Henry Chalmers papers

The Henry Chalmers papers consist mainly of correspondence, memoranda, and reports relating to issues and events in world economic history from the 1920s-1950s. The collection is a solid group of papers on modern economic history and bureaucratic workings from the period. The organization of the collection is based on the manner in which it was received. The box titles (U.S. Foreign Trade, Economic Conferences and Congresses, etc.) came from a general inventory made for the collection in 1962, and so may or may not be original.

However, the subject headings came from the major file headings of Chalmers’ original file system, with some necessary simplification and clarification. The file names are not, for the most part, original, and generally reflect the material type. The organization is roughly chronological with the box headings and within subject headings, once again with exceptions to provide greater clarity and unity.

Henry Chalmers was a foreign tariff expert and much of the collection deals with tariffs and tariff-agreements and regulations. Of particular interest are subject headings such as the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff and GATT negotiations from the early years. A common material type throughout the collection is reports from U.S. embassies in foreign nations which give a flavor of world opinion and U.S. diplomatic relations.

Notable subjects include war- and postwar-time, and German penetration of markets from the 1930s. It must be noted also that more wartime materials can be found under the heading Economic Aspects of WWII. This section includes reports on the “European War” and material on controls of economic relations with Latin America and Japan.

Latin American economic relations play a considerable role in the collection, especially in the Customs Unions and Trade Agreements section. This section consists of historical materials on past customs agreements and planning for a future customs agreement. Of other interest relating to Latin America are the materials on the International Conference of American States held in Bogotá in 1948. This conference, at which Henry Chalmers was a delegate, saw the formation of the Organization of America States (O.A.S.) which has played an important role in modern Latin American history. Also of interest are the clippings and reports on the disturbances that rocked Bogotá and Colombia during the conference and of which Henry Chalmers was a firsthand observer.

Returning to Europe, the Customs Unions section contains important background materials on the development of the organization that would eventually grow to become the European Common Market. This material relates to both pre- and postwar Europe. The subheading of regional groupings, Europe, also contains material on German relations with various Eastern European nations in the 1930s, one of the hot issues of the coming World War.

Of European and world interest is the International Conferences and Congress section in the material on the International Monetary and Economic Conference in London 1933. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the background materials of this conference suggest a world in which the principal leaders and experts are desperately trying to save a system that they know to be on the point of complete collapse. Once again Henry Chalmers is on the periphery. Of particular interest is the correspondence of this sub-heading, along with the Whaley-Eaton News Service Reports (6/45), conference chronology (7/2), various reports such as “The State and Economic Life” (7/20), the diaries of Sallie Chalmers (7/22), speeches by Soviet delegates (7/49), and “The Plan to Save the World” (7/50) and Open Letter to Cordell Hull (11/26) for radical viewpoints. In short, this section shows the depth of the attitudes and problems of the World Economic System in the early 1930s.

The Selected Memoranda were bound and of great importance to Henry Chalmers. The personal section is actually fairly barren of any personality with the exception of various biographical essays and a series of correspondence between Chalmers and the publishers of his book, World Trade Policies.

A 2010 Accession consists of correspondence, newsletters, publications, biographical information, articles and a book by Chalmers.