Printed: 2013-06-20
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Fonds - Institute of Pacific Relations fonds
Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Institute of Pacific Relations fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1925-1989, predominant 1950-1960 (Creation)
- Creator
- Institute of Pacific Relations
Physical description area
Physical description
12.95 m of textual records
ca. 150 photographs : b&w ; 21 x 29 cm or smaller
1 album
ca. 150 photographs : b&w ; 21 x 29 cm or smaller
1 album
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Institute of Pacific Relations
(1925-1960)
Administrative history
The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was established in 1925 as a private non-partisan forum for the promotion of mutual understanding amongst nations of the Pacific Rim through discussion, research, and education. The IPR's programmes of conferences, research projects, publications, and its quarterly journal "Pacific Affairs" contributed to the interchange of information in the field of Asian Studies. The Institute conducted its affairs through autonomous national councils, each represented on the Pacific Council, the international governing body which directed the IPR's programmes. The International Secretariat, the Pacific Council's administrative organ, was based in Hawaii until it moved to New York in 1933. The American IPR was of particular importance to the organization due in part to its substantial financial contributions; it also carried out its own programmes of research, conferences, and publishing, the latter including Far Eastern Survey. The non-partisan status of the IPR was challenged in the early 1950's when the United States Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws (the McCarran Subcommittee) alleged that it was open to communist influences. In addition, in 1952 former "Pacific Affairs" editor Owen Lattimore was later indicted for perjury before the subcommittee. Although neither charge could be substantiated, the charges resulted in a loss of credibility which seriously impaired the operation of the Institute. Finally, the IPR lost its tax-exempt status as an educational body in 1955 and was forced to wage a five-year battle to have it restored. The final judgement in 1959 affirmed that, contrary to the allegation of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in 1955, the Institute had not engaged in the dissemination of controversial and partisan propaganda, and had not attempted to influence the policies or opinions of any government or government officials. The various legal battles, despite their favourable outcomes for the IPR, left the Institute completely depleted of funds and it dissolved in 1960. William L. Holland, who served as Secretary-General of the IPR, came to the University of British Columbia to serve as head of the newly-created Department of Asian Studies.
Custodial history
Materials held in the University Archives consist of records processed during three separate accruals. The first, processed in 1981, consists of records gathered for use by William L. Holland by the IPR staff when the New York office was dismantled, as it was his task to wind up the affairs of the organization and transfer the publication of Pacific Affairs to UBC. The second accrual was processed in 1990 and the third in 1996. The exact provenance of the materials in Boxes 59-64 was lost in the process of their selection and removal by William Holland from New York to UBC.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of correspondence, minutes of meetings, manuscripts, annual reports and financial records relating to the activities of the Institute of Pacific Relations, in particular William Hollandʹs varied roles as IPR Research Secretary, AIPR Executive Secretary, IPR Secretary‐General, and Editor of Pacific Affairs. Also included are court documents, transcripts, reports and publications relating to the investigations of the IPR and its staff completed by the United States government, including photocopies of F.B.I. files, reports of the McCarran Subcommittee, and publications of the Special Committee to Investigate Tax Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The provenance of materials in Boxes 59-64 was lost in the process of selection and removal from New York to Vancouver B.C.
Three publications in Box 100 were donated to the University Archives by Paul Hooper in 2011.
Three publications in Box 100 were donated to the University Archives by Paul Hooper in 2011.
Arrangement
Arranged in eight series: Publications, Correspondence, Annual Reports, Financial, IPR Conferences, Senate Investigation, Tax Evasion Court Case, and Miscellaneous. Idiosyncracies in the assignment of series between accruals have not been corrected.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated / related material
The bulk of the Instituteʹs files (1925‐1955) were given to Columbia University in 1961 and are housed in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of Columbia University Library. IPR records are also held by the University of Hawaii, the Hoover Institution Library at Stanford, and the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
Accruals
Other notes
- Alpha-numeric designations: BCAUL control number: UBCARCH-643
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Institute of Pacific Relations (Creator)
- Holland, William Lancelot (Subject)

