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 Kingdom House of Commons. International Fund and Bank (Savannah Conference). Oral answers to Questions.HC Deb 02 April 1946 vol 421 cc1104-6
• 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

• Horne, Roman L. Roman L. Horne Papers, Organizing Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Secretary of the IMF, 1946-1967.  (Held at Truman Library)
• 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)

• Garner, Robert L. Robert L. Garner Papers. (IBRD Vice-President 1947-1956, IFC President 1956-1961) (Held by Truman Library)
• 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)
• Truman, Harry S. Memoranda concerning the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (Held by Truman Library)

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)

• International Bank Notes, June 1956. Tenth Anniversary Issue: devoted the first ten years of Bank operations (1946). “Bretton Woods Recalled” is a reminiscence of Bank staff who participated in the conference. Other items featured in the anniversary issue: reflections by the Bank’s first three presidents, historical timeline, reflections on the opening of the Bank, discussion of governors’ meetings and executive directors, operational and technical assistance achievements and evolution, etc.

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)

Papers/Oral Histories (Not held by Bank)

• Garner, Robert L. Robert L. Garner Papers. (IBRD Vice-President 1947-1956, IFC President 1956-1961) (Held by Truman Library)

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.

Bank Histories

• International Bank Notes, June 1966. Twentieth Anniversary Issue: entire edition devoted to the first twenty years of operations (1946), featuring messages from current and past presidents, reflections on the Bank’s opening and achievements, and an historical timeline.

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.

Secondary sources

• Hošman, Mirek Tobiáš, "The most important research project”: the World Bank and the commodity problem of international development in the 1960s. In The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 31, (2024) .

Bank Histories

• Bank Notes, June 1976.  “Reflections on Reaching the Age of Thirty”, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reflection “authored” by the Bank

Oral Histories (held by Bank)

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

Bank Histories

• Bank’s World, June 1986.  Fortieth Anniversary “Special Report” insert includes reflections by current and past presidents; articles on Harry Dexter White’s contributions to Bretton Woods Conference and a reflection on the opening of the Bank in 1946; and excerpts of speeches by Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and J. M. Keynes’.

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.
• Pachetti, Federico. “A Merger of Equals: The Political Economy of the World Bank’s Early Contacts with China.” Journal of Global History 19 (1)(2024): 98–117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022823000281.

Bank Histories

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

50th Anniversary 

• Learning from the Past, Embracing the Future (July 1994)  “This report briefly discusses past accomplishments and contributions of the Bank Group. …the report discusses the Bank's past and present development policy, strategy, and goals. Finally, it projects future needs for strategic and policy reform which will be needed for continued global development and prosperity.

• Fifty Years after Bretton Woods: The Future of the IMF and the World Bank – Proceedings of a Conference Held in Madrid, Spain, September 29-30, 1994 “This volume is a compilation of the conference proceedings held … to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods institutions … by providing a forum for discussing how the institutions could adapt more effectively to the conditions and issues of the 1990s and beyond. The issues centered on the roles of the institutions in the areas of global economic management, economic reforms in both developing countries and the transition economies, sustainable poverty reduction, and finance for development. Also discussed was institutional governance.”

• Bank’s World, August 1994 “The Next 50 Years” discusses the report The World Bank Group: Learning from the Past, Embracing the Future and “Excerpts from the Staff Week Participatory Forum” offers reflections on the past and discussion of the Bank’s future by past and present Bank staff.

Multimedia

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

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)

Secondary Sources

• Pereira, João Márcio Mendes. “The ‘Self-Reform’ of the World Bank during the Wolfensohn Management (1995-2005): Initiatives, Direction and Limits.” Tempo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) 17.31 (2012): 177–205. Web.

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.
• Bello, Walden, and Shalmali Guttal. “The Limits of Reform: The Wolfensohn Era at the World Bank.” Race & class 47.3 (2006): 68–81. Web.
• 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)