Hoffman, Luther T. Papers

Dates: 1946-1965

Regional Director in Charge of Famine Relief, U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Changsha, Hunan, China, 1946-1947; Regional Administrator, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, San Francisco, California, 1948-1954

The papers of Luther T. Hoffman include correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases, and other documents relating to Hoffman’s career in the Bureau of Land Management and his service as a foreign aid official in China and Paraguay.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: Less than one half of one linear foot (about 100 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library did not receive a donation of copyright from the donor of this collection. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are 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 (1976).
Updated by: Catherine Shelley (2006) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1898 (July 23)

 

Born, Dansville, Michigan

1927 (Aug. 6)

 

Married Elsa S. Carlson

1933

 

A.B., University of Arizona

1935-1942

 

Official with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Agriculture in Arizona

1942-1946

 

Official with the War Relocation Authority

1946-1947

 

Regional Director in Charge of Famine Relief, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Changsha, Hunan, China

1948-1954

 

Regional Administrator, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, San Francisco, California

1951-1952

 

Adviser, Joint Commission for Economic Development, Point Four Program, Asuncion, Paraguay

1954-1955

 

California State Supervisor, Bureau of Land Management

1955-1961

 

Eastern States Supervisor, Bureau of Land Management

1961-1965

 

Assistant Director, Bureau of Land Management

1965-1966

 

Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Luther T. Hoffman are arranged in one series, a Subject File. They consist entirely of photocopies donated by Hoffman, who retained the original documents. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, press releases, and reports.

Much of the collection is concerned with Hoffman’s career as an official with the Bureau of Land Management. The papers include a press release announcing his appointment as Regional Administrator in 1948, newspaper clippings relating to his work, congratulatory letters received upon his promotion to Assistant Director of the agency in 1961, and a chronology of events pertaining to oil and mineral leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf.

Hoffman’s involvement in foreign aid programs is also reflected in his papers. He served as a United Nations relief official in China after World War II and as an adviser to the Point Four program in Paraguay in 1951-52. Later, he was considered for foreign aid posts in Egypt and Iran, although he did not receive these appointments. The collection includes a report on the aid program in China and another report on banking practices in Iran. It also contains correspondence and memoranda concerning Hoffman’s work in China and Paraguay, and his interest in similar service in Egypt and Iran.

More information on the Bureau of Land Management can be found at the Truman Library in Official File 6-Z, White House Central Files, Harry S. Truman Papers. The Library also has the papers of Daniel L. Goldy, who served as a Regional Administrator in the Bureau at the same time as Hoffman. The Point Four program is documented in the papers of Henry G. Bennett, Benjamin H. Hardy, and Stanley Andrews.

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

 

Series

1

  SUBJECT FILE, 1946-1965
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases, and other documents. Arranged alphabetically.
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FOLDER TITLE LIST

Box 1

SUBJECT FILE, 1946-1965

  • Bureau of Land Management—Assistant Director, 1948-1965
  • Bureau of Land Management—Press Releases and News Clippings, 1948-1961
  • Bureau of Land Management—San Francisco, 1948-1952
  • Chronology of OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) Mineral Leasing
  • Iran and the Near East, 1953-1960
  • Paraguay, 1951-1953
  • Report of CNRRA (Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) Operations in Hunan
  • UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), 1946-1947
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