COOPERATIVE FOR AMERICAN REMITTANCES TO EUROPE, INC.
(A Non-Profit Corporation)
50 Broad Street
New York 4, N. Y.
Phone: HAnover 2-6484-5
Cable: PARCELUS, N. Y.

October 27, 1949

Mr. Daniel J. Roenigk Treas
The Roenigk Agency
Morganville-Feves Comm.
Morganville, Kansas

Dear Mr Roenigk:

We do appreciate your interest in the CARE Book Program for we realize how much your help can mean to the ultimate success of the project. France is included in the list of countries to which books may be sent.

The enclosures will give you the overall picture of this plan which will provide professional and scientific books for libraries and universities abroad. By restocking library shelves in war devastated countries, we can assist in the tremendous problems of rehabilitation.

We are now assembling a kit of materials which will prove useful in promoting this program. Will you let us know if you can use this collected information on the Book Program?

And, personally, I am very glad to see this request from Kansas for I live[d] in Pratt and well know the strength of our mid-west communities.

Yours very sincerely,

(signed) Flavel Barnes

Flavel Barnes
advisor - Book Program

Enc.

FB/jmc


[Enclosure - page 1]


The people of Europe and Asia cannot achieve reconstruction by themselves. We must give our support to their all-out effort.

They need first of all health and energy. By continuing to send food and clothing we can materially strengthen their will to succeed.

But health and determination are not enough. Without knowledge, little of importance can be accomplished. And knowledge is transmitted through books.

Even before the war, the world's supply of books was totally inadequate. Our civilization has never had a broad or solid enough foundation. War demolished thousands of schools, sacked or gutted countless libraries and museums, completely destroyed millions of volumes. To take but a few examples:


- In Prague, the Research Institute of Medical History, Charles University, lost 16,000 of its 20,000 volumes.

-70,000 books were destroyed at the Public Library o f Corfu, Greece.

-The University Library in Vienna lost 150,000 volumes.

-250,000 volumes were demolished at the British Museum Library in London.

-Of its pre-war collection o f 800,000 books, the National and University Library of Strasbourg, France, lost 300,000.

-The University Library of Louvain, Belgium, which also suffered devastation in 1914, lost 900,000 volumes.


The losses are staggering - not only for us, but for the generations which come after us. Part of the heritage on which they should have built has been blasted away by war.

Europe and Asia must recover from devastation. But they must also overcome the results of enforced isolation, the breakdown of communications. Not only are they without many treasures of the past - they also lack desperately the knowledge of recent scientific and technical advances. And it is this kind of knowledge which is of most immediate and practical value to the reconstruction effort. There has been almost no publishing done abroad since the war. Doctors need the latest works on penicillin and sulfa; farmers need information on soil conservation, animal husbandry; engineers, chemists, nurses, biologists urgently require books which deal with research and the development of new techniques.

We cannot replace the lost treasures, but we can, and must, share the knowledge we have gained in the last decade. Educational and cultural reconstruction is more than just a humanitarian need. There can be no progress, no democracy, no lasting peace while the world is still suffering from mental famine.

Books are basic tools of reconstruction.

Through CARE's book program, you can supply these tools - to universities, libraries, medical centers, scientific institutions abroad. Only the latest scientific and technical books and periodicals will be sent.

The program has been developed in cooperation with UNESCO, the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, medical and scientific associations, and governmental authorities overseas. The Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid of the U. S. State Department has approved the project.

The aim of the program is to help fill the needs of as many institutions in as many countries as possible. This can best be accomplished if the majority of donors allow CARE to select institutions and categories of books.


[Enclosure - page 2]


What books will be sent?

A professional committee,* headed by Dr. Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress, has selected 1300 titles (English language) in the following categories:

Titles and categories are being kept current and will be expanded as the need arises. Because the very latest information is required abroad, only new books will be sent.

*In addition to Dr. Evans, the committee members are John M. Cory, Exec. Sec'y, American Library Association; Alice Dulany Ball, Exec. Director. United States Book Exchange; John F. Fulton, M.D., Sterling Professor, Yale Medical School; and R. R. Hawkins, Chief of the Science and Technology Division, New York Public Library.


[Enclosure - page 3]


Where will they be sent?

At present, the list of countries to be served includes Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, the American, British and French Zones of Germany and Berlin, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. CARE is negotiating for extension of the program to Burma, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malta, Pakistan, Poland and Siam.

Priority listings of each country's institutions in greatest need have been secured by CARE's Mission Chiefs abroad, acting in consultation with UNESCO and ministries of education. These institutions have stated their priority requests in terms of the categories outlined above.

How will the purchasing and distribution be handled?

CARE is well equipped to handle purchasing, shipping and delivery of the books. In three years eight million CARE food and textile packages have been delivered overseas.

Delivery of the books abroad will be guaranteed at the publishers' list price, with no extra charge for transportation or distribution. The discounts allowed CARE by publishers and ECA subsidies for bulk shipping make this possible.

CARE welcomes contributions in any amount to the Book Program. Every contributor will receive a CARE acknowledgement. Those whose gifts are $10 or more will also receive a receipt signed by the institution they have helped.

Although CARE hopes that the majority of contributions will be undesignated, donors of $10 or more may specify one or all of the following: country, type of institution, category or categories of books. If a donor of $10 or more desires to name a specific institution, he may do so. It will be helpful if he also specifies the category or books to be sent. Because the program is designed to help as many people as possible, books may be sent only to institutions, not to individuals.

In some instances, the list price of the books chosen will not correspond exactly with the amount of the contribution. Whenever this occurs, the difference will be used to furnish additional books to institutions overseas.

The people of Europe and Asia cannot achieve reconstruction by themselves. Books, the basic tools, must come from us.

[Submission form]


[Enclosure - page 4]


"I hope that the CARE program for sending abroad technical, scientific and professional books will receive the wide-spread support it deserves." - General George C. Marshall

Among the major national and international organizations which are cooperating in various ways with the CARE Book Program are:


The American Medical Association, The American Nurses' Association, The American Dental Association - The National Grange, The American Farm Bureau Federation, The American Forestry Association, The American Veterinary Medical Association, The Society of American Foresters - The National Research Council, The American Association for the Advancement of Science-The National Education Association, The American Council on Education, The U. S. National Commission for UNESCO, The American Library Association, World Student Service Fund, The National Congress of Parents and Teachers, The American Association of University Professors, The American Association of University Women, The General Federation of Women's Clubs, and many of the major service clubs and labor organizations.


Care's Member Agencies

American Aid to France, Inc.
American Baptist Relief
American Friends Service Committee
American Relief to Austria, Inc.
American Relief for Poland, Inc.
Brethren Service Commission
Church World Service, Inc.
Congregational Christian Service Committee
Committee on Christian Science Wartime Activities of The Mother Church
Cooperative League of the U. S. A.
General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists
Greek War Relief Association, Inc., U. S. A.
International Rescue Committee, Inc.
Labor League for Human Rights, AFL
Mennonite Central Committee
National CIO Community Services Committee
Paderewski Testimonial Fund, Inc.
Save the Children Federation, Inc.
Tolstoy Foundation, Inc.
Unitarian Service Committee
United Lithuanian Relief Fund of America, Inc.
United Ukranian American Relief Committee
United Yugoslav Relief Fund of America
War Relief Services-National Catholic Welfare Conference
Y.W.C.A.-World Emergency Fund


Murray D. Lincoln, President
Thomas Keogh, Secretary
Harold S. Miner, Treasurer Paul Comly French, Executive Director
CARE
20 Broad St.
N. Y. 5, N. Y.
(Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, Inc.)


Books - The Tools of Reconstruction