Foreign Bondholders Protective Council records, circa 1930-1988

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Summary

Creators:
Foreign Bondholders Protective Council
Abstract:
The bulk of this collection consists mainly of negotiation files for each country the Foreign Bondholders staff were monitoring. The rest of the collection is made up of administrative records typical of a non-profit organization, such as Articles of Incorporation and bylaws, board correspondence, minutes, financial statements and reports. The papers in this collection cover the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council from their inception in 1933 to the late 1980s.
Extent:
99.42 linear feet
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Foreign Bondholders Protective Council records, M1287. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

The bulk of this collection consists mainly of negotiation files for each country the Foreign Bondholders staff were monitoring. The rest of the collection is made up of administrative records typical of a non-profit organization, such as Articles of Incorporation and bylaws, board correspondence, minutes, financial statements and reports. The papers in this collection cover the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council from their inception in 1933 to the late 1980s.

Biographical / historical:

Under Title II of the Securities Act of 1933, a provision was made for the creation of a Corporation of Foreign Security Holders, to be effective when the President of the United States "finds that its taking effect is in the public interest, and by proclamation so declares." It was contemplated that the activities of the new corporation would be similar to those of the British Corporation of Foreign Bondholders, which has an official status in negotiating with foreign issuers.

The act states that the corporation shall be created "for the purpose of protecting, conserving and advancing the interests of the holders of foreign securities in default, however, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided that it was not in the public interest to set up a corporation, provided that an adequate private organization could be created instead. To that end, the Secretaries of State and Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission requested the formation of the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council Inc. in 1933 to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of American holders of defaulted foreign dollar bonds. The Council was a private, non-profit public service organization whose officers, directors, and members served without pay. The Council did not act as the agent nor entered into any kind of agreement with any bondholder.

Other related collections at Stanford University are the main library's copies of the British Corporation of Foreign Bondholders (CFB). The original British records are located in the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library, London (collection Numbers 15748-814 and 34586-830).

Acquisition information:
Accession number: 2001-340. The collection was donated to Stanford University, Department of Special Collections and University Archives in 2001.
Processing information:

Due to limited resources and the extent of the collection, minimal processing occurred to large portions of the collection. Scholars will find paperclips, staples, and other original bindings along with letters in their original envelopes. Also, original folders were retained and refoldering occurred only when necessary for preservation purposes. A date span was given whenever possible.

In most cases, box listings feature the original folder names. Since no arrangement occurred inside each individual folder, scholars should note that the accuracy of the folder heading could be suspect. An exception to this would be the Richard Dine subseries in Series 1 where folder level processing did occur.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into two series:

Series 1. Individual Country Negotiation files (Alphabetically) Series 2. Administrative records Subseries 2.1: Board files Subseries 2.2: Richard Dine files Subseries 2.3: Working files Subseries 2.4: Publications

Series 1. Individual Country Negotiation files (Arranged alphabetically) The first series consists primarily of negotiation files created by the Council staff to monitor each individual country?s political and economic development. The files were originally bound and contained press clippings, correspondence, memos, press releases, and telegrams. Some countries? negotiation files are followed by supplemental reports and agreements and, in a few cases, more focused correspondence.

Processing for the first series occurred at the box level. An exception to this would be the German negotiation files which are more organized due to their size. The German files are arranged alphabetically within the following categories: general negotiation files, cities/states, banks, churches, corporations, utilities and miscellaneous. Scholars should note that the German corporation and German utilities files sometimes contain final signed memoranda of terms, correspondence, etc.

Series 2. Administrative Records The second series consists of routine administrative records created by the day-to-day operations of the Council and their staff. This series has four subseries: board files, Richard Dine?s files, working files, and publications. Some parts of this series were processed at the folder level.

Subseries 2.1, Board files, contains the Articles of Incorporation and bylaws for the Council, meeting agenda packets, correspondence, minutes, press releases, and annual reports. Of interest is a White House press release announcing the creation of the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council in 1933. Also of note is a small, typewritten transcript of President Franklin D. Roosevelt?s pencil memorandum stating he wanted a private organization to represent bondholders rather than a government run corporation.

Subseries 2.2, Richard Dine files, detail the Council?s operations in the 1980s. Since Richard Dine was the Assistant Secretary to the Council, the files contain correspondence (not necessarily written by Dine) regarding selected countries? debts, miscellaneous administrative and board records, and financials. Folder level processing did occur in parts of this subseries.

Subseries 2.3, Working files, contain general correspondence, financial, and tax information.

Subseries 2.4, Publications, contain miscellaneous publications created in the United States and abroad relating to finance and investments. They include United States congressional hearings, scholarly journals, and unpublished academic thesis and research papers.

Physical location:
Stanford University Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.

Terms of access:

Copyright in papers created by the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, Inc. is administered by their designee. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection.

Preferred citation:

Foreign Bondholders Protective Council records, M1287. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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