Peterson, Oliver A. Papers

Labor Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Stockholm, Sweden, 1948-1952; Labor Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Brussels, Belgium, 1952-1957; Labor Adviser, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State, 1958-1962

The papers of Oliver A. Peterson consist of printed materials, meeting minutes, reports, speeches, correspondence, photographs, and other items mostly relating to his career with the Work Projects Administration, the Office of Price Administration, the U.S. Embassies in Sweden and Belgium, and the State Department.

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

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 1 linear foot, 4 linear inches (about 2,400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Esther and Lars Peterson donated to the U.S. government their copyright interest in all unpublished writings in this collection. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are also 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 (1983).
Updated by: Valerie Lazalier (2010) 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

1903 (June 14)		Born, Crookston, Minnesota
1926		Received A.B. degree from the University of North Dakota
1928-1934		Graduate studies at Columbia and Harvard
1938-1941		Regional Supervisor of Education and Recreation for the New York Region, Work Projects Administration
1941-1942		Senior regional Representative for Region 3- Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland- Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration
1942		Field Representative, New York Region Office, Office of Price Administration
1948-1952		Labor Attaché ,U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
1952-1957		Labor Attaché ,U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium
1958-1962		Labor Adviser, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State
1962-1971		Visiting Professor, School of International Service, Labor Program, American University
1979 (June 10)		Died, Brattleboro, Vermont

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

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Oliver A. Peterson consist of printed materials, meeting minutes, reports, speeches, correspondence, photographs, and other items mostly relating to his career with the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the Office of Price Administration, the U.S. Embassies in Sweden and Belgium, and the State Department. The documents span the years from 1938 to 1972 and record Peterson’s role in American economics during the Second World War and international labor relations following the war.

The collection consists of one series, the Subject File, which includes information concerning Oliver A. Peterson’s work for the Office of Price Administration and his responsibilities as Labor Attaché in the American Embassies in Sweden and Belgium during the Truman administration; speeches and research materials pertaining to his position in the Bureau of African Affairs; and documentation of his employment as Visiting Professor at American University. The collection also contains articles and newspaper clippings on the subjects of Peterson himself, his investigation by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Africa, trade, and economics.

The collection also contains correspondence between Oliver A. Peterson and Esther Peterson (his wife, and a prominent women’s advocate); Theodore J. Klein (a Ph.D. student); Val Lorwin of the State Department; Charles A. Orr of the Department of Economics, Roosevelt University; Hilda W. Smith of the WPA; American University; the Chess Review; and others.

Beyond this, the collection includes financial records, photographs of Oliver A. Peterson, identification cards, Peterson’s blood donor enrollment book, a large map of Africa, an Arabic booklet, two paper nameplates, several song books, and a Swedish magazine with a photograph of Peterson on the cover.

Related materials at the Truman Library include an oral history interview with W. Walton Butterworth (U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, 1950-1953) and the papers of Myron Cowen (U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, 1952-1953).

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

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