Over 1,100 feet of records providing insights into 20th century economic
history available

PRINCETON, N.J. -Princeton University's Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
has completed a two-year project to process all of its economics-related
public policy collections to modern standards. 
Twenty-eight collections, totaling over 1,100 linear feet, were processed
through the generous support of the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund
and a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
(NHPRC). Electronic finding aids for each collection are available on its
website for researchers: 
http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/index.html

These collections provide a rich resource about American economic thought
and policies in the 20th century and the impact of American economic policy
and the ideas of some of the leading economic thinkers on the emerging world
economy, especially in developing nations. The collections as a whole
document economic activity that spans the globe, including every settled
continent. The main subjects documented by the papers are public and
international finance, economic development, and economic policy, as well as
monetary policy, policies during World War I and II, business history, and
demography. These records provide insight into the economic debates that
thrived during the 20th century, whether they be the establishment or
disavowal of the gold standard, international monetary policy and free
trade, the various approaches to what was called Third World development
(including population control), or means to alleviate depression and/or
inflation. In a time when free market ideas are ascendant, these collections
bear testament that the path was neither linear nor smooth.

The collections document both the theory and practical application of
economics and include the papers of scholars, United States government
officials, advisors to governments throughout the world, bankers, lawyers,
businessmen, a policy advocacy group, and organizations devoted to economic
development. Among the important collections are the papers of Edwin W.
Kemmerer, advisor to many countries on monetary policy during the 1920s;
Jacob Viner, one of the most prominent economic scholars of the 20th
century; Nobel Laureate W. Arthur Lewis; and Albert O. Hirschman, a leading
scholar in the field of economic development. Records of prominent
organizations were also processed as part of the project including the
records of Development and Resources Corporation, a for-profit corporation
involved in economic development around the world, including a substantial
project in Iran; Women's World Banking, a non-profit international financial
institution that facilitates the participation of women entrepreneurs in the
modern economy; and the Economists' National Committee on Monetary Policy,
an advocacy group for monetary policy, especially for the gold standard, in
the United States.

The project began in October 2005 with the hiring of project archivist
Adriane Hanson to oversee the work on the 28 collections. 
She was joined in January 2006 by special collections assistant Christopher
Shannon and a small group of student assistants. In two years, the team
arranged and rehoused all 28 collections, ranging in size from 1 box to 450
boxes. Hanson wrote finding aids and catalog records for each of the
collections, which are now available online to aid researchers in
discovering and utilizing these rich resources.

Further information on the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library can be obtained
at http://www.princeton.edu/mudd.


Daniel J. Linke
University Archivist and Curator of Public Policy Papers
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Princeton University
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540

609-258-6345
609-258-3385 (fax)
http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/



Ross B. Emmett