Hoffman, Luther T. Papers

Regional Director in Charge of Famine Relief, U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Changsha, Hunan, China, 1946-1947; Regional Administrator, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, San Francisco, California, 1948-1954

The papers of Luther T. Hoffman include correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases, and other documents relating to Hoffman’s career in the Bureau of Land Management and his service as a foreign aid official in China and Paraguay.

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

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: Less than one half of one linear foot (about 100 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library did not receive a donation of copyright from the donor of this collection. 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: Dennis E. Bilger (1976).
Updated by: Catherine Shelley (2006) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1898 (July 23)		Born, Dansville, Michigan
1927 (Aug. 6)		Married Elsa S. Carlson
1933		A.B., University of Arizona
1935-1942		Official with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Agriculture in Arizona
1942-1946		Official with the War Relocation Authority
1946-1947		Regional Director in Charge of Famine Relief, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Changsha, Hunan, China
1948-1954		Regional Administrator, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, San Francisco, California
1951-1952		Adviser, Joint Commission for Economic Development, Point Four Program, Asuncion, Paraguay
1954-1955		California State Supervisor, Bureau of Land Management
1955-1961		Eastern States Supervisor, Bureau of Land Management
1961-1965		Assistant Director, Bureau of Land Management
1965-1966		Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior

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

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Luther T. Hoffman are arranged in one series, a Subject File. They consist entirely of photocopies donated by Hoffman, who retained the original documents. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, press releases, and reports.

Much of the collection is concerned with Hoffman’s career as an official with the Bureau of Land Management. The papers include a press release announcing his appointment as Regional Administrator in 1948, newspaper clippings relating to his work, congratulatory letters received upon his promotion to Assistant Director of the agency in 1961, and a chronology of events pertaining to oil and mineral leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf.

Hoffman’s involvement in foreign aid programs is also reflected in his papers. He served as a United Nations relief official in China after World War II and as an adviser to the Point Four program in Paraguay in 1951-52. Later, he was considered for foreign aid posts in Egypt and Iran, although he did not receive these appointments. The collection includes a report on the aid program in China and another report on banking practices in Iran. It also contains correspondence and memoranda concerning Hoffman’s work in China and Paraguay, and his interest in similar service in Egypt and Iran.

More information on the Bureau of Land Management can be found at the Truman Library in Official File 6-Z, White House Central Files, Harry S. Truman Papers. The Library also has the papers of Daniel L. Goldy, who served as a Regional Administrator in the Bureau at the same time as Hoffman. The Point Four program is documented in the papers of Henry G. Bennett, Benjamin H. Hardy, and Stanley Andrews.

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

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