Peterson, Oliver A. Papers

Dates: 1938-1972

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]

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Copyright: Esther and Lars Peterson donated to the U.S. government their copyright interest in all unpublished writings in this collection.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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

 

Series

1-3

  SUBJECT FILE, 1938-1972
Printed materials, meeting minutes, reports, speeches, correspondence, and photographs relating to Oliver A. Peterson’s career with the Work Projects Administration, the Office of Price Administration, the U.S. Embassies in Sweden and Belgium, and the State Department. Arranged alphabetically.
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

FOLDER TITLE LIST

SUBJECT FILE, 1938-1972

Box 1

  • American University [1 of 2]
  • American University [2 of 2]
  • Articles [featuring trade and economic news]
  • Biographical Information
  • Bureau of African Affairs
  • Clippings [featuring Oliver Peterson or Africa]
  • Correspondence [1 of 2] [dating 1941-1959]
  • Correspondence [2 of 2] [dating 1960-1970 and undated]

Box 2

  • Financial Records
  • Handwritten Drafts and Notes [1 of 2]
  • Handwritten Drafts and Notes [1 of 2]
  • Klein, Theodore J.
  • Lorwin, Val
  • Memorabilia
  • National Labor Advisory Committee [Nov. 7-9, 1939 meeting minutes]
  • Office of Price Administration [1940-1946]
  • Orr, Charles A.
  • Photographs
  • Printed Materials [1 of 2]

Box 3

  • Printed Materials [2 of 2]
  • Reports [1 of 2]
  • Reports [2 of 2]
  • Smith, Hilda W.
  • Speeches
  • Speeches—Background Material
  • Travel
  • United Auto Workers
  • Weston, Ross Allen
  • Work Projects Administration
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