Bell, Laird. Papers, 1928-1965

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Economics and Business

Chicago and Illinois

Law

Politics, Public Policy and Political Reform

The collection is open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Bell, Laird. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Laird Bell was born in Winona, Minnesota in 1883. He received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1904 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1907. Bell married Nathalie Fairbank in 1909 and settled in Winnetka, Illinois. He practiced law in Chicago after being admitted to the Illinois bar in 1907 and was a partner in the legal firm Bell, Boyd, Lloyd, Haddad & Burns after 1936. Bell served as president of the Winnetka Board of Education from 1919 to1923 as wells as president of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations from 1937 to 1939. He chaired the Board of Trustees of Carleton College from 1943 to 1955 and the University of Chicago Board of Trustees from 1949 to 1953; he was a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1948 to 1954 and President of the Harvard Alumni Association in 1946. Bell was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Weyerhauser Timber Company from 1947 to 1955. He chaired the Navy Price Adjustment Board in 1944 and served in the Military Government in occupied Germany in 1945. He was an alternate U.S. Delegate to the Tenth Assemby of the United Nations in 1955 and was a member of the United States Advisory Committee on Educational Exchange from 1955 to 1960.

Bell died in Evanston, Illinois in 1965 and was buried in Winona, Minnesota

The Laird Bell papers include a variety of documents pertaining to Bell’s service at the University of Chicago as well as on several government projects and agencies. Series I contains correspondence, memoranda, and reports regarding miscellaneous events and procedures at the University of Chicago between 1928 and 1953. These include various committee documents, information about anti-communist activism and controversy from the 1930s to 1950s (press clippings and pamphlets about this subject are also included), and legal documents redefining the longstanding affiliation between the University of Chicago and Rush Medical College. Series II contains documents from the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, including meeting minutes and correspondence. Series III contains correspondence from Bell’s service on Navy Price adjustment board and related Chicago Law Review articles on war contracts. Series IV contains correspondence from Bell’s participation in the Office of Military Government in U.S.-occupied Germany and related pamphlets on postwar economic policy. Series V contains correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, and reports from the Technical Assistance to Latin America program of the U.S. Government. Series VI includes correspondence, meetings minutes and reports from the U.S. Advisory Commission on Educational Exchange. Series VII include correspondence, meeting minutes, and reports from the Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, as well as documents from Bell’s 1934 trip to Germany on behalf of the Council. Series VIII contains oversize material, primarily press clippings from the 1930s and 1940s.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

• Names
  • Bell, Laird, 1883-1965
  • University of Chicago -- History -- 20th century
  • University of Chicago. Board of Trustees
  • Foreign Bondholders Protective Council, inc. -- History
  • Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.)
• Subject
  • Technical assistance -- Latin America
  • Anticommunist movements -- United States