Carnegie Endowment for International Peace New York and Washington Offices records, 1910-1954

Series II: Division of Economics of History, 1910-1930

(31 vols)

The Division of Economics and History was established at a conference in Berne, Switzerland called by the Endowment in August 1911. John Bates Clark, the Division's first director, led the conference. The participants considered the best methods "to promote a thorough and scientific investigation of the causes and the results of war." The conference resulted in a plan of investigation and an extensive list of topics for study. The aim of the studies was to reveal direct and indirect consequences of warfare.

The Berne participants, plus two additional members, formed a Committee of Research, the function of which was to select authors, to consult with these writers during the research and writing process, to read completed manuscripts, and to recommend worthy studies to the Endowment for publication. After the outbreak of World War I, the Division was forced to alter its program. The Division commissioned a series of studies dealing with topics of immediate importance in connection with the war.

In 1919 James Shotwell became General Editor of the proposed Economic and Social History of the World War. The Committee of Research was dissolved in September 1919 and was replaced by national Editorial Committees. In 1924 Shotwell was appointed Director of the Division. Soon after, the Economic and Social History of the World War series was brought to a conclusion, comprising about 150 volumes, and the Division shifted its focus from the study of war to the study of peace. During the second half of the 1920s the Division's publications included a series on the Paris Peace Conference, studies on Canadian-American relation (conferences on which the Division also organized), and several monographs on the contribution of economic competition to political conflict. (Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Summary of Organization and Work (Washington DC: CEIP, 1941), pp. 46-51.)

Files relating the Division's collaboration with other organizations and participation in specific projects can be found in Series VI and VII. Copies of some of the Division's publications can be found in Series VIII.

This series is indexed. (Indices are available in RBML.

Electronic versions of the indices are in preparation.)

Series II. is organized into the following subseries:

A. General correspondence

B. Economic and Social History of the World War