Foreign Correspondence File
- Extent:
- 70.49 Cubic Feet 164 document boxes.
- Scope and content:
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The Foreign Correspondence files of the Population Council, Accession 2 primarily cover the period from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. These were years which saw increased activity by the Population Council outside the United States, with the Council offering both practical and technical aid to other countries. These years also saw advances in two methods of birth control: in the late 1950s, the intrauterine device (IUD) grew in popularity, thanks to Dr. Jack Lippes' design; and in the early 1960s, birth control pills were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use by the general public. Regarding the IUD, Frank W. Notestein, then President of the Population Council, wrote: "Although it is too early to draw final conclusions about the intrauterine devices, it is difficult now to feel other than optimistic. Here at long last we have available a cheap and simply applied method, easily reversible, that meets the needs of a great majority of women. And we have sufficient evidence from a great diversity of countries to suggest that acceptability is high." (Source: Population Council Report for the Calendar Years 1962 and 1963) A few years later, Notestein, in writing about birth control pills, noted: "Today we also have vastly more appropriate and effective methods of contraception than were available a decade ago…The oral progestins, when taken consistently, prove to be almost 100 per cent effective and relatively safe. At the moment, the pill remains rather expensive for the poorer countries, but developments now on the horizon suggest that before long the cost of oral contraceptives will be brought down substantially." (Source: Population Council Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 1965).
These two methods of birth control, and especially the IUD, were widely promoted abroad by the Population Council. Their development at this time was a key component in the Population Council's work in other countries. Beginning in 1960, the Population Council's Demographic Division became involved in Pakistan's family planning program, offering practical and technical aid in organizing and running a national family planning program. By 1964, the Division had assisted in organizing family planning programs in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. In 1964, the Council created the Technical Assistance Division, and it was this Division which continued the Council's assistance to countries where it had already become involved and which also helped start and run programs in India, Morocco, and the Philippines.
The Foreign Correspondence files document this increased involvement in work internationally. The files are a rich source of information not only on the Population Council's work within specific countries, but also on the organization of the Population Council itself. The type of involvement varied from country to country. Often the Council simply provided technical assistance to an already existing family planning program run by the country's own Ministry of Health. At other times, the Population Council would assign an advisor who would relocate to the country concerned to live and work for one or more years. The files contain much correspondence from these resident advisors, detailing their difficulties and concerns, as well as the positive advances made in their programs. From the files it is also possible to see the tension that at times surfaced between the New York office and those working in the field – the tension between authority and autonomy.
In many countries, the Population Council would initially offer to conduct a KAP Survey – KAP being an acronym for "Knowledge, Attitude, Practice". KAP surveys could be done in a particular geographical area or with a particular people group. This survey would often reveal the need for more adequate methods of birth control and the results could be used to encourage the country's government to give more attention to the area of health and family planning.
Researchers will notice that frequently, the same material is found in multiple places within the files. This is a practice that the Population Council followed and that has been preserved within the current files. When using the materials, researchers are strongly encouraged to look at all the files within a country, not limit their study to only those files whose titles seem to be relevant to their topic. Only in this way can the relationships between the Population Council, the various government agencies, the field personnel, and other organizations, such as the Ford Foundation, be clearly seen. Because the original file titles have been preserved, the title may not adequately reveal the full content of the file.
The Monthly Reports do not comprehensively cover all the countries where the Population Council worked. They do, however, provide extensive reports for several countries where the Population Council was most involved, material which is not available in the general Country files.
- Arrangement:
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The Population Council's Foreign Correspondence Series is divided into two primary files.
The first, and by far the largest, consists of individual country files, arranged in subseries by country/region. The second, and much smaller, consists of one subseries of monthly reports for 15 of these countries. Both files are arranged alphabetically by country/region name.
Within each country, following a general "Correspondence, Reports, Studies" category, folders are arranged alphabetically and chronologically. Material within each folder is arranged in reverse chronological order. Both the arrangement of the material and the folder titles reflect the original order of the records, as received from the Population Council.
Contents
Access and use
- Parent restrictions:
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Open for research with select materials restricted as noted. Brittle or damaged items are available at the discretion of RAC.
If accessing the records of the Population Council, I understand that I am given access to these records on condition that I will not identify by name, either in my research notes or in publication or recording, the names of individuals who received or apparently received medical diagnoses and/or treatments, whose case(s), may be documented or mentioned by personal name in the Population Council records.
Researchers interested in accessing digital media (floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, etc.) or audiovisual material (audio cassettes, VHS, etc.) in this collection must use an access surrogate. The original items may not be accessed because of preservation concerns. To request an access surrogate be made, or if you are unsure if there is an access surrogate, please contact an archivist.
- Parent terms of access:
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The Population Council retains title, copyright and literary rights in the collection, in so far as it holds them.
The Rockefeller Archive Center has authority to grant permission to cite and publish material from the collection. The Population Council retains the right to prior consent with respect to any reproduction or extensive quotation of the records for publication.
Reproduction/duplication of archival items is routinely provided in accordance with "fair use". If the RAC does not hold copyright for an archival collection, or items within a collection, it is the users responsibility to contact the copyright holder, or make a fair effort to do so, prior to publication.
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