College and Research Libraries By JOSE MEYER Significant Early Documents of the Specialized Agencies Relate~ to . the United Nations T HE Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, at its final meeting in London on Feb. 18, 1946, set up, together with other commissions and committees, a negotiating committee of twelve members to study methods of bringing the Interna- tional Labour Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank and Fund, and UNESCO into relationship with the United Nations and to work out preliminary draft agreements with these agencies. The draft agreements were sub- mitted to the second session of the Economic and Social Council which opened at Hunter College on May 25, 1946. The International Labour Conference, at its twenty-seventh session, adopted on Nov. 5, 1945, an instrument for the amend- ment of the Constitution of the Interna- tional Labour Organization, enabling it to establish a cooperative relationship with the United Nations. The text may be found in the Official Bulletin. of the International Labour OfficeJ v. 28, Dec. 15, 1945, p. 1-4. The other three agencies have in their . constitutions special clauses providing for a relationship with the United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O.) F.A.O. was the first of the new perma- nent United Nations organizations. It was originally planned at the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture at Hot Springs, Va., from May 18 to June 3, 1943· The first step was the setting up of an Interim Commission on Food and Agricul- ture, July 15, 1943, for the purpose of formulating and recommending for con- sideration by all member governments a specific plan for a permanent organization in the field of food and agriculture. .The original documents of the Hot Springs Conference were in t he form of loose mimeographed papers, not for general circulation. The final act and relevant documents were published in the United States as: United Nations Conference on Food and Agri- cultu.reJ Hot SpringsJ VirginiaJ May 18-J une JJ 1943· Final Act and Section Reports. Wash- ington, Government Printing Office, 1943. 59P· (Department of State Publication, 1948, Conference Series 52.) In Great Britain, the final act and accom- panying documents were issued in two separate publications as: Final Act of the United Nations Conferenc e on Food and Agriculture. London, H.M. Stationery Office, I943· (Cmd. 6451.) United Nations Conferenc e on Fo.od and Agri- culture. Section Reports on the Conference. London, H.M. Stationery Office, 1943. ( Cmd. 646!.) • After a year's work, the interim commis- sion completed the draft of a constitution for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This, together with a detailed report on its activities, was sub- 142 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES / ' mitted in the following form to each of the forty-four governments represented at the Hot Springs Conference: () United Nations by the Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. Washington, D.C., July I5, I945· 3P· First Report to the Government of the United This_contained recommendations concerning Nations by the Interim Commission on Food the future of the International Institute of and Agriculture. Washington, Aug. 1, I944· · Agriculture in Rome. 55P· On Dec. 14, 1944, the British Govern- ment accepted this constitution. The text of its instrument of acceptance, together with the text of the constitution itself and, as an appen~ix, the first report of the interim . commission, were published as: Documents Relating to the Food and Agricul- ture Organization of the United Nations, rst August-14th December 1944. Lond~n, H.M. Stationery Office, I945· 42p. ( Cmd. 6590.) Miscellaneous No. 4 (I945) By May 30, I945, twenty-two nations had accepted the constitution, making ·it possible for the organization to come into existence. The interim commission carried out its final function before being automatically dis- solved upon the coming into · being of F.A.O.; it convened the first plenarY, session of F.A.O. at Quebec City in Canada, Oct. 16, 1945· Five technical committees of the interim commission had, in the meantime, conducted research on agricultural production, nutri- tion and food management, forestry, fisher- ies, and statistics respectively and submitted the results of their findings in the form of reports to the Quebec Conference: Five Technical Reports on Food and Agricul- ture, Submitted to the United Nations Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture by Its Technical Committees on Nutrition a.nd Food Management, Agricultural lfroduction, Fish- eries, Fo.restry and Primary Forest Products, Statis-tics. Washington, D.C., Aug. 20, I945· 3 13p. Issued also in five separate parts. Other documents distributed to member governments at the time of the Quebec Con- ference were : S econd Report to the Governments of the APRIL, 1947 Third Report to the Governments of the United Nations by the Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture, Transmitting the Re- port of the Technical Committee on Forestry and Primary Forest Products. Washington, D.C., Apr. 25, I945· 47P· Th e Work ofF A 0: A General Report to the First Session of the Conference of the Food and Agr_iculture Organization of the United Nations, Prepared by the Reviewing Panel and Circulated to Members of the Interim Com- missio,n by the Executive Committee. Wash- ington, D.C., Aug. 20, I945· 57P· The conference lasted from Oct. I 6 to Nov. I, I945· Two commissions, A and B, were set up, one technical, comprising the above five committees, the other ad- mtmstrative. The principal documents of the conference were the journal and the final reports of these two commissions, which were unanimously adopt_ed. There were, in addition, a large number of other paper~, / including reports of meetings of subcommis- sions, all of them mimeographed. These were not available for general distribution. The commission reports, tog~ther with a number of other documents, wete published later by F.A.O. as: First Session. Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United N a- tions. Journal. v. I, no. I-I5, Oct. 16-Nov. I, I945· Quebec. City, Canada, I945· Food and Agriculture . Organization of the United Nations. Report of the First Session of the Conference, Held at the City of Que- bec, Ca,nada, October r6 toN ovember I, 1945, Containing the Reports of . Commission A (Policy and Program} and Commission B (Organization and Administration} with Sup- plementary Data Relating to Resolutions and Recommendations, the Budget, Rules of Pro- 143 cedure, Financial Regulations, and the Con- stitution. Washington, January I 946. xxi, 89p., in double columns. In Great Britain, these documents were · published as: 1 Documents Relating to the First Session of the Food ~nd Agriculture Conference of the United Nations, Quebec, Canada, r6th Oc- tober-1St November, 1945. London, H.M. Stationery Office, January I946. 62p. ( Cmd. 6731.) Miscellaneous No. 3 ( I946) There is also available from F.A.O. a limited number of copies of a made-up volume entitled Basic Documents of F.A .0., at $2.50 per copy, containing the following documents: Report of the First Session of the Conference, Held at the City of Quebec, Canada, October 16 to November I, 1945. F AO Conference. First session. Draft: Pro- visional Program of Work for the First Ses- sion. Washington, Aug. 4, 1945. United Nations Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. The Work of FA 0. [Washington, Aug. 20, I945.] Third Report to the Governments of the U.nited Nations by the Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. Washington, Apr. 25, 1945· Second Report to the Governments of the United Nations by the Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. Washington, July 16, I945· First Report to the Governments of the United Natt'ons by the Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. Washington, Aug. I, I944· United Nations Conference on Food and Agri- culture, Hot Springs, Va., May I8-June 3, I943· Final Act and Section Reports. Wash- ington, I943· At Quebec a resolution was adopted call- ing for the taking over by F.A.O. of the library, archives, and properties of the In- ternational Institute of Agriculture in Rome, the Centre International de Sylvi- culture, and the Comite International du Bois. It was further decided that English, French, Spanish, and Russian were to be the official languages, with English and French to be used in debates and documents. During the first part of April I 946 F.A.O. held a meeting in London of a panel of experts from various international and regional organizations for consultation in connection with the setting up of permanent services in the field of statistics, scientific ' abstracting, library service, . and biblio- graphic information. Additional early publications of . F.A.O. which have been widely circulated are: FAO Information Service Bulletin, no. I, Dec. 3, I945; no. 2, Apr. 2, 1946. Irregularly is- sued. FA 0, Cornerstone For a House of Life by Gave Ha~bidge. [Washington, 1946.] 24P· Facts about FAO. Washington, D.C., Apr. 12, I946. 7P· Bretton Woods Agreements The . United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, N.H., July 1-22, 1944, attended by experts of forty-four nations, dealt with machinery for currency stabilization and to provide long-term credit for permanent reconstruc- tion and the development of untapped pro- ductive resources. For this purpose, draft constitutions for an international monetary fund and for a bank for reconstruction and development were drawn up. Each of these bodies is to be headed by a board of gover- nors composed of representatives of all the member countries and a board of executive directors of whom there are to be always at least twelve, with five of their number to represent the five members having the largest national quotas. The original documentation of the Bret- ton Woods · Conference consisted of over five hundred separate mimeographed papers, 144 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRA.RIES comprising in addition to reports of meetings --Charts Relating to the Bretton Woods and technical papers submitted, the follow- . Proposals [Washington D.C.] Apr. 30, I945· I8p. and charts. Oblong. ing: Journal of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. Bretton Woods, N.H., no. I-22, July I-22, I944· Mimeographed. The only printed doc_ument of the confer- ence was: United Nations Monetary and Financial Con- ference. Officers of the Conference~ Mem- bers of the Delegations~ Officers of the Sec- relariat. Revised to July g. Bretton Woods, N.H., July I944· 32p. ·These were available only. to delegations and their staffs: The text of the final agree- ment~ was issued in the United States as: Articles of Agreement: International ¥one- tory Fund and International Bank for Recon- struction and Development~ United Nations M o.netary and Financial Conference~ Bretton Woods~ N.H.~ July I to 22~ 1944· Washing- ton, D.C., U.S. Treasury [I945]. 8gp. United Nations Monetary and Financial Con- ference, Bretton Woods, N.H., July I to July 22, I944· ·Final Act and Related Documents. Washington, Government Printing Office, I944· I22p. (Department of State Publica- tion 2I87, Conference Series 55.) . In an effort to win support for United States participation in the fund and · the bank, the U. S. State Department and Treasury, besides reprinting various state- ments made by officials in support of the measure, issued the following pamphlets, which are available free: Conference at Bretton Woods Prepares Plans for International Finance by John Parke Young. Washington, Government Printing Office, I944• 28p. (Department of State Publication 2216, Conference Series 57.) U.S. Treasury. The Bretton Woods Pro- posals. Washington, D.G., Feb. I5, I945· IJp. --The Bretton Woods Proposals. Ques- tions and Answers on the Fund and Bank. Washington, D.C., Mar. 15, I945· I6p. APRIL~ 1947 The British Government, in the mean- . time, published the documents ·relating to the Bretton Woods Conference as: ·United Nations Monetary and Financial Con- ference, Bretton Woods, N.H., U.S.A., July I to July 22, I944· Final A ct. London, H.M. Stationery Office, I944· 70p. (C,md. 6546.) . United Nations Monetary and Financial Con- ference, Bretton Woods, N.H., U.S.A., July I to July 22, 1944· Documents Supplementary to the Final A ct. London~ H.M. Stationery Office [I945J 24P· (Cmd. 6597.) The agreements became operative Dec. 27, 1945, only a few days before the dead- line set at Bretton Woods, when twenty- nine countries representing 65 per cent of the total quotas allotted by the agreements for the bank and the fund had ratified the Bretton Woods instrument. The United States, as the largest contributor, then called a preparatory conference for setting up the organization for the world fund and bank at Wilmington Island, Savannah, Ga., which lasted from March 8 to 18, 1946. Two full sessions of the boards of governors were held. A journal was issued during the confer- ence, but of the conference documents, only the following have come to hand so far : World Fund and Bank. Inaugural Meeting. [Savannah, Ga.] Fund Documents I-JO. [n.p., 1946] Mimeographed. UNESCO At the invitation of the British Govern- ment, representatives of forty-four United Nations met in London from Nov. 1 to 16, 1945, to discuss the adoption of a draft constitution for educational and cultural collaboration between the United Nations. This document had been prepared by the 145 Conference of Allied Ministers of Educa- ·tion in cooperation with United States edu- cational authorities. The text of the draft constitution may be found in: Proposed Et/ucational and Cultural Organiza- tion of the United Nations. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1945. 27p. (Department of State Publication 23~2.) The London Conference ended on No- vember 16 with the adoption of the draft constitution of UNESCO, whereby the sig- natories pledged themselves to collaborate in the advancement of mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples; to give fresh impulse to popular education and to the spread of culture; and to maintain increase and diffuse knowledge. The or~anizatio~ was formally established in November 1946, when the first general conference was held in Paris. The early documents of the United N a- tions Conference for the Establishment of an Educational and Cultural Organization were in the form of mimeographed papers, solely for the use of the delegations. The final documents comprise the final act, the constitution of the United Nations Educa- tional, Scientific, and Cultural Organiza- tion, and an instrument establishing a preparatory educational, scientific, and cul- tural commission, also several resolutions. They were issued in the United States as: "the defenses of peace": Documents Relating to UNESCO, the United Nations Educa- tional, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. :Bt. I. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1946. 31p. (Department of State ,Publication 2457, Conference Series So.) And in Great Britain as: Final Act of the United Nations Conference for the Establishment of an Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (With related documents.) London, Nov. 16, 1945. London, H.M. Stationery Office, 1945. 25p. (Cmd. 6711.) Miscellaneous No. 16 (1945) UNRRA UNRRA is a wartime agency established by virtue of an agreement signed in Wash- ington' Nov. 9, 1943, by representatives of forty-four countries. Its purpose is limited strictly to relief and immediately n~eded rehabilitation, not long-term reconstruction. Due to UNRRA's temporary character, an organic connection with the United N a-· tiops is not possible at this stage, but there is nevertheless close cooperation. The pub-: licatinns of UNRRA have been fully de- scribed by Olive L. Sawyer in an article entitled "Information Please, on UNRRA," which appeared in The Booklist~ July 15, 1945, p. 328-31. All the more important early publications by and about UNRRA will be found in: Seluted Reading List on United Nations Re- lief and Rehabilitation Administration, Pre- pared by the United Nations Information 0 /fice in Consultation with the United N a- tions Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. New York [1945], a 10-page· folder, with its supplement _[1946], an 8-page folder. 146 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES