Register of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records, 1943-1948

Hoover Institution Archives

Stanford University

Stanford, California 94305-6010

Phone: (650) 723-3563

Fax: (650) 725-3445

Email: archives@hoover.stanford.edu

Register of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records, 1943-1948

Hoover Institution Archives

Stanford University

Stanford, California

Contact Information

Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Phone: (650) 723-3563
Fax: (650) 725-3445
Email: archives@hoover.stanford.edu

Prepared by:: Tina M. Toriello
Date Completed:: June 1976

Descriptive Summary

Title: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records,

Date (inclusive): 1943-1948

Collection number: XX288

Creator: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office

Collection Size: 39 manuscript boxes 16.3 linear feet)

Repository: Hoover Institution Archives

Stanford, California 94305-6010

Abstract: Reports, manuals, bulletins, correspondence, and administrative orders, relating to social and economic conditions in China, and to United Nations relief activities in China

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection open for research.

The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.

Publication Rights

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. China Office. Records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.

Acquisition Information

Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number of boxes listed in this finding aid.

Access Points

Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

United Nations--Economic assistance

International relief

Reconstruction (1939-1951)--China

World War, 1939-1945

World War, 1939-1945--China

World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief

China

China--Economic conditions--1912-1949

China--Social conditions

Historical Note

On November 9, 1943, the agreement establishing the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was signed by 44 Allied Nations, including the United States, to provide supplies and services to areas under occupation by the Axis Powers. The largest project undertaken by UNRRA was the China program which had a total estimated cost of $658.4 million dollars. Approximately 72% of UNRRA's fund was contributed by the United States, or $474 million dollars for the China Program.

The China Office was opened in Shanghai at the end of 1944, and operated until the official termination of the office on December 31, 1947. Final work and responsibilities were finished by March, 1948. The four directors of the China Office from 1944 to 1948 were:

Benjamin H. Kizer (Oct. 24, 1944 - May 15, 1946)
J. Franklin Ray, Jr. (Acting director, May 16, 1946 - August 26, 1947)
Major General Glen E. Edgerton (August 27, 1946 - May, 1947)
Harlan Cleveland (May 1, 1947 - February 24, 1948).

In January, 1945 the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) was created by the Nationalist Government, as a special agency to administer and coordinate UNRRA operations in China. Prior to the breakdown in the interparty peace negotiations between the Nationalists and Chinese Communists in 1946, the Chinese Communists established the Communists Liberated Areas Relief Administration (CLARA) which distributed UNRRA supplies delivered to Communist territories.

The 2nd Resolution on Policy of the First Session of the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, adopted in 1943, states the following:

That, in any area where relief and rehabilitation operations are being conducted through the employment, in whole or in part, of the Administration's resources, relief and rehabilitation shall be distributed or dispensed fairly on the basis of the relative needs of the population in the area, and without discrimination because of race, creed, or political belief.

The provinces of the North, which had been under the longest occupation by the Japanese, were also the areas of Chinese Communist guerilla activity. After the Japanese surrender, these territories fell under Chinese Communist control. Difficulties arose in the distribution of aid due to the reality of civil war. The official history of the Administration estimates that 2-3% (by weight) or 4-5% (by value) of all UNRRA supplies were distributed to Communist-held territories.

The UNRRA program was conceived as a short-term program, but long-range goals to remove the causes of necessity in war-devastated areas were also present. Food, medical supplies and clothing were distributed as relief, and projects undertaken as part of industrial and agricultural rehabilitation were of great importance for long-range economic development.

The Recordsincluded in this collection were sent to the Hoover Institution by a U.S. Army Intelligence officer named Pardee Lowe. Obtained from the Shanghai Office prior to its closing, the Recordsdo not constitute the complete office file of the Administration. These Recordsare located in the UN Archives in New York City and occupy 8,500 linear feet. The most comprehensive file in the collection at the Hoover Institution relates to the Agricultural Rehabilitation Division.

Sources: UNRRA: The History of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, George Woodbridge (NY: Columbia U.P., 1950) 3 vol. and UNRRA: A Case Study in Financial Assistance for Economic Development, Irving Barnett, Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia University, 1955.

Series Description

Box Box No. 1-9

Office Files, 1944-1948.

Scope and Content Note

Resolution, minutes of staff meetings, regional reports, and special reports, arranged by subseries as listed.

Box Box No. 10-15

General Administrative File, 1945-1947.

Scope and Content Note

Directives, bulletins, organization charts, field manuals and transmittal memoranda, supply catalogs, and forwarding crders for supplies, arranged by subseries as listed.

Box Box No. 16-17

Miscellany File, 1945-1948.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlets, technical papers, and printed material, arranged by subseries as listed.

Container List

Office Files, 1944-1948.

Box 1.

UNRRA Council.

Program and Estimated Requirements for Relief and Rehabilitation in China, presented by the National Government of China, September, 1944.

Resolution on policy, 3rd through 6th sessions of the Council.

Journal of the 4th and 5th sessions of the Council.

UN Economic and Social Council: Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. Agenda and report of the first session.

Office of the Director, UNRRA China Office.

Acting director's morning staff meeting minutes, August 1-26, 1946.

Director's morning staff meeting minutes, August 27-September 20, 1946, and January 30, 1947.

Status Sheet Number Twenty Five, prepared by the Office of the Director, March 15, 1947.

Letter from Leonard Tomkinson to Major-General Glen E. Edgerton, Director, UNRRA China Office, March 22, 1947. Enclosed with regional history of Chekiang.

Preliminary report from Lee C. Poole to Harlan Cleveland, Director, UNRRA China Office, September 22, 1947.

Box 2.

Agricultural Rehabilitation Division.

Weekly staff conference meeting minutes, May, 1946-December, 1947.

Monthly reports, November, December, 1946; May, June, July, July-August, 1947.

Regional conferences information.

Agricultural Analyst's Digest.

Box 3.

Office of the Economic and Financial Adviser.

Weekly summaries, February-June, 1946.

Monthly reports, March and May 1947.

Bureau of Supply.

Morning staff meeting minutes, August, 1946-March, 1947.

Joint CNRRA-UNRRA Supply Coordination Committee minutes, July 1947 - January 1948.

Welfare Division, Bulletin #1.

CNRRA-UNRRA Social Welfare Conference, March 1947.

Box 4.

Regional reports from UNRRA regional offices.

Anwhei, April 1946-February 1947.

Chekiang-Fukien, May-August 1946.

Chekiang-Hangchow, November 1946-February 1947.

Box 5.

Honan, September-November 1946.

Hopei-Jehol, April-November 1946.

Hunan, February 1947.

Hupeh, September 1946-January 1947.

Box 6.

Kansu-Nanking, April 1946-February 1947.

Kiangsi, May 1946-March 1947.

Box 7.

Kwangsi, February 1946-March 1947.

Kwangtung, October 1946-July 1947.

North China Office, March 1947.

Shanghai, March 1947.

Shantung-Tsingtao, February 1946-March 1947.

Box 8.

Shantung-Tsingtao, February 1946-March 1947.

Taiwan, June 1946-February 1947.

Taiyuan, February 1947.

Tientsin, March-December, 1946

Box 9.

Weekly regional operations reports, December 1946-February 1947.

Regional news summaries.

Personnel regional reports.

Conference report on run-down and closure of regional offices (February 1947).

Special reports.

Agricultural Rehabilitation in China During the UNRRA Period, July 31, 1947.