The Walton Seymour Papers are of interest for their information on the role of American economic consultants in formulating development policy in the United States and foreign nations between 1950 and 1973. They contain material on economic programs, especially energy-related projects, developed by various American firms, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and several foreign nations. The papers also include information on economic conditions in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. However, although D&R operated in several countries during politically volatile periods, the papers contain little mention of political events. There also is very little personal material in the papers. The collection is organized in four series: Biographical and Background Materials, Chronological Correspondence, Subject Files, and Development and Resources Corporation Reports.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND BACKGROUND MATERIALS, 1944-1973, contains resumes, summaries of D&R projects, and miscellaneous biographical items.
CHRONOLOGICAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-1973, includes incoming and outgoing letters, memos, draft reports, and correspondence. Little personal information is contained in the correspondence, but the records give a good picture of the operations of a private economic consultant in the 1950's and of a development consulting firm in the 1960's and early 1970's, especially relations with the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and foreign nations. The series also provides information on the applications of development theory in the decades after World War II.
From 1947 to 1958, when Seymour was an official in the Department of the Interior and a private consultant, the files consist of letters to potential clients and colleagues about business opportunities, recent activities, and projects too small to merit a separate folder in the subject files. However, the main source of information for this period is the subject files.
After 1962, when the subject files cease, correspondence becomes the chief source of information. By this time, Seymour was employed by D&R. Although not involved in actual field work at D&R, he shared responsibility for investigating possible projects, negotiating with interested parties, recruiting personnel, and supervising field operations in foreign countries. Prominent clients included the United States Agency for International Development (AID), the United Nations, the Khuzestan (Iran) Water and Power Authority (KWPA), the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority (PRWRA), the Ivory Coast (GOIC), Western Australia, the Inter-American Bank (IDB), J.F. Pritchards Co., and SERETE (a French corporation to which D&R subcontracted services on a development project in Brazil). Other correspondents included field personnel under Seymour's supervision, D&R officials, and former TVA colleagues.
The SUBJECT FILES, 1947-1963, include notes, draft reports, and incoming and outgoing correspondence with clients. The bulk of records are concentrated in the period from 1952 to 1958 when Seymour worked as a private consultant, although Seymour's Department of the Interior correspondence is also here. Most of the material concerns the development of energy resources, especially the criteria for establishing rates for energy sales. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject (usually the name of a country, company, or conference) and then by type of material, and finally by date.
DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES CORPORATION REPORTS, 1963-1970, contain D&R's final recommendations for the development of agricultural, industrial, and energy resources in the United States and various third world countries. These studies were funded by local and national governments, the Agency for International Development, and various international banks and American corporations. Most of the reports concern Vietnam, Iran, the Ivory Coast, and Latin America. A few discuss energy-related issues in the United States, especially in the western part of the country, where D&R attempted to start an energy resources development program. The reports are arranged alphabetically by country, then chronologically by publication date. Only reports for projects with which Walton Seymour was involved in some capacity are included.
Also includes three group portraits of officials of D&R of New York; officials are indentified in one photograph.
