stationed in Brazil during 1937-1938. He then returned to the US and worked in the Treasury's international financial field, including six months as the acting director of the Division of Monetary Research, which became the Office of International Finance. According to an oral history interview with Schmidt, he attended some of the early inter-American financial conferences, particularly the First Meeting of the Ministers of Finance of the American Republics. During the Second World War he worked on foreign funds control and attended the Bretton Woods conference as the secretary to Commission III.
Schmidt joined the World Bank in November of 1947, shortly after John J. McCloy became President. He initially served in the Loan Department as chief of its western European subdivision and then as the assistant to the loan director. In 1951 he became Assistant Director of the Western Hemisphere Department and in 1956 he became its Director. Described by William Bennett as one of the ablest people the Bank had, Schmidt became Special Adviser to the President in 1964. He died in November 1967 at the age of 55.
Institución archivística
Historia archivística
Origen del ingreso o transferencia
Donated to the World Bank by Elizabeth M. Schmidt, the widow of Orvis A. Schmidt.
Área de contenido y estructura
Alcance y contenido
The papers cover the period of Schmidt's service with the US Treasury and include his files on his dissertation. Both the Treasury and the dissertation materials include subject files; some topics overlap; all concern Brazil exclusively. The files do not include materials on either the Bretton Woods conference or his work at the World Bank.
Schmidt obtained and translated many official Brazilian government documents for the Treasury Department. These translations are found both in a general translationfile and in subject files.
The files are of interest primarily to students of the economic history of Brazil.
Valorización, destrucción y programación
Duplicate copies of translations and writings and publications from the statistical office of the Government of Brazil and the Pan American Union were destroyed.
Acumulaciones
Accruals are not expected.
Sistema de arreglo
Records are arranged in five series:
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Reporting and writings for the Treasury Department
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Subject files for Treasury work
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Ph.D. dissertation drafts
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Background for dissertation chapters
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Subject files for dissertation
Área de condiciones de acceso y uso
Condiciones de acceso
Unrestricted.
Condiciones
No copyright in U.S. Treasury documents. Copyright of 50 years after death for other unpublished materials, or until 2017; held by the heirs of Orvis A. Schmidt. Fair use copying permitted.
Idioma del material
- inglés
- portugués
Escritura del material
Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras
Características físicas y requisitos técnicos
Instrumentos de descripción
Physical file unit list is available. Chapter outline, Ph.D. dissertation.
Área de materiales relacionados
Existencia y localización de originales
Existencia y localización de copias
Unidades de descripción relacionadas
Área de notas
Identificador/es alternativo(os)
Puntos de acceso
Puntos de acceso por materia
Puntos de acceso por lugar
Puntos de acceso por autoridad
Tipo de puntos de acceso
Área de control de la descripción
Identificador de la descripción
Identificador de la institución
Reglas y/o convenciones usadas
Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).
Disclosure status
Nivel de detalle
Fechas de creación revisión eliminación
16 September 2003