The implementation of technical assistance program “Point four” by the president of the United States of America Harry Truman in the archival field
Larysa Levchenko, Doctor of History, State Archives of Mykolayiv region, Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Abstract
The article discusses the Point Four program established by the President of the United States of America Harry Truman for providing technical assistance to developing countries in various fields including the archival one.
A famous American archivist T.R. Schellenberg was a professor of archival sciences in Australia and New Zealand. In Panama, P.C. Brooks helped develop a law on archives, analyzed the state of records management in ministries, introduced scientific methods of selection of records for storage and destruction, and established a records center. After the success in Panama the Point Four program spread to other Latin American countries. Washington based Inter-American Technical Council on Archives (1961) focused on creating archival reference books on the history of Latin America, worked on developing archival legislation, etc. H.E. Angel worked in Iran. In 1970, the Iranian parliament adopted archival legislation and created the National Archives of Iran and a records center. In Israel, the Point Four program was implemented by the private American foundation «National Records Management Council», represented by L. B. Hale, D. Rosen, R. A. Schiff. The curator of the program was the Israel State Archives Director S. Udin. Point Four recommended to give the Israel State Archives the majority of control functions regarding the implementation of the records management program in the ministries, create records centers, establish methods for records appraisal, etc. In 1955, Knesset approved archival legislation in Israel.
Point Four was launched by the United States as an alternative to the spread of Communism in the world during the Cold War, but it has achieved positive results in the development of archival legislation, establishment of national archives, archival education, scientific methods of work in the archives, and records management programs in institutions.
Keywords: international assistance institute, “Point Four” program, the Cold War.
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References
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