Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA MDS

Title

Records of General Vice Presidents and Managing Directors

Date(s)

  • 1949, 1968 - 1974, 1984 - 2004 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

106.38 linear feet of textual records; 2 videocassettes

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Between 1946 and 1974, the World Bank had between one and four vice presidents whose responsibility was the Bank as a whole. During the reorganization in 1972, vice presidencies were created with specific areas of oversight, and when Sir Denis Rickett left the Bank in 1974 the era of general vice presidents was over.

In late 1991, following the appointment of Lewis T. Preston as Bank President, managing director positions were created to provide administrative assistance to the president of the Bank. Reporting directly to the president, the managing directors each had an area of oversight responsibility, but as a whole they formed the kind of broad oversight team that the general vice presidents had provided. The number of managing directors ranged from three to five, with varying areas of emphasis.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The records of the era of the general vice presidents are fragmentary. A few records of a Middle East and North African trip by Robert L. Garner exist, as does a file on a meeting in Jogjakarta attended by Mohamed Shoaib. The files of Sir Denis Rickett contain important records on studies of the future role of the Bank, as well as information on the Bank's reactions to the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

Included in this fonds are the files of Caio Koch-Weser, Managing Director, Operations, 1996-1999, and the files of Jeffrey A. Goldstein, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, 1999-2004.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Accruals are expected.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

  • French

  • German

Script of material

    Language and script notes

    Physical characteristics and technical requirements

    Finding aids

    Allied materials area

    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

    Related units of description

    • See Central Files (WB IBRD/IDA ADMCF) for additional records of the Office of the Vice President beginning from 1946 that were filed in the Bank's centralized filing system.

    • Records of the Office of the President (WB IBRD/IDA EXC).

    • When World Bank staff worked in multiple offices during their careers and kept records from each that were later transferred to the Archives, the records cannot be placed in a single office fonds. These records are described in the Records of Individual Staff Members fonds. For individuals who served as managing directors, see Records of Individual Staff Members -- Attila Karaosmanoglu files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-23) for the period 1991-1994; Ernest Stern files -- Managing Director records (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-10-09) for the period of 1991-1995; Gautam Kaji files -- Managing Director chronological files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-24-02) for the period of 1994-1997; Jessica P. Einhorn files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-35) for the period of 1996-1998; and Richard H. Frank files -- Managing director chronological files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-36-03) and Subject files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-36-04) for the period of 1995-1997.

    Related descriptions

    Notes area

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    Name access points

    Genre access points

    Description control area

    Description identifier

    Institution identifier

    Rules and/or conventions used

    Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

    Disclosure Status

    Level of detail

    Dates of creation revision deletion

    31 July 2003; 24 November 2025; 11 March 2026

    Language(s)

      Script(s)

        Sources

        Accession area