Archives in Developing Countries

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Archives in Developing Countries:The Role of Philanthropic FoundationsBy ROBERT A. MAYER

TH E R O L Eof thenonpolitical, technical assistance agencyin aforeign society is to employ its financial and intellectualre-sources toward the solution of that society's problems. Itshouldnot act as an independent agency unconcerned with its hostcountry'sownprioritiesandsensitivities.The private foundation is the most nonpolitical of technical assis-tance agencies and is, therefore, an interesting institution to studyfor motives,aswellas for modesof performance, in seekingto deter-mine howarchival concerns weigh am ong d evelopm ental priorities.All foundations are set up with a definite purpose in m ind. Mostare establishedasconduitsof private moneytopu blic causes. Fo un-dation funds flow in specific directions, however, determined by afounder's wishesor thetrustees' philosoph y. Pu bli c causesare thusdefined by charters, bylaws, and evolving policy. Th ese are themotives, which neednot be political. Motivesmay be asnarrowasprovidingall of a foundation's incometo a special institution,or theymaybe asall-encompassing as calling for the use of funds for theadvancement of human welfare.A n u mb e rof the larger foundations, suchas Rockefeller, Carnegie,and Ford, have recognizedauniversality in their concernsfor h u ma nwelfare. In the search for stability in human endeavor, theycon-sider interrelationships between and among countries and theirpeoplesasimportantasinterrelationships am ong conflicting domesticgrou ps. Such views have placed these foun dations on at ightropeofdiplomacy where they must balance their own reason for existencewith theneedsand aspirations of the countries in which they work.The problemsof developing countrieswhere most technical assis-tance is directedare overwhelming. Pop ulat ion growth is out-

The author, who is Officer in Charge, Logistical Services, and Assistant to the VicePresident for Administration, of the Ford Foundation, read this paper in San Franciscoat the session on archives in developing countries, on October 15, 1971, at the annualmeeting of the Society of American Archivists.

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running food production. Hard currency reserves needed to pulldeveloping economies into the 20th century are slim; they are earnedusually by exploiting one or two basic natural resources and are oftendependent on a fluctuating market that is controlled by externalsources. The race to industrialize and thereby to lessen dependenceon costly imports is spurred more often by xenophobic fervor than byrationality, and it brings with it uncontrolled pollution and socialdisorientation. The urgency of societal pressures created by suchcultural disintegration directs the energies and channels the financialreserves of developing countries toward today. Little time, energy,or money is left to think about yesterday. And archives, to the lay-man, is an esoteric word describing things of the past. What Indo-nesian politician can find immediate benefit in preserving 17th-century records of the Dutch East India Company, and what valuewould those preserved records have in providing rice to feed millionsof hungry people?

These are harsh facts. We should remember that many historicalmaterials, with which historians and archivists from developed na-tions are concerned, are often alien documents to their currentguardians. The written record of the developing world is primarilya history of the colonial expansion of European metropolitan powers.The attractions of tropical landsamong them the spice trade andthe slave tradewere the causes of history. A Zanzibar Governmentofficial wrote to the Ford Foundation in the early post-colonialperiod: The Zanzibar . . . [archives] . . . therefore cover, and ingreat detail, the whole period of European penetration from the eastinto the interior of Africa, the establishment of the first Christianmissions and the measures for the suppression of the slave trade, andthe international rivalries of the European powers in the 'scramblefor Africa.' n For today's political leaders of emerging nations,these are more often memories of a much too recent period of na-tional disgrace. Nationalism, as it has intensified in the developingworld, does not find its spirit in the heritage of the colonial past. Infact, it often derives a stimulus from negating that past.

Therefore, the answer to the question of how archival concernsare weighed is inherent in the hypothetical statement about the Indo-nesian politician. On the scale of priorities in developing coun-tries, archival concerns do not rank among the most urgent, and theattention they receive from those countries is less than enthusiastic.Consequently, archives cannot rank as top priorities of founda-tions that are trying to help these countries bridge the developmentgap . In philanthropy, as in all things, there are no absolutes.

1P. A. P. Robertson, Chief Secretary to the Government of Zanzibar, to the FordFoundation, Oct. 5, i960.


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A R C H IV E S A N D P H I L A N T H R O P I C F O U N D A T I O N S 185

F o u n d a t i o n s h a v e m a d e g r a n t s i n d e v e l o p i n g c o u n t r i e s f o r a r c h i v a lneed s , bu t these g ran t s a re ve ry f ew. Before r ev ie wi ng severa l oft h e m , w e s h o u l d c o n s i d e r , i n a g e n e r a l w a y , w h y a f o u n d a t i o n m i g h tm a k e a r c h i v a l g r a n t s .In the h i s to ry o f over seas ph i lan th ropy , l a rge- sca le deve lopmentas s i s tance g rew ou t o f r econs t ruc t ion p rograms fo l lowing the SecondW o r l d W a r . A l t h o u g h s o m e f o u n d a t i o n s ( p r i m a r i l y R o c k e fe l le r )had been work ing over seas fo r many year s , a g rea te r concen t ra t ion o fef for t be ga n in the 1950 's. T h e f inancia l ass is tance pro gr am s of theg o v e r n m e n t s o f d e v e l o p e d n a t i o n s w e r e s u p p l e m e n t e d b y s e p a r a t ep r o g r a m s i n i t i a t e d b y s o m e o f t h e l a r g e p r i v a t e f o u n d a t i o n s . T h epr inc ipa l focus o f the pas t two decades has been on economic andt e c h n o l o g i c a l a d v a n c e . A s s is ta n c e w a s a i m e d a t b r i n g i n g i n t o t h e2 0 t h - c e n t u r y e c o n o m y t h e d e v e l o p i n g n a t i o n s t h a t s p a n t h e t r o p i c a lr e g i o n s of t h e g l o b e . A t t e m p t s w e r e m a d e t o t r a n s p l a n t t h e e d u ca -t iona l and t echno log ica l exper ience o f Wes te rn soc ie t i es in to so i l tha twas of ten i l l prepared for i t .

Af te r two decades o f such de ve lop m en t as s i s t ance , the deve loper shav e be gu n to s ense the cost o f p rogres s . Inc re ased c ro p y ie lds r e -d u c e t h e n e e d f or l a b o r - i n t e n s i v e f a r m i n g . R e s u l t i n g m a s s m i g r a t i o nf rom ru ra l a reas to c i t ie s s t r a ins ex i s t ing u rb an capac i t i e s . T h es te r i l e d i sc ip l in e of W es te r n ind us t r i a l i za t ion d i sp laces cen tu r ies o ft r a d i t i o n . C u l t u r a l h e r i t a g e s a r e t r a m p l e d i n t h e m a r c h t o w a r d t h ef u t u r e .O n e r e s u l t o f d e n i g r a t i o n o f c u l t u r a l h e r i t a g e i s t h e d i s i n t e g r a t i o nof a soc ie ty . T h e deve lop er s hav e be gu n to r ea l i ze tha t a na t io nc a n n o t s u r v i v e o n e c o n o m i c s a l o n e . F o r proof, take a tour o f oneof the mos t economics -o r ien ted coun t r i es o f the wor ld : Sov ie t Rus -s ia . A ne w or de r was im pl an te d a f te r the Sov ie t r ev o lu t io n of 1917.Yet today, one of the most s t r ik ing s ights a tour is t wi l l f ind is thep a l a c e o f C a t h e r i n e t h e G r e a t i n P u s h k i n , a s h o r t d i s ta n c e o u t s i d eL e n i n g r a d . C o m p l e t e l y g u t t e d b y t h e G e r m a n s d u r i n g W o r l d W a rI I , th i s g i lded pa lace i s be ing r econs t ruc ted in a l l i t s pas t g lo ry byt h e S o v ie t G o v e r n m e n t a n d is o p e n as a m u s e u m . A s i m i l a r t o u ro f Moscow wi l l r evea l the s ame reveren t main tenance o f the r ega l i aa n d m e m o r a b i l i a o f t h e c z a r s i n t h e p a l a c e s a n d c h u r c h e s w i t h i nt h e K r e m l i n w a l l s. A n d t h e c l u s te r s of o r d i n a r y R u s s i a n s a r o u n dthe d i sp lay case o f the f abu lous Fa berg e eggs s i l en t ly u nd er sc ore anat ion 's need for i t s pas t .

T h e l a s t q u a r t e r c e n t u r y o f W e s t e r n c i v i l i z a t i o n h a s b e e n d o m i -n a t e d , h o w e v e r , b y t e c h n o l o g y . P r o g r e ss w a s s o m e t h i n g t h a t c o u l db e c a l i b r a t e d o r c o m p u t e r i z e d : w e w e r e n o t l i s t e n i n g t o t h e h u m a n -i st s. W e d r e w o n t e c h n o l o g y t o h e l p t h e d e v e l o p i n g n a t i o n s a d v a n c e .H o w c o u l d w e h a v e p o s s i b l y m e a s u r e d t h e i r n e e d t o p r e s e r v e t h epast?


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A m e r i c a n m u s e u m s , t o s t u d y a rc h e o l o g y , a r t h is t o r y , a n d c o n s e r v a t i o nof m o n u m e n t s a n d a r t w o r k s , a n d t o a t t e n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o n -fe rences so they can exchange in fo rmat ion wi th o ther spec ia l i s t s .I n a d d i t i o n , t h e F u n d h a s s u p p o r t e d s p e ci al p r o j ec t s i n i n d i v i d u a lc o u n t r i e s . I n I n d i a i t h e l p e d t h e C a l i c o T e x t i l e M u s e u m in A h -medabad to do r esearch and to p repare ca ta logs on i t s t ex t i l e co l l ec -t i o n . I n T h a i l a n d a r c h e o l o g y s t u d e n t s w e r e e n a b l e d t o p a r t i c i p a t ein excav a t ion o f an ea r ly B ud dh is t si t e . In Indo nes ia the wo rk o fs e v e r a l i n s t i t u t i o n s d o c u m e n t i n g a n d r e c o r d i n g t r a d i t i o n a l m u s i ca n d d a n c e w a s f u n d e d .

T h e F o r d F o u n d a t i o n , w i t h i n t h e la s t 2 y e a rs , h a s a ls o i n i t i a t e d ap ro gra m for su pp or t o f cu l tu ra l p ro jec t s in Ind ia . O ne o f the p r im etargets , according to a project s taf f paper , i s the preservat ion of thatc o u n t r y ' s c u l t u r a l h e r i t a g e by r e c o g n i z i n g t h a t e a c h y e a r t h e d e a t hof a profess ional te l ler of fo lk ta les d iminishes i r re t r ievably thenumber o f such t a les ex tan t , the dea th o f a dancer r esu l t s in thepermanen t los s o f pa r t i cu la r dances , even as the dea th o f a g rea tm u s i c i a n d i m i n i s h e s t h e n u m b e r o f s u r v i v i n g a n c i e n t m u s i c a l c o m -pos i t ions . 3 U n d e r t h i s p r o g r a m a fe w s m a l l a w a r d s h a v e b e e nm ad e, how eve r , tha t can bet te r be c lassi fied as arc hiva l th an as v isual .A grant of $6,500 was made to the Asiat ic Socie ty of Bombay form i c r o f i l m i n g i t s c o l l e c t i o n o f r a r e m a n u s c r i p t s , n e w s p a p e r s , a n d p e -r i o d i c a ls . A l s o , t h e A d y a r L i b r a r y a n d R e s e a r c h C e n t e r i n M a d r a swas g iven $6 ,500 o f which $2 ,000 was fo r m ic ro f i lm ing tha t L ib ra ry ' sp a l m l e a f a n d p a p e r m a n u s c r i p t s a n d t h e r e m a i n i n g $ 4 , 5 0 0 w a s f o ra i r co nd i t io n in g i ts f ac i li t ie s . A th i r d aw ard , of $960 , was m ad e toE d w i n B e r n b a u m t o a ss is t i n h i s w o r k of i n v e n t o r y i n g T i b e t a nm a n u s c r i p t s i n t h e l i b r a r y o f a B u d d h i s t m o n a s t e r y i n N e p a l . 4

As these f ew examples show, even when p rese rva t ion o f aud io -v i sua l h i s to r ies appear s to t ake p r io r i ty , one canno t comple te ly fo rge tt h e w r i t t e n d o c u m e n t s . T h e y , t o o , r e p r e s e n t a p a r t of h i s to r y , e v e nif i t i s, in ma ny ins tances , u np lea san t .I n o t e d e a r l i e r t h a t U n i t e d St a te s f o u n d a t i o n i n t e r e s t i n a r c h i v a lp rob lems emerged over the l as t two decades f rom the g rowing ex-p e r i e n c e of t h e v a r i o u s f o u n d a t i o n s ' staff m e m b e r s in d e v e l o p m e n tas s is tance . B u t an ea r l i e r spark of in te res t in a rch iv a l p ro b lem s wasex h ib i t ed in the l a te 1930 's by the Ro ckefe l l e r Fou nd a t io n . Rocke -fe l ler , through a grant- in-aid of $17,000, f inanced a survey of l i -b r a r i e s a n d a r c h i v e s i n C e n t r a l A m e r i c a a n d t h e W e s t I n d i e s . 5 T h e3 Staff pape r, Request for Fou nda tion Suppo rt for Cultu ral Projects in In dia, Jun e 18,1969, Ford Foundation.4 Mr. Bernbaum has described his efforts in a very intere sting article entitled T heTi be tan Books of Thyan gbo che, in the Ap ril 12, 1971, issue of the Harvard Bulletin.5 Arthur E. Gropp, Guide to Libraries and Archives in Central America and theWest Indies, Panama, Bermuda, and British Guiana, p. ii (New Orleans, 1941).


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s u r v e y wa s c o n d u c t e d b y th e M i d d l e Am e r i c a n R e s e a r c h I n s t i t u t e o fTu lane Un ive rs i t y i n 1936 and 1937 and was focused on a s tudy o ft h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f l i b r a r i e s a n d a r c h i v e s a n dthe i r co l l ec t i ons , wi th re fe rence t o l oca l and reg iona l sou rce ma-t e r i a l s . A p rog ress rep o r t on the su rvey was pub l i she d by A r t h u r E .Gropp in 1936 in t he Hand book of Latin American Studies.6 A s are su l t o f t he su rvey , Dr . Gropp subsequen t ly pub l i shed an ex t ens iveGuide to Libraries and Archives in Central America and the WestIndies, Panam a, Bermuda , and British Guiana.It is interesting to note tha t the Rockefeller F oun datio n did n otfollow up that initial survey with any financial assistance for archivalprogram s. It did, however, expa nd its work throu gh ou t La tinAm erica in the field of l ibrary developm ent. I can find no reasonsfor this interest in the one field over the other. It perh aps reflectsthe atti tudes of foundations that l ibrary development is primarily aperipheral adjunct to their other concerns, such as improvement ofprofessional training in foreign universities.7 Archives, unfortu-nately, are not as closely linked to those concerns.The Rockefeller Foundation did make two grants in the late1950's for archival assistance programs, but did not follow eitherof these two interre lated programs with further assistance. Th esegrants, however, preceded the current, more acute awareness byfoundations of the need for cultural preservation as an importantingredient to nat ional development .T h e first was a small grant-in-aid of $2,280. It was m ad e in 1957in response to a reque st from the M inistry of Educa tion an d C ultu reof Tr in idad and Tobago. 8 In a Rockefel ler Fou ndation internaldocument, the reasons for the request were stated as follows:Parallel to [the creation of the West Indian Federation] . . . has been anever increasing interest on the part of West Indians, and more especiallyby the Governments in power, in the history of their islands. Onlyrecently have West Indians considered their islands' history as peculiarlytheir own rather than as a fragment of Britain's colonial empire. Thisrecent interest in history has been made urgent by the necessity of know-ing the results of past experience in preparing plans for the immediatepresent and the future.9The grant funds were used to pay for the services and expenses of

6 Statement of the Progress of the Survey of Libraries and Archives of CentralAmerica and the West Ind ies, p. 473-481 (Cambridge, Mass., 1936).1See Robert A. Mayer, Latin American Libraries and U.S. Foun dation Philan-thropy: An Historical Survey, to be published in 1972 by the Journal of LibraryHistory in the proceedings of the Fourth Library History Seminar, held at Tallahassee,Florida, February 25-27, 1971.8 Rockefeller Fou nda tion, Annual Report 1957,p . 255 (New York, 1958).9 Reque st for Grant-in-Aid , September 3, 1957, Rockefeller Fou ndation.


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T h e o d o r e R . S c h e l l e n b e r g , t h e n A s s i s t a n t A r c h i v i s t o f t h e U n i t e dS ta tes , to comple te a su rvey o f the a rch ives and p repare an a rch iva lp r o g r a m f o r a d o p t i o n b y t h e G o v e r n m e n t of T r i n i d a d a n d T o b a g o .H e was to be assis ted in th is ef for t by Cl i n t on Black, th e A rch ivis tf or J a m a i c a . I n F e b r u a r y 1 95 8 t h e y j o i n t l y s u b m i t t e d a r e p o r t o nt h e i r w o r k .1 0The second g ran t was made in 1959 to the Univer s i ty Co l lege o ft h e W e s t I n d i e s . T h e g r a n t o f $ 3 9 ,3 3 0 w a s t o p e r m i t a n e x p e r i -ence d p ro fes s iona l a rch iv i s t to su rvey ex i s t ing ma te r ia l s in th e a r -c h i v e s o f t h e m e m b e r n a t i o n s o f t h e W e s t I n d i a n F e d e r a t i o n , t op u b l i s h a g u i d e t o t h o s e m a t e r i a l s , a n d t o m i c r o f il m o r m a i n t a i n i npermanen t cus tody the a rch ives o f the smal le r i s l ands . 1 1T h i s g r a n t p r o g r a m p r o d u c e d t w o e x t r e m e l y us e fu l p u b l i c a t i o n s :A Guide to Records in Barbados a n d A Guide to Records in theLeeward Islands.12 A s I m e n t i o n e d b e f o r e , R o c k e f e l l e r m a d e n of u r t h e r f u n d s a v a i l a b l e f o r c o n t i n u i n g th e s e a r c h i v a l p r o g r a m s . I tis n o t u n u s u a l u n d e r n o r m a l f o u n d a t i o n p h i l o s o p h y t h a t c o n t i n u i n gsu pp or t fo r p ro gra m s be p ro v id ed by the as s is ted o rga n iza t io ns . Ash is to ry sad ly r ep or t s , the W es t Ind ia n Fed era t ion co l lapse d in 1962.Mos t in te r i s l and ac t iv i t i e s , w i th the excep t ion o f the Univer s i ty o fthe W es t Ind ies , co l l apsed w i th the Fe de ra t io n . I t i s poss ib le tha tthe coopera t ive a rch ives ven tu re su f fe red the s ame fa te .B e f o r e g o i n g o n t o t h e w o r k o f o t h e r f o u n d a t i o n s a n d i n v i e wo f m y c o m m e n t s t h a t m a n y o f t h e d o c u m e n t a r y s o u r c e s o f d e v e l o p -ing coun t r i es a re a l i en to them-we shou ld perhaps exp lo re one o ft h e s t a t e m e n t s q u o t e d e a r l i e r f r o m t h e R o c k e f e l l e r a r c h i v e s : O n l yrecen t ly have Wes t Ind ians cons idered the i r i s l ands ' h i s to ry as pecu-l i a r ly the i r ow n ra th er th an as a f r agm ent o f Br i t a in ' s co lon ia l em-p i r e . O n e c a n n o t q u e s t io n t h e t h o u g h t t h a t t h e W e s t I n d i a n scons ider th i s h i s to ry the i r own , bu t one can ask why they would havea m o r e f a v o r ab l e a t t i t u d e t o w a r d t h e i r c o l o n i a l h i s t o r y t h a n o t h e rde ve lop ing na t ion s . T h e roo t s o f the soc iet i es o f th e Eng l i sh - speak-i n g W e s t I n d i e s a r e t r a n s p l a n t e d o n e s . L i t t l e b u t a h a n d f u l o f a r t i-f a c t s r e m a i n s o f t h e I n d i a n t r i b e s t h a t o r i g i n a l l y i n h a b i t e d t h ei s la n d s . T h e i r p r i m i t i v e c u l t u r e s h a v e b e e n a l m o s t w i p e d a w a y.T h e W e s t I n d i a n o f t o d a y b r o u g h t h i s c u l t u r e fr om E u r o p e o rA f r ic a o r I n d i a a n d t h e O r i e n t . T h e W e s t I n d i a n h e r i t a g e i n i tso w n r i g h t b e g a n w i t h t h e c o lo n i a l p e r i o d a n d i s d o c u m e n t e d , t h e r e -

1 Survey and Preservation of Archives in the West Indies, unp ublis hed , und ated(ca. July 1958) rep ort, Rockefeller Fo und ation .11 Rockefeller Foundation, Annual Report 1959,p. 160 (New York, i960).12 M. J. Chandler, A Guide to Records in Barbados (Oxford, 1965) and E. D. Baker,A Guide to Records in the Leeward Islands (Oxford, 1965).


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fore, in the records of the slave trade, indentured labor, episcopalestablishment, and colonial rule. Because of this, colonial historyis more relevant to today's West Indian culture than, for example,the Dutch colonial record is to today's Indonesian cul ture. Diversecultures predating Dutch hegemony still exist in Indonesia and forma basis for an older and more integral national heritage there. WestIndian colonial history cannot be exorcised in the name of na-tionalism.

The Ford Foundation has made one archival grant in each of itsthree regional development programs: Asia and the Pacific, MiddleEast and Africa, and Latin America. Like the Rockefeller Founda-tion, in the late 1950's it gave to a government assistance thattouched on archival concerns. A grant of $45,000 was made to theGovernment of the Union of Burma to help the country's HistoricalCommission plan a definitive history of Burma by Burmese scholars.In his final report to the Foundation, the Commission chairmanwrote that the Ford Foundation's aid had helped the Commissionto lay solid and sound foundations . . . for the planning . . . of anagency to preserve current historical documents. . . . On the ar-chives side [we] have collected data that will be essential when draw-ing plans for setting up a National Archives. 13

In 1963, Ford responded to a request from the National Archivesof Mexico to provide the services of consultants in the field of his-torical archives to assist in organizing archival material from the in-dependence period (post 1821). Dr. Schellenberg was again tappedto carry out the assignment, but a serious illness prevented him fromgoing to Mexico. Albert H. Leisinger, Jr., worked with the Mexi-can authorities and prepared a report entitled The Mexican Na-tional Archives: A Report and Recommendations. 14

The third Ford effort was actually financed through two grants:$16,700 from a larger grant to the African Studies Association (1963)and $14,400 to Oxford University (1969) were used to support theOxford University Colonial Records Project.15 The aim was tocollect papers of historical interest about Africa from former colonialofficials in Great Britain. In the 6 years following the first grant,1,700 collections of papers, including diaries, letters, and documents,were accumulated. Cooperative relationships were also establishedwith several government archives in Africa to facilitate regular ex-change of materials and information. An extremely thorough re-view of the Colonial Office Records Project has been written by

13Pe Maung Tin to Ford Foundation, undated.1*June 5, 1964,Ford Foundation.15 Ford Foundation, nnual Report 196-),p. 126 (New York, 1964), and nnualReport, 196 ,p. 134 (NewYork, 1970).


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ARCHIVES AND PH ILA NT HR OP IC FOUND ATIONS 191Louis B. Frew er und er the ti t le T h e Provision of Raw M aterialsfor African History. 16 In a letter to the Fo und ation , an Americanprofessor of history explained succinctly the value of such projectsas this one:. . . Administrative archives are created by men who know the main out-lines of the situation at hand, and the letters back and forth are directedto people with the same background. Unofficial records, like lettershome or private journals, often assume a much narrower background onthe par t of the potential reader. Th ey therefore fill in precisely the areasof assumed common knowledge that make the official correspondencepartly unsatisfactory.17

Another foundation that has made a few grants for archives pro-grams in developing countries is the Asia Fo und atio n. In its 1969annual report, the foundation described its reasons for consideringgrants in the cultu ral area: Asian nations atte m pting to weave theoften diverse ethnic and cultural threads of their peoples into anational unity which permits stable development, are defining andstrengthening their cultural heritage. 18In 1967, the Asia Foundation made a grant of $1,962 to theMinistry of Culture in South Viet-Nam for a survey of historicalm onu m ents, archives, and libraries. T h e project was carried out inthe Hue area with the help of a Western expert, shortly before theT e t offensive that deva stated th at historical city. T h e following yearthe foundation provided electric typewriting equipment to the Na-tional Archives of Malaysia for use in preparing a national bibliog-raphy and furnished travel funds for the prospective head of theRecords Management Division of that Archives to visit leading insti-tutions in the U nite d States and Canad a. Th is observation visit wasorganized by the Society of American Archivists, which was alsoinstrumental in arranging for needed supplementary funding fromthe Carneg ie Fo und ation . Fun ds were provided in 1969 for thechairman of the Malaysian Library Association and the librarian ofthe National University to attend the Seminar on Tropical Ar-chivology held in Djakarta under the sponsorship of the SoutheastAsian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives.The principal recommendations adopted by the seminar were forintroduction in each country represented of comprehensive nationalarchives legislation; provision by governments of adequate funds forarchival services; recognition of the archivists' profession on a level

16I n The Bibliography of Africa: Proceedings and P apers of the International Con-ference on African Bibliography, Nairobi, 4-8 December, 196J (New York, 1970).17 Philip D. Curtin, professor of history, University of Wisconsin at Madison, to FordFoundation, Mar. 6, 1969.18Asia Fou nda tion, 7969 President's Review, p. 35 (San Francisco, 1970).


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THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST C*J> APRIL 1972

with those of architects, engineers, and lawyers; and increase in thelevel of archivists' salaries.19Although the more recent grants cited in this paper have all beensmall, they are a begin ning. T he y represen t a growing awarenessamong foundations of the importance of cultural pride to nationalun ity and stability. W e are now more aware that the need for helpis there, and those of us familiar with the problems facing archivistsin the developing countries of the tropics know that this need isacute. T h e na tura l resources of the tropics once attracted colonialexpansion, and now the region's severe heat and humidity ironicallyendanger those fragile documents, which record that expansion.As I have said, international philanthropy is a t ightrope that mustbe walked with extreme caut ion. T he emotional natu re of cul turalsensitivities calls for even more careful choices by foundations inen terin g this field of activity. Th erefo re, the m om en tum is bo un dto be slow and, in all probability, will never swell into an avalancheof financial assistance for cultural programs.Bu t foundat ions have und oub tedly turned a corner. T e n yearsago a foundation executive summed up his feelings concerning amajor proposal to assist in organizing the vast and historically richarchives of the O ttom an Em pire : I find myself wo rrying abo ut thefact that the project will do more for foreign scholarship than forTu rk ey . If we had a few m ore solid con tribution s to Turk ey 'sdevelopment to exhibit , I could work up more enthusiasm for this[project]. That was a very valid and sensitive statement in i tst ime. W e can be certain that we wo uld not hear i t repe ated today.

19Ro bert S. Schwantes, Vice President for Program s, Asia Fou ndatio n, to the FordFoundation, Aug. 2, 1971; Unesco Bulletin for Libraries, 24:226 (July-Aug. 1970).

Documents

Archives in Developing Countries