Zone d'identification
Cote
Titre
Date(s)
- 1932 - 1947 (Production)
Niveau de description
collection
Étendue matérielle et support
2.40 linear feet of textual records
Zone du contexte
Nom du producteur
Notice biographique
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.
Histoire archivistique
Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert
Donated to the World Bank by Elizabeth M. Schmidt, the widow of Orvis A. Schmidt.
Zone du contenu et de la structure
Portée et contenu
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.
Évaluation, élimination et calendrier de conservation
Duplicate copies of translations and writings and publications from the statistical office of the Government of Brazil and the Pan American Union were destroyed.
Accroissements
Accruals are not expected.
Mode de classement
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
Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation
Conditions d’accès
Unrestricted.
Conditions de reproduction
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.
Langue des documents
- anglais
- portugais
Écriture des documents
Notes de langue et graphie
Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques
Instruments de recherche
Physical file unit list is available. Chapter outline, Ph.D. dissertation.
Zone des sources complémentaires
Existence et lieu de conservation des originaux
Existence et lieu de conservation des copies
Unités de description associées
Zone des notes
Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)
Mots-clés
Mots-clés - Sujets
Mots-clés - Lieux
Mots-clés - Noms
Mots-clés - Genre
Zone du contrôle de la description
Identifiant de la description
Identifiant du service d'archives
Règles et/ou conventions utilisées
Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).
Disclosure status
Niveau de détail
Dates de production, de révision, de suppression
16 September 2003