IMF Archives: Finding Aids

Secretary's Department Records

Context

Name of Creator: Secretary's Department

Administrative/Biographical history: On the completion of the Bretton Woods Conference and the establishment of the Fund, the Office of the Secretary was one of the Fund's five initial organizational bodies. Frank Coe was the first Secretary of the Fund, with two Assistant Secretaries (Messrs. Horne and Frost), two units (the Records Division and the Correspondence Group), and three Assistants to the Secretary. During the 1960s, the Office of the Secretary became the Secretary's Department. Major functions of the Secretary's Department include carrying out secretarial functions for the Fund generally and for the Executive Board and the Board of Governors in particular. The Secretary's Department plays a major role in the management and organization of the Annual Meetings, the preparation and distribution of documents created as a result of the Annual Meetings, as well as the distribution of Board documents. In 1999, parts of the Secretary's Department, including the Records Division, were incorporated into the newly-established Technology and General Services Department (TGS) as part of a reorganization that also affected the following bureaus and departments: Bureau of Language Services (BLS), Bureau of Computing Services (BCS), and Administration Department (ADM). Secretaries of the Fund include: Frank Coe (1946-1952); Roman Horne (1953-1966); W. Lawrence Hebbard (1967-1977); Leo Van Houtven (1977-1996); Reinhard H. Munzberg (1996-1999); and Shailendra J. Anjaria (1999- ).

Content and structure

Scope and content: At this point, fonds consists of the Records Division sous-fonds, containing audiovisual records including photographs and sound recordings. These records reflect the department's administrative work as well as participation in the Annual Meetings. Photographs generally document Annual Meetings facilities, participants, plenary meeting hall views, social activities, and informal gatherings. Sound recordings generally document proceedings of Annual Meetings sessions, as well as proceedings of other meetings that took place at the same time as the Annual Meetings. There are also sound recordings of IMF training sessions.

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access and reproduction: Some of the photographs have copyright restrictions, primarily those from external sources, where those organizations still exist. Some sub-series of sound recordings are closed to researchers based on the IMF Archives access policies.

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Under the Policy on Access to the IMF's Archives only archival materials that are 20 years old or older are open to researchers.

For re-use of digital archival documents where available, it is the responsibility of the individual to obtain permission from the copyright owner.