Special Collections and University Archives: Foreign Countries and International Relations Subject Guide

Papers documenting Rutgers University Professor Robert J. Alexander's life and work and research materials collected by him. Alexander retained files on labor, mining, housing, and transportation in Latin America, communism and Trotskyism throughout the world, and ethnic groups in the United States. Of particular interest is documentation of Latin America, Spain, and international leftist movements, Alexander's primary research interests.
Most important are the over 10,000 typescripts of interviews conducted by Alexander. He interviewed Latin American political leaders, industrialists, military and religious leaders, union leaders and ordinary citizens, with a particular focus on left-wing politicians and labor leaders. The letters to Jay Lovestone, head of the International Department of the American Federation of Labor during the 1950s, contain Alexander's impressions of the countries he visited, describing the economic and political situation and paying particular attention to communist activity in the trade unions.

Florence Atkinson and her sister Sarah were recruited by the Argentine government to serve as instructors in a women's normal school and taught for two years at the Escuela Normal de San Juan. The collection includes letters from Sarah Atkinson to her family while in Argentina in the 1880s, Florence Atkinson's diary (1883-1886), and related letters to family members about her trips to and from Argentina, her stay there, and a visit to Chile in early 1885.

Frances Grant's personal papers and records of organizations with which she was affiliated: the Pan-American Women's Association, International League for Human Rights, and Inter-American Association for Democracy and Freedom. Much of the collection concerns the political and cultural life of Latin America in the mid-20th century, including files relating to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Correspondence and other papers document Grant's travels to most of the countries in Latin America. Correspondents include many elected officials, cultural figures, and other prominent individuals in the United States and Latin America.

Correspondence, reports, memoranda, monographs, copies of magazine articles, and other records of the institute and its branch organizations (Center of Social Studies and Social Documentation and Inter-American Institute of Political Education) pertaining to Latin America. Places represented include Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

The papers contain Hopewell’s class notes from the first Peace Corps training program held at Rutgers University in 1961 and articles and publications on the first Peace Corps class. It also contains a letter to Robert Sargent Shriver (Director of the Peace Corps) about the need for the volunteers in the field to have representation to communicate with directors and administration; this is further discussed in the Peace Corps Volunteers Representative Committee Notebook. This collection contains a report on the Peace Corps Volunteers in Colombia a year after the program began.

Correspondence, reports, writings, and pamphlets relating to international relations and Latin America, as well as event programs and other documentation of Beggs' activities pertaining to international relations. The papers relate in part to a study course, in the form of an imaginary tour of Latin America, that was prepared with the cooperation of the Pan American Union for use by member clubs of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

Includes extensive files relating to Bolivian activities and some materials concerning the French Postman Affair.