The collection is open for research.
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under
The collection was donated by Karen Neva Bell in 2024. The accession number associated with this donation is ML-2024-013.
For preservation reasons, original analog
and digital media may not be read or played back in the
reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media
but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog
audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality
standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests
are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note,
the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks
to as long as several months and there may be financial costs
associated with the process.
Requests should be directed through the
The collection was processed by Will Clements in 2025. Materials were rehoused into acid free folders but otherwise no physical arrangement was done at this time.
The born-digital materials in this collection have been processed according to Princeton University Library's Born-Digital Processing Workflows. For more information on the workflow, please read our full
Most file-level scope and content notes were adapted by Will Clements from information provided by the donor.
A small number of optical media were discarded because they were damaged and unusable. Otherwise no materials were separated from the collection during 2025 processing.
The Peter D. Bell Papers consist of professional correspondence, memoranda, reports, video, photographs, emails, and chronological files from his career with particular focus on Bell's tenure at the Ford Foundation and time spent in Brazil and Chile. Additionally, there is a substantial amount of material from Bell's time at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, as well as materials related to his work with the Inter-American Foundation. To a lesser extent, there are materials related to Bell's time as president of CARE USA, especially among the digital files.
Peter D. Bell was a humantitarian and specialist in Latin American relations who served as president of the NGO CARE USA from 1995-2006. He was also a founder of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank focused on international affairs in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as deputy undersecreatary of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter administration.
Bell was born in 1940 and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As a high school student, Bell spent time in Japan on a scholarship with the American Field Service. After graduating from Yale University in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in history, in 1964 Bell completed a master's degree in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
After graduate school, Bell served in a number of positions at the Ford Foundation from 1964-1977, primarily focused on Latin America. Bell served as deputy undersecreatary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Carter from 1977-1979, and from 1980-1983 he served as president of the Inter-American Foundation. In 1982, Bell was a cofounder of the Inter-American Dialogue.
From 1995-2006, Bell was president of CARE USA, a nonprofit aid organization.
Bell married Karen Ann Neva in 1970, with whom he raised two children. Bell died in 2014.
Letters in binders from Brazil, Chile and New York relating to PDB employment with FF's Latin America Program
Bell became representative of Ford Foundation in September of 1970, just after Allende was elected. The Ford Foundation mission in Chile, Argentina and Paraguay focused on investing and upgrading social science programs at universities. After the military coup in September of 1973, the work of the Ford Foundation shifted emphasis from strengthening social science and legal teaching to protecting human rights and rescuing Chilean intellectual leaders by funding fellowships abroad in U.S. and European institutions. Bell left Chile in June of 1974 after documenting the extent of the military takeover of key institutions and informing selected members of media (e.g. NYT and U.S. Congress, Senator Edward Kennedy, Rep. Michael J. Harrington) about the situation following the military coup in Chile. Includes file on staffing office in Chile; binders of chronological files from 1970-74; memos and correspondence from Ford Foundation office in Chile to Ford Foundation HQ in NYC and others. Also includes news articles and descriptions of Chilean institutions, like CODECEC (Inst.of Political, Economic and Social Studies), CEPLAN, FLACSO.
2006 senior thesis by Emily Kleinman (Columbia U) about the Ford Foundation's Law program in Chile, 1964-74; Post-coup notes by Bell; 1988 trip for Americas Watch to Chile; Chile magazines and books; 1970s Reports on Chile, Context books, 1969-70 Memos, 1979-82 Chile Nixon, 2000 CIA Report
Resignation, support letters, Brazil, Central region, Caribbean region, Southern region, General
HEW 1977: Notes from searches for top personnel appointments in DHEW; DHEW appointments by Carter: comments on the process; Meeting with Secretary Harris; personal notes by PDB, 1979; PDB feedback to Joe Califano on his book, 1980; HEW employment; Peter Bell remarks on departure from DHEW, 1979; 1977 HEW: notes from searches for top personnel; 1978 to 79 photos with Hubert Humphrey and Danny Kaye
Reports, memos, trip briefings, calendars, business cards, and contacts
Human Rights Watch: Mexico, Conferences, Trips; Senate Hearings, Speeches, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, CARE, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Chron files from 1984 at CEIP; Op-eds published on Central America; EMCF annual reports; Personal files kept by Bell as he contemplated various options after CARE; files relating to kidnapping of CARE colleagues & response; discussions about how to handle announcement he was planning to leave CARE at end of 2005.
Download content
The digital files contain: a number of videos documenting lectures, speeches, television appearances, promotional CARE videos, and staff appreciation events filmed on Bell's departure from CARE; email inboxes; photographs of trips and events; written speeches; various other professional and administrative files from Bell's computers.
Note that there is an inventory of the digital files, including information about the media from which they were extracted, stored alongside the files.