Inventory of the Charles Nelson Leach papers
Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff, revised by Sarah Patton, Joshua Thornton
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2011, 2014, 2023
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: Charles Nelson Leach papers
Date (inclusive): 1914-1965
Collection Number: 2011C40
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: English, with some materials in French
Physical Description:
11 manuscript boxes, 8 oversize boxes, 3 sound lacquer discs, memorabilia
(12.12 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Diaries and photographs relating to Commission for Relief in Belgium and American Relief Administration activities in World
War I-era Europe; correspondence, reports, and collected materials relating to internees and internment camps in the Japanese-occupied
Philippines; and correspondence and printed materials relating to the Belgian-American Educational Foundation and its 1955
expedition to the Belgian Congo.
Creator:
Leach, Charles N. (Charles Nelson)
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
Boxes 13 and OCM11 may not be used without permission of the archivist. The rest of the collection is open for research; materials
must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection,
they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2011.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Charles Nelson Leach papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
Born on July 2, 1884 in Burlington, Vermont, Charles Nelson Leach headed west after graduating from high school, attending
Stanford University from 1904 to 1908. After working briefly in a sulfuric acid plant to support himself, Leach continued
his education at Stanford Medical School, receiving his M.D. in 1913. He then worked in the medical department for the 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition, until he was called by Herbert Hoover in 1915 to go to Europe with the Commission
for Relief in Belgium (CRB).
Leach worked with the American Ambulance at Neuilly-sur-Seine (outside of Paris) at Red Cross Hospital #1 and served at a
mobile surgical facility in Flanders until the United States entered World War I in 1917. At that point he joined the U.S.
Army Reserve Officers' Corps, working at the same Red Cross hospital on an Army Medical Corps assignment. He also completed
temporary duty with the Canadian Casualty Clearing Stations. After the war ended, Leach served with the American Relief Administration
(ARA) in Eastern Europe from 1918 to 1920. He was based in Vienna, though he traveled throughout Europe during this time.
In 1920, Leach was hired by The Rockefeller Foundation and sent to Johns Hopkins to earn his public health degree. Upon completion
of the degree, Leach gained field experience in Australia, then went to the Philippines to assist with public health issues.
In 1922, Leach married Florence Warden Dixon in Hong Kong. After living together in Manila and serving in Tokyo after the
1923 earthquake, the couple returned to the United States in 1924. Leach was sent to Alabama by the International Health Division
of the Rockefeller Foundation to work on hookworm and other health problems, then to Mississippi in 1927 to assist with flood
relief. After receiving further training in New York, Leach and his family moved to Europe (first Prague, then Vienna), where
from roughly 1931 to 1934 he worked on diphtheria and other public health problems in Central and Eastern Europe. Leach next
found himself in China from 1934 to 1936 as a Visiting Professor of Public Health at the Peking Union Medical College. In
1936, after being given training by The Rockefeller Foundation, he returned to Montgomery, Alabama to run a rabies laboratory
in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Public Health, which he did for the next five years. Leach was then sent
to the Burma Road to assist with malaria control, but he was in Manila when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Leach was interned by the Japanese in the Philippines, first at the Santo Tomas camp, where he established a camp hospital,
then at Los Baños, where he served on the Executive Committee and was involved in establishing healthcare arrangements. In
late 1943 he was among those repatriated on the
MS Gripsholm, arriving in New York on December 1st. Leach, along with some of his fellow internees, was featured in the December 20th
issue of
LIFE magazine.
After a six month recovery period (he suffered from weakened eyesight due to malnutrition), Leach was sent to London in 1944
by The Rockefeller Foundation to restart their European activities. He once again traveled extensively throughout Europe,
working with institutions and providing Rockefeller assistance to scientists resuming their work that had been interrupted
by the war. Leach also traveled with the British Red Cross behind German lines into Holland to assist with nutrition and to
the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to help the freed prisoners.
In 1950, Leach retired from The Rockefeller Foundation after 29 years with them. He moved to Alabama and took a position with
the Tennessee Valley Authority, supervising malaria control. Not long after, he retired fully due to illness. He returned
to Vermont, where he assisted with local medical coverage, did public health work, and served on the board of the American
Red Cross and as a trustee of the University of Vermont. In 1955, as a member of the Belgian-American Educational Foundation
(BAEF), a successor to the Commission for Relief in Belgium, Leach traveled with an expedition to the Belgian Congo to evaluate
health services and facilities there. His final international project was in 1956, when he supervised the refugee camp health
service at Eisenstadt, Austria, a destination of refugees from the Hungarian revolution. Increasing health problems in the
1960s caused Leach to slow down considerably, and he passed away in 1971 at the age of 86.
Scope and Content of Collection
The materials in this collection cover three periods of Leach's life: his work in World War I-era Europe with the Commission
for Relief in Belgium and the American Relief Administration (1917-1920); his internment by the Japanese in the Philippines
during World War II and his return home thereafter (1942-1945); and his involvement with the Belgian-American Educational
Foundation, particularly his attendance on an expedition to the Belgian Congo (largely the 1950s).
The World War I-era portion of the collection consists of diaries kept and photo albums created by Leach during his time in
Europe. The three diaries, covering the years 1917 to 1919, include both handwritten entries and pasted in newspaper clippings,
ticket stubs, photographs, and other memorabilia (some in French). The entries cover Leach's daily life and touch on his social
outings (tennis games, dinners in Paris, opera performances), work (operative procedures, talks given to troops), wartime
conditions (zeppelins over Paris, the devastation at the front), and travels. A 1917 photo album, titled "Members of the Commission
for Relief in Belgium," contains portraits, some of which are signed by the pictured individual with his name and at times
a note or mailing address. There are also three photo albums created during the course of Leach's work with the American Relief
Administration that contain photographs (some captioned) of the various areas and peoples of Europe that he saw on his travels.
The World War II-era portion of the collection consists of correspondence to and from Leach, documentation of internment camp
conditions, collected materials, and Relief for Americans in Philippines materials. The correspondence consists largely of
inquiries sent to Leach about other internees in the Philippines camps (as a result of his picture having appeared in
LIFE magazine), with his responses, plus welcome home letters, job offers, and requests to speak. Correspondents include Herbert
Hoover, Nick Roosevelt, Ray Lyman Wilbur, and Rockefeller Foundation colleagues such as Raymond Fosdick and George Strode.
It would appear that Leach originally organized this correspondence alphabetically, and an attempt was made to recreate the
original order. Where this was not possible, the items were placed into a general correspondence folder.
Leach and some fellow internees took it upon themselves to prepare reports documenting the conditions in the internment camps
for the use of the U.S. government. In addition to copies of the reports on Santo Tomas and Los Baños, there are a variety
of charts providing demographic data about the internees, as well as information about supplies and nutrition in the camps.
Finally, there is a small amount of collected material from this period, including newspaper clippings, Leach's vaccination
records from the internment camps, and materials from the Relief for Americans in Philippines organization, which Leach corresponded
with regularly when attempting to provide information about internees remaining in the Philippines after his repatriation.
There are also some sound recordings from this time period. One, from May 21, 1943, is a sound disc sent to the Leach family
by a ham radio operator who picked up a Tokyo broadcast of the reading of a letter from Leach to his family. The other two
sound discs, believed to be from 1950, are recordings of music and of a man talking to his dog, probably recorded from the
radio.
The 1950s portion of the collection consists of correspondence, writings, collected and printed materials related to the Belgian-American
Educational Foundation (BAEF) expedition to the Belgian Congo in 1955, as well as materials relating to the BAEF more generally.
The correspondence, to and from Leach, largely relates to the planning of the expedition to the Belgian Congo (some of it
is in French). Leach's travel diary from the trip is also included, as is a draft write-up of the purpose of the expedition.
There are also numerous travel brochures, articles, and newspaper clippings about the Belgian Congo. The BAEF materials include
the Foundation's by-laws and history, a few pieces of general correspondence, event invitations and menus, and the text of
some speeches given by Herbert Hoover on commemorative occasions.
The increment includes correspondence between Charles and his wife, Florence, records related to child welfare in Belgium
during and after WWI, and materials related to the 1923 Japanese earthquake.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons
World War, 1939-1945 -- Philippines
Philippines -- History -- Japanese occupation, 1942-1945
World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief
International relief
Concentration camps
Los Baños Internment Camp
Commission for Relief in Belgium (1914-1930)
American Relief Administration
Santo Tomas Internment Camp (Manila, Philippines)
World War I in Europe materials
1917-1920
Language of Material: Some of the material is in French.
box 2
Members of the Commission for Relief in Belgium
1917
box 3
American Relief Administration albums
1920
box 7, folder 2
American Relief Administration photograph album (Vienna, Budapest, Pressbourg)
1920
World War II in Philippines materials
1942-1945
Correspondence
1942-1945
Scope and Contents
Consists of correspondence sent to and from Dr. Leach. The bulk of the correspondence is in regards to Dr. Leach's fellow
internees in the Philippines, with people writing to inquire if Dr. Leach knew their relatives or colleagues. As a result,
Dr. Leach organized this type of correspondence by the last name of the internee, rather than by the name of the inquiring
relatives or friends. Other correspondence includes letters and telegrams welcoming Dr. Leach home after he was repatriated
in December 1943, as well as job offers and requests to speak. These latter instances are organized alphabetically by the
name of the sender.
box 4, folder 1
Lists of internee names and contacts
Scope and Contents
Included with these materials is a list titled "Internees About Whom Dr. C.N. Leach Has Corresponded or Conferred," which
is an alphabetical list of said internees, along with the name and address of the person notified. A large portion of the
alphabetized correspondence is based on this list of internees.
box 4, folder 2-3
General
Scope and Contents
These two folders contain correspondence that did not fit easily into the alphabetical correspondence files, either because
there was no signature or it was illegible, or because it was unclear where the item was placed in Dr. Leach's original organizational
scheme.
box 5, folder 5
Florence Leach
Scope and Contents
A few pieces of correspondence sent to Florence Leach by her husband's colleagues and a note from a woman seeking information
about someone in an internment camp.
Documentation of internment camps
1942-1943
Scope and Contents
Data and reports gathered and prepared by a committee of internees to provide information regarding internment conditions
in the Philippine Islands. Committee members were A.K. Aurell, Ray P. Cronin, C.N. Leach, W. Portrude, Hugh L. Robinson,
Ewald Selph, O.G. Steen, and M.E. Vitally.
box 5, folder 7
Copies of portions of Los Baños report
box 5, folder 9
Copies of portions of Santo Tomas report
box 5, folder 12
Cover letters for data/reports
box 5, folder 13
Outlines of questions to answer about camp conditions
box 6, folder 1
Internews
1942
Scope and Contents
Bound volume of January - June 1942 issues of
Internews and
Campus Health, newsletters produced by the internees at Santo Tomas Internment Camp, published in 1942 by Relief for Americans in Philippines.
box 6, folder 2
Collected materials
1943, undated
Scope and Contents
Includes invitations, vaccination records, articles, clippings, short list of Rockefeller Foundation International Health
Division projects in the Philippines in 1941, and a transcription of a statement by Protestant missionaries in the Philippines.
box 6, folder 3
Relief for Americans in Philippines
1942-1944
Scope and Contents
Includes an overview of the organization's objectives and activites and copies of select newsletters.
Belgian-American Educational Foundation and the Belgian Congo materials
1939, 1949-1959, 1964-1965
box 6, folder 4
Correspondence
1952-1955
Scope and Contents
Correspondence to and from Dr. Leach regarding the trip to the Belgian Congo he took with fellow members of the Belgian-American
Education Foundation.
box 6, folder 5
Writings
1953, 1955
Scope and Contents
Includes a draft which provides some background information on the Belgian-American Education Foundation (BAEF) and its involvement
in the Belgian Congo and also details the aims of the survey mission to the Belgian Congo by members of the BAEF; Dr. Leach's
travel journal from his trip to the Belgian Congo in 1955.
box 6, folder 6
Personal items
1955
Scope and Contents
Includes addresses of Belgian colleagues, a hotel receipt, an invitation to lunch from the governor of Leopoldville, blank
picture postcards, and blank hotel stationery.
Printed materials
1949-1958
Scope and Contents
Various printed materials about aspects of the Belgian Congo collected by Dr. Leach in the course of preparing for his trip.
box 6, folder 7
Journals and articles
1953-1958
box 6, folder 8
Newspaper clippings
1952-1958
box 6, folder 9
Travel brochures
circa 1949-1954
box 6, folder 10
Copies of travel brochures
1952-1953
Belgian-American Education Foundation (BAEF) materials
1939, 1958-1959, 1964-1965
box 6, folder 11
By-laws and history
1939, 1964
box 6, folder 12
Correspondence and events
1959, 1965
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence between Dr. Leach and his BAEF colleagues, as well as an invitation to, and menus for, BAEF dinner
events.
box 6, folder 13
Herbert Hoover
1958, 1959, 1965
Scope and Contents
Consists of the text of speeches Hoover gave (two in Brussels in 1958 and one for the Commission for Relief in Belgium's 45th
anniversary dinner in 1959) and a brief biography of Hoover reprinted from the
1965 Year Book of the American Philosophical Society.
Sound recordings
1943
undated
Scope and Contents
Three sound lacquer discs.
Existence and Location of Originals
Originals in record cabinet. Digitized versions available.
onsite digital
Musical radio broadcast and sound recording of a man talking to his dog
undated
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 2011c40_a_0008504
Scope and Contents note
Parts 1 and 2: Side A of the disc is recordings of music, probably recorded from the radio. Part 3 is a man talking to his
dog about a bird outside the window and various tricks he wants the dog to perform.
onsite digital
Musical radio broadcast
undated
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 2011c40_a_0008505
onsite digital
Japan Broadcasting Company radio broadcast
1943 May 21
Conditions Governing Access note
Use copy reference number: 2011c40_a_0008506
Scope and Contents note
This recording sounds like it was sourced from the radio airwaves. It is a reading of a letter from Charles Nelson Leach,
POW, to his family.
Incremental Materials 2022
box 8
Materials not yet described
box 9
Materials not yet described
box 10
Materials not yet described
box 11
Materials not yet described
box 12
Materials not yet described
box 13
Materials not yet described
Conditions Governing Access
Box 13 may not be used without permission of the archivist.
box OCM11
Materials not yet described
Conditions Governing Access
Box OCM11 may not be used without permission of the archivist.
Scope and Contents
One stamp from the Phillipines in the 1940s.
