Description
Description
Kemmerer's papers document his advisory and scholarly career and include his
professional correspondence, writings, and files from his financial advisory
work. The majority of his papers relate to his service as a financial advisor to
several governments, many in Latin America, predominantly concerning monetary
systems, banks and banking, and government fiscal policies. These papers include
his Country Files, which include papers on twenty-six countries, with China,
Colombia, and Peru having the most materials. For most countries, there are
correspondence, reports, clippings and papers of the advisory commissions. Other
papers pertaining to his advisory work are also located in his correspondence
files, writings, diaries, photographs and scrapbooks, volumes, and oversized
materials.
Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional
information about individual series.
Collection Creator
Biography
Edwin W. Kemmerer (1875-1945), internationally known as "The Money Doctor," was an
economist and government advisor with expertise in finance and currency. Kemmerer
served as a financial advisor to many governments, mostly in Latin America, and
spent the majority of his academic career at Princeton University. He advocated for
the gold standard throughout his career.
Edwin Walter Kemmerer was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1875, the eldest
of six children of Lorenzo Dow and Martha H. (Courtright) Kemmerer. He attended
Keystone Academy preparatory school, where he first became interested in becoming a
professor of economics. Kemmerer then attended Wesleyan University, studying under
Professor Willard Clarke Fisher. Kemmerer graduated in 1899 with an A.B. with
special distinction in economics and then attended Cornell University to pursue his
doctorate in economics, studying with Professor Jeremiah W. Jenks. He was a fellow
in economics and finance at Cornell University from 1899 to 1901, and then an
instructor in economics and history at Purdue University from 1901 to 1903. He
received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1903. Kemmerer married Rachel Dickele
on December 24, 1901. They had a son, Donald Lorenzo Kemmerer, and a daughter, Ruth
K. (Dorf).
Kemmerer's dissertation, Money and Credit Instruments in Their
Relation to General Prices, established him as a rising authority in the
field of money and led to his appointment as Financial Advisor to the United States
Philippine Commission in 1903 by then Governor of the Philippines William Howard
Taft. From 1904 to 1906, Kemmerer served as chief of the division of the currency.
While in the Philippines, Kemmerer developed the plan that placed their monetary
system on the gold standard and drafted laws to organize a postal savings system and
the Agricultural Bank of the Islands. On his return trip to the United States in
1906, Kemmerer studied and wrote a report on the currency situation in the Straits
Settlements and conducted a study of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.
Kemmerer returned to the United States in 1906 and accepted the position of assistant
professor at Cornell University, teaching on money and banking, elementary
economics, and the financial history of the United States. Kemmerer became a full
professor of Economics and Finance in 1909. In 1912, Kemmerer left Cornell
University to become professor of economics and finance at Princeton University,
where he remained for the duration of his academic career. Kemmerer became the
Walker Chair in International Finance and the director of the newly established
International Finance Section of Princeton University in 1928, positions he held
until he retired professor emeritus in 1943.
During his career at Princeton University, Kemmerer took frequent leaves of absence
to serve as a financial advisor to the governments of other countries, earning him
the appellation of "The Money Doctor." Kemmerer served as an advisor to the
government of Mexico in 1917 and to the government of Guatemala in 1919. After that
time, Kemmerer generally worked as the head of a commission of experts, rather than
working individually, to ensure the advisors could address the range of issues
associated with currency reforms, including public budgets and debt, systems of
banking, taxes, and trade. The commission would analyze the situation in the country
and advise the government on solutions, including providing a draft of the
legislation needed to implement their recommendations. It was then left to the
government to determine what to implement and how they would do so. Kemmerer was the
chair of commissions of financial advisers to Colombia (1923 and 1930), Chile
(1925), Poland (1926), Ecuador (1926-1927), Bolivia (1927), China (1929), and Peru
(1931). In 1934, Kemmerer was co-chairman of the Hines-Kemmerer Commission
established to conduct an economic survey of Turkey.
In addition to his advisory work with commissions, Kemmerer continued to serve on
occasion as an individual expert. In 1922, Kemmerer served as the United States
Trade Commissioner in South America. Kemmerer also traveled to Europe with the Dawes
Committee from 1924 to 1925, serving as the expert on currency and banking to the
Committee. In this capacity, he drafted substantial portions of the plans for the
reorganization of the German Reichsbank and for the stabilization of German
currency. And, also from 1924 to 1925, Kemmerer worked with Dr. Gerard Vissering to
advise the government of South Africa on the feasibility of returning to the gold
standard independent of the currency policy in Great Britain.
Kemmerer was also a prolific author throughout his career, writing articles and
pamphlets in support of the gold standard, opposing the Bretton Woods Plan and the
New Deal, and publishing reports produced as part of his advisory work. Kemmerer was
also the author of fourteen books, including The ABC of the
Federal Reserve System (1918), Kemmerer on
Money (1934), Money: The Principles of Money and
Their Exemplification in Outstanding Chapters of Monetary History (1935),
The ABC of Inflation (1942), and Gold and the Gold Standard (1944). He was best known for
his writings in defense of the gold standard system; even after retirement, Kemmerer
continued to be active as an advocate for the gold standard.
Kemmerer became a member of the American Economic Association in 1903. He served as
Managing Editor of the Economic Bulletin (the
predecessor of the American Economic Review) from 1907
to 1910, on the Board of Editors of the American Economic
Review from 1911 to 1913, and was president of the Association in 1926.
From 1936 to 1945, Kemmerer was president of the Economists' National Committee on
Monetary Policy, an organization founded to advocate for the United States to return
to the gold standard. Kemmerer was a fellow, and vice president, of the American
Statistical Association, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and
a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Kemmerer also served as a trustee of Wesleyan University, Scranton-Keyston Junior
College, and Robert College, in Turkey, and was director of several
corporations.
Kemmerer received honorary degrees from Oglethorpe University (1933), Rutgers
University (1933), Wesleyan University (1926), Occidental College (1928), Columbia
University (1935), the Central University of Ecuador (1927), and all the
universities of Bolivia acting together (1927). Kemmerer was only the second
individual to receive an honorary Doctor degree from the Central University of
Ecuador. He also received honors from several governments for his advisory work,
including Colombia (1923), Poland (1926), Ecuador (1927), and Belgium (1937).
Kemmerer passed away on December 16, 1945, at the age of 70.
Collection History
Acquisition
This collection was donated by Donald L. Kemmerer, the son of Edwin W. Kemmerer,
in July 1967, with several
additions from 1967 to 1991 of archival materials and
transcripts of Kemmerer's diaries prepared by Donald L. Kemmerer.
Archival Appraisal Information
Appraisal has been conducted in accordance with Mudd Manuscript Library
guidelines. Duplicate materials, student papers and recommendations, personal
financial papers, blueprints of Kemmerer's properties, and wall charts
illustrating general financial and economic concepts for use in the classroom
were separated from this collection. Maps were transferred to the Geosciences
and Map Library at Princeton University.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson,
Jessie Thompson, and Melina Meneguin-Layerenza in 2007. Finding aid written by Adriane
Hanson in August
2007.
Sponsorship
These papers were processed with the generous support of the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet
Avery Dulles Fund.
Bibliography
The following sources were consulted during preparation of the biographical note:
"Edwin Walter Kemmerer (Deceased)," Marquis Who's Who on
the Web, http://www.marquiswhoswho.com Accessed October 10, 2006.
"Kemmerer, Edwin Walter," Current Biography: H. W.
Wilson Company, 1941. Materials from Series 1: Biographical; Edwin W. Kemmerer
Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections,
Princeton University Library. "Obituary: Edwin Walter Kemmerer," by G. Findlay
Shirras. The Economic Journal, vol. 56, no. 222,
June 1946. "Obituary: Edwin Walter Kemmerer 1875-1945." The American Economic Review, vol. 36, no. 1, March 1946.
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