Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Sierra Club International, Williams, Larry, and McCloskey, J. Michael (John Michael)
- Extent:
- 34.25 linear feet (27 cartons, 1 box)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sierra Club International Program Records, BANC MSS 71/290 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Sierra Club International Program Records document the activities and policies of one of the first organizations to be granted nongovernmental representative status at the United Nations. The records in this collection include correspondence, financial records, minutes, agendas, notes, policy statements, statements and testimony, slide/tape scripts, press releases, clippings, and fact sheets, which document the wide-ranging and effective efforts of the Club to influence international environmental policy.
Important conservation organizations represented include the International Union on Conservation of Nature; the United Nations, particularly the U.N. Environmental Programme; the United States Agency for International Development; and the Law of the Seas Conference. International conservation issues include Antarctica, biological diversity, man and the biosphere, marine ecology, marine mammals, multi-lateral development banks, and rain forests.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Sierra Club International Program was established in New York City in 1971. Patricia Rambach (later Scharlin) was its first director.
In the program's early years, the staff worked closely with the Sierra Club International Committee members and with international environmental organizations and environmentalists on increasing protection for Antarctica, establishing national parks and reserves in Venezuela, and strengthening the Law of the Sea Treaty.
The International Program's move to Washington, D.C. (where it currently shares quarters with the National Legislative Office) in the mid-1980s reflected a change in emphasis. A primary goal of the program now, under the joint direction of Larry Williams and Sierra Club Chairman Michael McCloskey, is to encourage the United States government to offer environmentally-appropriate development assistance. Recent campaigns have included Sierra Club support for the passage of bills targeting biological diversity, family planning, rain forest preservation, debt-for-nature swaps, and famine relief. A continuing emphasis of the International Program is the monitoring and improvement of lending practices of multi-national development banks, to ensure that grants given to projects in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are both environmentally sensitive and sustainable.
- Acquisition information:
- In 1970 the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club voted to place the club's historical records in The Bancroft Library. In 1986 the New York Office of the club's International Program began forwarding its inactive files. Now located in Washington, D.C., the International Program continues to transfer groups of historical records in appropriate increments.
- Processing information:
-
The Sierra Club Records Project was made possible by a major grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Sierra Club International Program Records, BANC MSS 71/290 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481