The Center for the Study of Global Change, the United Nations Library, and the Indiana University Libraries are pleased to announce the unveiling of the League of Nations Photo Archive website, a comprehensive overview and research tool which focuses on the League of Nations. Through U.S. Department of Education Title VI support from the Center for the Study of Global Change, Bob Goehlert (Librarian for Economics, Political Science, Criminal Justice and Global Studies) made a visit to Geneva in July 1999 to the League of Nations Archives and Historical Collections, a unit of the United Nations Library. As a result of that trip, Bob Goehlert led a research team to the League of Nations Archives in June 2000, which included Jian Liu (Reference Librarian) and Kris Bell, a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS), to start a digital library project dedicated to digitizing one of the League of Nations Archives' photograph collections. In the summer of 2001, Bob and Jian returned to Geneva for another two weeks to continue work on the project. This time they were accompanied by Fenton Martin, from the Political Science Research Collection, Kenneth Steuer, Associate Director for the Study of Global Change, and Sarah Hammill, another graduate student in SLIS.

There are four photo collections in the League of Nations Archives: the League of Nations Photograph Collection; the International Peace Bureau Collection; the Fried/Suttner Collection; and the Quidde Collection. While in Geneva, the team scanned 1,366 photos from the League of Nations Collection, including images of individuals, Assemblies, Councils, commissions and committees, delegations, buildings, miscellaneous events, and personalities. The Collection included photographs of individuals, who, for the most part, were delegates to the League of Nations, but also included photos of judges of the Permanent Court of International Justice and individuals who worked in the Secretariat, the International Labour Organization/Bureau du Travail, and special institutions associated with the League.

The League of Nations Photo Archive website is not limited solely to a gallery of photographs but represents a significant accumulation of unique historical data. This project entailed a considerable amount of research, including the compilation of a list of Americans associated with the League of Nations, a guide to printed research and reference materials about the League, websites about the League, a list of all the judges who served on the Permanent Court of International Justice, a partial listing of individuals who worked in the Secretariat and the International Labour Organization/ Bureau International du Travail, journalists who covered the League of Nations and their newspaper affiliations, a list of League sponsored conferences, and a list of League commissions and committees. The website features two sets of tables for all of the Assembly and Council sessions. There is a list of all of the delegates attending each Assembly, as well as a list of these delegates in alphabetical order by name and by Assembly session. There is a list of each Council session and all of the members who participated, as well as an alphabetical list of delegates by session. These lists have never been compiled before, and they required the analysis of League of Nations publications, Assembly by Assembly and Council by Council, to gather the names and the specific Councils or Assemblies the delegates attended. Each table has information relating to each Assembly and Council session of the League of Nations, including national delegation membership as well as the number of meetings, dates, locations and officers. Both of these extensive sets of tables are unique reference tools. The website also includes a listing of all the prime ministers and foreign ministers for the countries that were members of the League of Nations from 1920-1946. Many of the prime ministers and foreign ministers also served as delegates to the League of Nations, served on Councils, or were involved in the League in other ways. As there is no single reference work that contains this information, these lists represent another significant reference tool which will be invaluable to League of Nations researchers.

The project was very much a group effort. Fenton Martin, from the Political Science Research Collection, compiled the bibliography of League of Nations books and dissertations and is now expanding the collection to include journal and magazine articles. Kenneth Steuer, from the Center for the Study of Global Change, developed the timeline, the list of conferences, and other background information for the site, and conducted research needed for the site. Kathy Gold, Graphic Design Specialist from the Center for the Study of Global Change, created the website design.

Overall, the final result is a very rich and original website, incorporating the photos scanned in Geneva as well as a substantial amount of original background material to accompany the photos. The website for the League of Nations Photo Archive can be found at: http://www.indiana.edu/~league/.

Robert Goehlert
Librarian for Economics, Criminal Justice, Political Science and Global Studies

Some photos taken while in Geneva

The Palais des Nations, the headquarters of the UN in Europe

The Palais Wilson, where the League met from 1925 to 1936

Bob Goehlert in the League of Nations Archives

Bob at the end of the day with a gin and tonic in the art deco Press Club Bar

Bob and Kris Bell with the first CD of scanned photos

Jian and Bob with a CD of scanned photos

Kris scanning a photo

Jian Liu and Kris scanning photos