Blandford, John B. Papers

Dates: 1918-1969

Administrator, National Housing Agency, 1942-1946; Advisor to the Chinese Government, 1946-1947; Consultant on Government Relations, 1947-1948; Deputy Chief to the United Nations Economic Cooperation Administration Mission to Greece,1948-1950; Advisor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees, 1950-1951; Director of the UNRWA for Palestine Refugees, 1951-1953

The papers of John B. Blandford consists of appointment books, correspondence, diaries, memoranda, newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed materials related to his life and career. Mr. Blandford worked in several official capacities under Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. Much of his later work was done for the United Nations.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 10 linear feet, 6 linear inches (about 19,200 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. government their copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: David Clark, Jim Armistead (2014).


[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1897 (August 19)

  

Born John Bennett Blandford, Jr., New York City.

1918

  

Served in U.S. Naval Aviation Service in World War I.

1920

  

Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Steven's Institute of Technology.

1921-1923

  

Assistant to the City Manager, Petersburg, Virginia.

1924-1926

  

Research Director, Chamber of Commerce, Newark, New Jersey.

1926 (April 19)

  

Married Mary Ruth Brownlow.

1926-1931

  

Director, City of Cincinnati, Ohio, Bureau of Governmental Research.

1930

  

Member of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment.

1931-1933

  

Director of Public Safety, City of Cincinnati, Ohio.

1933-1934

  

Assistant Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority.

1934-1937

  

Coordinator and Secretary of the Board, Tennessee Valley Authority.

1937--1939

  

General Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority.

1939-1942

  

Assistant Director, Bureau of the Budget.

1942-1946

  

Administrator, National Housing Agency.

1946-1947

  

Advisor to the Chinese government.

1947-1948

  

Consultant on government relations.

1948-1950

  

Deputy Chief, Economic Cooperation Administration Mission to Greece.

1950-1951

  

U.S. Advisor, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

1951-1953

  

Director, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

1954-1972

  

Consultant and Public Administrator, Puerto Rico and Latin American Countries.

1955-1956

  

Director of Staff, New York State - New York City Fiscal Relations Committee.

1956-1957

  

Chief Representative, Khuzestan Development Service, Tehran, Iran.

1958-1959

  

United Nations Venezuela Project.

1960

  

United Nations, General Government Organization, Argentina.

1962-1963

  

Consultant, Human Resources and Social Development.

1964-1967

  

Operations Evaluation Office, Agency for International Development.

1972 (January 16)

  

Died.
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The John B. Blandford Papers include appointment books, correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, personal diaries, photographs, and printed materials. The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject.

Mr. Blandford spent his early career working for the cities of Newark, New Jersey and Cincinnati, Ohio. While he was working for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio he also worked under both Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt as a member of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment. He continued in this position when he was later employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Several times during his life he worked for more than one organization at the same time. From 1939 until shortly after the United States entered World War II he worked for the Bureau of the Budget and then went to work for the National Housing Agency. After the end of World War II, he turned his efforts to international problems, sometimes as a consultant and at other times in an official capacity. He worked in China, Greece, Iran, and Lebanon. Much of this work was conducted under the administration of the United Nations.

There are file units in the collection for almost all of the cities, countries, and agencies mentioned above. This collection includes documents and publications in Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, Spanish, and Thai. Included are two five-year diaries kept by his wife, Mrs. Mary Ruth (Brownlow) Blandford, along with an extensive amount of correspondence between her and Mr. Blandford. Also included is a "B.A.L. [Boys Athletic League] Boxing Chart" autographed by the boxer, Rocky Marciano.

Included in the National Housing Agency file units is a presentation book for "Kaiser War Housing" prepared by the housing division of the company headed by industrial entrepreneur and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser.

There are documents related to the presidencies of Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy. Included are signed letters from President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt as well as President Truman. There is a signed document from Nelson Rockefeller and another from John Foster Dulles. Notated speech drafts for President Roosevelt are included as well. There is a copy of the Constitution of the Republic of China as well as signed correspondence from Madame Chiang Kai-shek. There is unsigned correspondence to the President of Pakistan, His Excellency Mohammad Ayub Khan, from President Kennedy. There is a pamphlet authored by Alger Hiss on the Marshall Plan. Included in the file units on the Marshall Plan are documents illustrating the concept of a "European Recovery Program" in 1944. There is correspondence from 1940 on how the United States might defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy in Japanese waters as well as documents detailing the U.S. government's defense budget two months before Japan attacked the United States on December 7, 1941. A copy of the surrender documents for the end of the Second World War in Europe is included as well.

The collection also contains speeches, the contents of Mr. Blandford's scrapbooks, and information concerning New York State-New York City fiscal relations, Public Administration Services in the American Republics, and the Society of Inter-American Planning. More information on housing policy during the Truman Administration can be found in other manuscript collections at the Truman Library, most notably in the Truman Library in the Papers of Nathaniel S. Keith, Raymond M. Foley, B.T. Fitzpatrick, and William K. Divers.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

  

Series

1-24

   SUBJECT FILE, 1918-1969
Appointment books, correspondence, diaries, memoranda, newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed materials. Arranged alphabetically.
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

FOLDER TITLE LIST

SUBJECT FILE, 1918-1969

Box 1

  • Afghanistan
  • Agency for International Development [1 of 2]
  • Agency for International Development [2 of 2]
  • Agency for International Development, Operations Evaluation Team Work in Thailand, 1967
  • Appointment and Expense Books [1 of 2]

Box 2

  • Appointment and Expense Books [1 of 2]
  • Argentina [1 of 2]
  • Argentina [2 of 2]
  • The Brookings Institute
  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, 1918-1969 [1 of 4]

Box 3

  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, 1918-1969 [2 of 4]
  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, 1918-1969 [3 of 4]
  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, 1918-1969 [4 of 4]
  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, Undated [1 of 2]
  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth-Correspondence, Undated [2 of 2]

Box 4

  • Brownlow, Mary Ruth, Diaries, 1925-1942
  • Bureau of the Budget [1 of 5]
  • Bureau of the Budget [2 of 5]
  • Bureau of the Budget [3 of 5]

Box 5

  • Bureau of the Budget [4 of 5]
  • Bureau of the Budget [5 of 5]
  • China, 1944-1945
  • China, 1946 [1 of 2]
  • China, 1946 [2 of 2]

Box 6

  • China, 1947 [1 of 2]
  • China, 1947 [2 of 2]
  • China, 1948
  • China, Undated
  • Cincinnati, Ohio Bureau of Government Research
  • Cincinnati, Ohio-Director of Public Safety

Box 7

  • Correspondence, Personal
  • Daily Diary, March 3, 1950-September 25, 1950
  • Daily Diary, September 25, 1950-May 28, 1951
  • Daily Record, 1941
  • Daily Record, 1942 [1 of 2]

Box 8

  • Daily Record, 1942 [2 of 2]
  • Daily Record, 1943 [1 of 2]
  • Daily Record, 1943 [2 of 2]
  • Daily Record, 1944 [1 of 2]
  • Daily Record, 1944 [2 of 2]
  • Daily Record, 1945

Box 9

  • Daily Record, 1946
  • Greece [1 of 2]
  • Greece [2 of 2]
  • Human Resources and Social Development
  • Iran [1 of 3]
  • Iran [2 of 3]

Box 10

  • Iran [3 of 3]
  • Iran, Contracts and Project Agreements
  • Iran, "DIZ Project Report"
  • Iran, Regular Memoranda
  • Iran, Special Memoranda
  • Iran, "The Unified Development of the Natural Resources of the Khuzestan Region"
  • Marciano, Rocky
  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [1 of 7]

Box 11

  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [2 of 7]
  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [3 of 7]
  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [4 of 7]
  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [5 of 7]
  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [6 of 7]

Box 12

  • Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) [7 of 7]
  • Memory Book
  • National Housing Agency, 1942-1943
  • National Housing Agency, 1944
  • National Housing Agency, 1945 [1 of 3]
  • National Housing Agency, 1945 [2 of 3]

Box 13

  • National Housing Agency, 1945 [3 of 3]
  • National Housing Agency, 1945 (Government Publications)
  • National Housing Agency, 1946
  • National Housing Agency, 1947-1968
  • National Housing Agency, Undated
  • National Security Resources Board
  • Newark, New Jersey
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, 1955

Box 14

  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, 1956
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Undated
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Committee Report
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Consultant Memoranda [1 of 2]
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Consultant Memoranda [2 of 2]

Box 15

  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Daily Record
  • New York State-New York City Fiscal Relations Committee, Employer Finance and Tax Records
  • Pakistan, 1952-1959
  • Pakistan, 1961 [1 of 2]
  • Pakistan, 1961 [2 of 2]
  • Pakistan, 1962

Box 16

  • Pakistan, 1963 [1 of 2]
  • Pakistan, 1963 [2 of 2]
  • Pakistan, 1964
  • Pakistan, 1965
  • Pakistan, 1966
  • Pakistan, Undated [1 of 2]
  • Pakistan, Undated [2 of 2]
  • Personal
  • Petersburg, Virginia

Box 17

  • Photos
  • President's Emergency Committee For Employment
  • Printed Materials
  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics
  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics, PASAR Mr. Blandford's Interview on Field Trip Vol. I

Box 18

  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics, PASAR Mr. Blandford's Interview on Field Trip Vol. II
  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics, PASAR Mr. Blandford's Interview on Field Trip Vol. III
  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics, PASAR Mission Log
  • Public Administration Services in the American Republics, PASAR Special Studies, Tables, and Statistics
  • Puerto Rico [1 of 3]

Box 19

  • Puerto Rico [2 of 3]
  • Puerto Rico [3 of 3]
  • Roosevelt, Franklin D.
  • Scrapbook I [1 of 2]
  • Scrapbook I [2 of 2]
  • Scrapbook II
  • Scrapbook III

Box 20

  • Society of Inter-American Planning
  • Society of Inter-American Planning, Ensenanza De La Planificacion En La America Latina
  • Society of Inter-American Planning, Meeting of Board of Directors, September, 1960
  • Society of Inter-American Planning, Public Administration in Latin America
  • Speech Index
  • Speeches, 1939
  • Speeches, 1942
  • Speeches, 1943
  • Speeches, 1944
  • Speeches, 1945
  • Speeches, 1946
  • Stevens Institute

Box 21

  • Tennessee Valley Authority, 1932-1935
  • Tennessee Valley Authority, 1936-1937
  • Tennessee Valley Authority, 1938-1941 [1 of 2]
  • Tennessee Valley Authority, 1938-1941 [2 of 2]
  • Tennessee Valley Authority, Undated [1 of 2]

Box 22

  • Tennessee Valley Authority, Undated [2 of 2]
  • Truman, Harry S.
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [1 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [2 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [3 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [4 of 10]

Box 23

  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [5 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [6 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [7 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [8 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [9 of 10]

Box 24

  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency [10 of 10]
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Daily Diary
  • University of California
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Venezuela [1 of 3]
  • Venezuela [2 of 3]
  • Venezuela [3 of 3]

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]