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Title: Atlas Network records
Date (inclusive): 1946-2014
Collection Number: 2015C50
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In English and Spanish
Physical Description:
323 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, digital media
(159.3 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, memoranda, conference papers and other conference materials, fundraising and grant award records,
other financial records, and printed matter relating to international promotion of free market economic policies.
Creator:
Atlas Network
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Boxes 321-323 closed. The remainder of 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 2015.
[Identification of item], Atlas Network records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
The Atlas Network was founded in Fairfax, Virginia, as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in 1981. Its founder, Sir
Antony Fisher (1915-1988), had already created the Institute of Economic Affairs in his native Great Britain and the Fraser
Institute in Canada. The purpose of these organizations was promotion of free market economics, limited government, and deregulation
and privatization to the greatest extent possible. Other issues of interest to Atlas were school choice, climate change,
and the relation of religion to economics. The policies advocated by Atlas and its sister organizations were credited with
influence on the economic programs pursued by the governments of Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United
States.
Central to the activities of Atlas was the fostering of public policy groups with similar goals both in the United States
and throughout the world. It thus transitioned itself into the center of an international network. The groups that it encouraged,
advised and helped to finance were distributed throughout the world but perhaps most notably in Latin America. Atlas also
promoted free market groups in the former Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe during the post-communist transition period, promoted
similar groups in developing countries of Africa and Asia, and maintained ties with groups in Western Europe and elsewhere
in the developed world.
One important way in which Atlas assisted other public policy organizations was by making or administering grants awarded
to these organizations or to associated individuals.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records of the Atlas Network in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives range from its inception (and in some cases
from an earlier period of its pre-history) to 2013. The collection is divided into nineteen series, varying greatly in size
and importance. Research strategies utilizing multiple series from the access points unique to those series will bring the
greatest rewards.
The largest and perhaps most valuable series is the Public Policy Organizations File. The includes the records of Atlas interactions
with a large number of private organizations throughout the world seeking to influence public policy through research or advocacy.
With very few exceptions these were organizations congenial to Atlas with free market orientations. Files include correspondence,
studies, reports, proposals and conference proceedings, and are arranged alphabetically under name of organization. The country
in which each organization was headquartered is indicated if other than the United States. Names of organizations are given
in the languages of their own countries whenever possible. In some cases only the English language version is to be found
in the collection. A related series is Printed Matter, which includes serial issues and other publications of these public
policy organizations. Material is arranged alphabetically under name of issuing organization whenever possible.
The Funding Sources File consists of Atlas correspondence with corporations, foundations or other organizations that were
actual or potential financial donors to it or to associated groups. The Donor File consists of correspondence with actual
or potential individual donors. The Grant File consists of records of correspondence with actual or potential grant recipients.
There is an Alphabetical Correspondence file, arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and a Chronological Correspondence
File. The latter was maintained for only a few years in the 1980s. The Subject File consists of correspondence, studies,
reports and printed matter arranged alphabetically by topic. There are also a file of Unpublished Writings, arranged by author,
and Audiovisual File, and a small Oversize File.
Purely internal Atlas activities are documented in the Programs and Proposals File, concerned with Atlas programs and proposals;
the Events File, concerned with events sponsored or co-sponsored by Atlas; the Financial File, concerned with mundane expenditures;
and the General Internal File, something of a grab-bag of internal miscellanea, much of it of a housekeeping nature.
There are four small files of personal papers of individuals active in Atlas. These are, respectively, for Sir Antony Fisher,
founder of Atlas; Alejandro Antonio Chafuen, president of Atlas; Leonard P. Liggio, executive vice president of Atlas; and
Deroy Murdock, an Atlas senior fellow.
The Atlas Network donated its records to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2015.
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives holds related collections, most important of which are the records of the Institute
of Economic Affairs. A separate collection of the papers of Leonard P. Liggio is far more substantive than his small office
file in the Atlas Network records. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives also holds a small collection of papers of Deroy
Murdock.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Free enterprise
Liberty
Economic policy