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Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration photograph negatives
48024
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Title: Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration photograph negatives
Date (inclusive): 1946-1947
Collection Number: 48024
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
7 manuscript boxes
(2.9 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Depicts scenes of daily life in China and activities of the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Creator:
Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1948.
[Identification of item], Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration photograph negatives, [Box no., Folder
no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
The Chinese Nationalist Government created the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) in January
1945. CNRRA was a temporary organization charged with administering and coordinating the China-based operations of the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which had been established at a 44-nation conference in 1943 to
carry out global reconstruction in the wake of the Second World War. Dr. T. F. Tsiang, CNRRA's Director-General, and T. V.
Soong, who chaired the Special Cabinet Committee on Relief and Rehabilitation, oversaw the organization. Its functions included
administering emergency relief, returning refugees to their homes, rehabilitating China's agricultural and industrial sectors
and establishing a public health program. Initially, CNRRA was headquartered in Chongqing (Chunking), China's wartime capital.
In December 1945, however, it relocated its operations center to Shanghai and created a headquarters in Nanjing (Nanking).
The agency distributed UNRRA supplies through free relief and direct sales at regional offices in Guangzhou (Canton), Changsha,
Zhenjiang (Chinkiang), Hangzhou (Hangchow), Wuhan (Hankow), Kaifeng, Guilin (Kweilin), Shenyang (Mukden), Nanchang, Shanghai,
Taipei, Taiyuan, Tianjin (Tientsin), Qingdao (Tsingtao), Wuhu.
CNRRA's efforts were hampered by the breakdown in interparty peace negotiations between the Nationalists and Chinese Communists
in 1946. China's northern provinces, which had been under a long occupation by the Japanese, were also areas of Chinese Communist
guerilla activity. After the Japanese surrender these territories fell under Chinese Communist control. Difficulties arose
in the distribution of aid due to the realities of civil war. The official history of the CNRRA estimates that 2-3 percent
(by weight) or 4-5 percent (by value) of all UNRRA supplies were distributed to Communist-held territories.
CNRRA was disbanded in 1948, after the mandate of UNRRA expired in 1947. UNRRA's programs were assumed by agencies within
the new United Nations, particularly the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO),
and the International Refugee Organization (IRO).
Sources:
UNRRA: The History of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, George Woodbridge (NY: Columbia University Press, 1950) 3 vol.; "UNRRA: A Case Study in Financial Assistance for Economic
Development," Irving Barnett, Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 1955;
UNRRA Microfilms, 1943-1949, Joshua Lupkin, finding aid, published in electronic form, January 2003, available from the World Wide Web: (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libra
ries/indiv/rare/guides/UNRRA/index.html); and
CNRRA: Its Purpose, Functions and Organization (Shanghai: Department of Public Relations, CNRRA, 1946).
The collection depicts scenes of daily life in China and the activities of the CNRRA between 1945 and 1947. It consists of
four manuscript boxes (boxes 1-4) containing 2,179 4 x 5 inch and 2.5 x 2.5 inch safety negatives, and 33-mm nitrate negatives;
and three boxes (boxes 5-7) holding the original paper sleeves in which the negatives were housed.
The Hoover Institution acquired these photographic negatives, and other records of UNRRA's China office, from the Shanghai
office prior to its closing. Most of the CNRRA's records, measuring 8,500 linear feet, are located in the United Nations Archives
in New York City.
CNRRA used the U.S. Postal Service Geographic Names to romanize Chinese place names. The following container list reflects
both the original romanization, placed in parentheses, as well as the current conventional romanization of Chinese place names
established by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names.
Related Archival Materials note
Larry Gahn photographs, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
China -- Pictorial works
International relief
Reconstruction (1939-1951) -- China -- Pictorial works