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Title: George Loft papers
Date (inclusive): 1957-1989
Collection Number: 2006C21
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
11 manuscript boxes
(4.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, interview summaries, printed matter, and photographs, relating to American Friends Service
Committee activities in Africa, especially relating to housing in Zambia; international development projects in Africa; and
political and social conditions in Zambia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa.
Creator:
Loft, George
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.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2005.
[Identification of item], George Loft Papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1915 January 27 | Born, New York City |
| 1931 | Graduated, High School of Commerce, New York |
| 1932-1942 | Assistant to Economist, National Dairy Products Corporation, New York |
| 1938 | Graduated, Bachelor's degree in Accounting, New York University |
| 1940 | Completed Master of Business Administration, New York University |
| 1942 | Married Eleanor Riddle |
| 1942-1945 | Chief of Subsistence Requirements Section, Military Planning Division, Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington, D.C. |
| 1945-1947 | Executive Assistant to Director, Frozen Food Foundation, Inc., Syracuse, N.Y. |
| 1948 January-May | Legislative Representative, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Washington, D.C. |
| 1948-1953 | Associate Public Relations Secretary, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia |
| 1953-1957 | Director, Public Relations, Atlas Chemical Industries, Wilmington, Delaware |
| 1957-1960 | Representative in Sub-Saharan Africa, American Friends Service Committee, based in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia |
| 1960-1961 | Advisor on African Programs, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia |
| 1961-1963 | Director, Quaker Program at the United Nations, American Friends Service Committee |
| 1963-1966 | Vice President, African-American Institute, New York |
| 1966 November-December | Consultant, United Nations Development Program, Malawi |
| 1967-1977 | Employed by Field Foundation, New York |
| 1969 July-September | Consultant, American Friends Service Committee, Kafue Self-help Housing Project, Zambia |
| 1971 February | Consultant, American Friends Service Committee, Kafue Self-help Housing Project, Zambia |
| 1972 September-October | Special Mission to Rhodesia, with Eleanor Loft, on behalf of Friends Service Council, London, and American Friends Service Committee |
| 1974-1979 | Special Representative, African Service Programs and International Programs, American Friends Service Committee |
| 1975 | Consultant, American Friends Service Committee, Kafue Self-help Housing Project, Zambia |
| 1976 | Attended Rhodesia Conference, held in Geneva, as member of Quaker Rhodesia Conference group |
Scope and Content of Collection
The George Loft Papers, acquired in 2005, document the activities of Quaker activist Loft and his wife Eleanor in southern
Africa from the late 1950s through the 1970s. Initially the Lofts were sent by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1958, where George Loft was appointed to be the AFSC's Special Representative
for Sub-Saharan Africa, and was based in Salisbury (Harare), Southern Rhodesia.
In this role, Loft served as an intermediary between the British colonial governments in that region and African nationalist
leaders. In doing this, the AFSC hoped to foster non-violent social and political change in the region. During this period
many African nationalist leaders were imprisoned, and as Loft visited them, he often brought books and news from the families
of detainees, and sought to advocate on their behalf before government leaders. Much of the Correspondence dates from this
period, and documents Loft's close contacts with government leaders such as Colonial Secretary Iain Macleod, former Southern
Rhodesian Governor Garfield Todd, former Governor of Northern Rhodesia Sir Evelyn Hone, and Sir Robert Tredgold, Chief Justice
of the Federation High Court. This series also contains correspondence with African nationalist leaders such as Kenneth Kaunda
and Hastings K. Banda, who later were long-time presidents of the independent countries of Zambia and Malawi, respectively.
Upon returning to the United States in 1960, Loft continued to work with the AFSC, initially as a full-time employee and later
as a consultant on specific projects, most often related to southern Africa. The Subject File documents some of the specific
projects and development programs that Loft was involved with in various parts of Africa, most notably in Zambia, where his
friendship with President Kaunda and many of his governmental ministers stretched back to their time as detainees under the
colonial government. Loft made several trips to Zambia as a consultant on an AFSC project to provide housing for urban squatters,
and networked with a wide array of European aid organizations and foundations to obtain funding for such programs.
During the 1970s, as the movement accelerated to bring about black majority rule in Rhodesia, Loft found himself drawn back
to the country where he had earlier lived. Because of his connections with many nationalist leaders, such as Joshua Nkomo,
Robert Mugabe, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole, and a number of others, the AFSC sent him to Rhodesia in 1972
in the hope that his mediating influence could help bring the white minority government back to the negotiating table with
these leaders. Loft joined a team of other Quakers from the U.S. and Britain at the Rhodesia Conference that was held in Geneva
in 1976, and met informally with many of these leaders once again during the conference, hoping to help further a peaceful
settlement that would lead to black majority rule. These activities are also documented in the Subject File.
In addition, the Photographs contain color photographic slides made by Loft documenting his work in Africa, with the strongest
representation being from the years 1959-1964, and also of aid and development projects in Zambia and in the West African
country of Mali in the early to mid 1970s.
Organized into three series: Correspondence, Subject File, and Photographs.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Technical assistance -- Africa
Housing -- Zambia
Malawi
American Friends Service Committee