Sources for WBG History Guide

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) – BIS history site

• Simha, S. L. N.  1980.  Financial wisdom from the BIS (Bank for International Settlements).  Madras, India :  Institute for Financial Management and Research

Creation of the United Nations

• Guiding Principles for a proposed United Nations Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 1943

Atlantic Conference (June 1944)

• Schuler, Kurt and Gabrielle Canning. 2019. Just Before Bretton Woods: The Atlantic City Conference June 1944. Center for Financial Stability
• Atlantic Conference archival sources and files 

Please see separate Bretton Woods page.

About

• Vinson, Fred M. “After the Savannah Conference”. Foreign Affairs July 1946.

Contemporary Sources & Documents

• Inaugural meeting of boards of governors. Provisional list of members of the delegations, officers of the Secretariat
• Inaugural meeting of the Board of governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Savannah, Georgia, March 8-18, 1946 : selected documents. (Held at World Bank Law Library) 
• International Labor Organization. Selected documents of the Board of Governors Inaugural Meeting, Savannah, 1946 (Held at ILO, Geneva )
• International Monetary Conference clippings. 1946. ms44, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, (Held by the University of Georgia Libraries)
• International Monetary Conference scrap book. 1946
• United States National Archives. 43.11.31 Records of the U.S. Delegation to the inaugural meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. 1946.

Personal Archives

• Snyder, John E. John Snyder Papers, 1918-1977. United States, Department of the Treasury. Secretary of the Treasury 1946-1953 (Held at Truman Library)

Newspaper / Magazines

• “Monetary Parley” LIFE, March 25, 1946. Page 38

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Eugene Meyer (1946)
• Staff during the time of John McCloy (1946-1949)
• Staff during the time of Eugene Black (1949-1962)

Papers/Oral Histories (not held by Bank)

• Martin, William McChesney. William McChesney Martin, Jr., Papers. Correspondence regarding the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Box 16, Folder 2,
• Moffett, Guy. Papers of Guy Moffett, 1920-1963. (World Bank staff 1946-1947) (Held at University of Virginia

​​​​​​​Secondary sources

• Staples, Amy L. S. 2007. The birth of development: how the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Health Organization changed the world, 1945-1965. Kent, Ohio: Kent State Univ. Press.

Bank Histories

• World Bank. 1954. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 1946-1953. Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins Press (aka The Capehart Committee Report) – (Available via Hathi Trust)

Multimedia

• Truman, Harry S. 1951. Address at the joint Meeting of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund, President Truman, Washington - Shoreham Hotel, September 18, 1951 [Audio File] (Held at Truman Library)

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Eugene Black (1949-1962)

Secondary sources

• Alacevich, Michele. 2009. The political economy of the World Bank: the early years. Stanford: Stanford Economics and Finance/Stanford University Press. (focuses on the Currie Mission, 1949-1954)
• Alacevich, Michele. 2011. "The World Bank and the Politics of Productivity: The Debate on Economic Growth, Poverty, and Living Standards in the 1950s." Journal of Global History 6 (1): 53-74.
• Kofas, Jon V. 1999. "Stabilization and Class Conflict: The State Department, the IMF, and the IBRD in Chile, 1952–1958." The International History Review 21, no. 2 (1999): 352-385.
• Staples, Amy L. S. 2002. “Seeing Diplomacy through Bankers' Eyes: The World Bank, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Crisis, and the Aswan High Dam." Diplomatic History 26, no. 3 (2002): 397-418.

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Eugene Black (1949-1962)
• Staff during the time of George Woods (1963-1968)
• Staff during the time of Robert McNamara (1968-1981)

Papers/Oral Histories (not held by Bank)

• Reminiscences of George Wishart : oral history, 1983. by George Wishart, John T Mason (Interviewer). (Recollections of George Woods)

Archival Sources (not held by Bank)

• Martin, William McChesney. Annual Meeting of Boards of Governors of IMF, IBRD, IFC, and IDA, Tokyo, Japan : 1964 September 1-12, Box 18, Folder 9, William McChesney Martin, Jr., Papers.

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Robert McNamara (1968-1981)
•  

Archival Sources (not held by Bank)

• World Bank Presidency, Container 34, Folder 4, G. William Miller Papers, 1977-1981. (US Government papers concerning the choosing of President Clausen, 1980)

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Robert McNamara (1968-1981)
• Staff during the time of Alden Clausen (1981-1986)
• Staff during the time of Barber Conable (1986-1991)

Secondary sources

• Oshiba, Ryo. "The World Bank under R. McNamara and AW Clausen." Hitotsubashi journal of law and politics 17 (1989): 1-24.

Bank Histories

• Poverty reduction and the World Bank : progress and challenges in the 1990s. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.

Multimedia

• Lanning, Greg, and Peter Chappell. 1997. Our friends at the bank. New York, NY: First Run/Icarus Film

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Barber Conable (1986-1991)
• Staff during the time of Lewis Preston (1991-1995)
• Staff during the time of James Wolfensohn (1995-2005)

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of James Wolfensohn (1995-2005)
• Staff during the time of Paul Wolfowitz (2005-2007)
• Staff during the time of Robert Zoellick (2007-2012)

Secondary sources

• Bazbauers, Adrian Robert. "The wolfensohn, wolfowitz, and zoellick presidencies: Revitalising the neoliberal agenda of the world bank." In Forum for Development Studies, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 91-114. Routledge, 2014.
• Mareček, Martin. 2006. Dust games = Hry prachu. [Czech Republic]: Bionaut.
• Taylor, John B. 2008. Global financial warriors: the untold story of international finance in the post-9/11 world

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

• Staff during the time of Robert Zoellick (2007-2012)
• Staff during the time of Jim Kim (2012-2019)