ANNETTE L. FLUGGER PAPERS

Collection

Identifier: CONS33

Staff Only

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection contains correspondence, working documents and articles accumulated by Flugger during her work with the Pan American Union Conservation Section. It begins with correspondence to and from William Vogt, Chief of the Conservation Section dating from 1940-1954. It continues with articles and brochures written by Vogt. Flugger's correspondence dates from 1938 to 1955. The reports and articles by Flugger focus on conservation education in Latin American. Included are working notes of an English-Spanish glossary of conservation terms which Flugger was compiling.

A large amount of the conference material is from the 1948 Inter-American Conference on Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources, held in Denver, Colorado, and includes section papers, field trip reports, brochures, program material, and conference evaluation. Information on the Pan American Union includes correspondence, articles, reports, and reference material.

Materials in this collection are in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

SERIES 1 WILLIAM VOGT BOX 1-2 1940-1954

William Vogt was an ecologist and ornithologist. From 1943 to 1950, he headed the Conservation Section of the Pan American Union, then became the national director of the Planned Parenthood Federation from 1951 to 1961. This series begins with the correspondence of Vogt from 1940 to 1954, and includes correspondence with prominent persons such as A. Starker Leopold, advisor to the National Park Service; Richard Pough, co-founder of the Nature Conservancy; and Margaret Sanger, who gained worldwide renown for founding the American birth control movement. The correspondence derives primarily from Vogt's work at the Conservation Section of the Pan American Union, and shows his concern for the effect of population on sustainable agriculture, foreshadowing his work at Planned Parenthood of America. The series concludes with articles and reports written by and about Vogt, many in Spanish.

SERIES 2 ANNETTE FLUGGER BOX 3 1938-1955

The correspondence and writings of Flugger demonstrate her commitment to the conservation of natural resources in Latin America, and her extensive role as not only secretary to Vogt, but as translator, editor, writer and educator.

SERIES 3 CONFERENCES BOX 4-5 1940-1954

The largest portion of this series is devoted to the Inter-American Conference on Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources, held in Denver, Colorado in the fall of 1948. This conference, convened by the Government of the United States, at the request of the Pam American Union, brought together delegates from 21 nations to address the depletion of the world's natural resources from increasing populations and exploitation.

One outcome of this meeting was the establishment of the Executive Committee on Renewable Resources, "composed of representatives of the Pan American Union, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Science, and assisted by an Advisory Council of experts from official and private organizations." Its purpose was "to create the means of coordinating and effecting the multiple technical and educational programs recommended by the Conference." (Report on Conservation of Renewable Resources in Latin American, February, 1950, p. 1)

Additional conference material comes from the Convention on Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation, the Inter-American Conference on Agriculture, and the North American Wildlife Conference.

SERIES 4 PAN AMERICAN UNION BOX 5 1925-1955

The Conservation Section of the Pan American Union was created to carry out the mandate of the Eighth International Conference of American States held in Lima, Peru, in 1938, which recommended the adoption of a Convention of Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation, and the establishment of a section within the Union to provide for its implementation.

Correspondence, articles, and reports on the activities of the Pan American Union, and the Conservation Section comprise this series. The reference material includes articles and reports, many in Spanish, and deals with the issues of conservation of natural resources, particularly in Latin America.

SERIES 5 PHOTOGRAPHS PHOTO BOX 1 1933-1954

Photographs include black and white pictures of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Islands off Baja California and National Parks of Mexico. Many document soil conditions and erosion.

Dates

1925-1955

ACCESS:

The collection is open for research.

OWNERSHIP:

Annette L. Flugger Papers are the physical property of the Denver Public Library.

PUBLICATION RIGHTS:

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Annette Leonard Flugger was born in Girard, Kansas on October 25, 1907. She was a student at the National University of Mexico, and received an A.B. degree in Spanish with a minor in French from the University of Kansas in 1929. She also studied Portuguese at George Washington University. From 1937 to 1940, she was an English translator for the American Embassy in Mexico. During World War II, she worked for the Office of Strategic Services serving in New York, Madrid, Spain and then Washington D.C.

After the war, Flugger served as office manager and secretary to William Vogt, Chief of the Conservation Section of the Pan American Union. The Pan-American Union is the former name for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), and was founded in 1889-90 to promote international cooperation. It offered technical and informational services, served as the repository for international documents, and was responsible for the furtherance of economic, social, and cultural relations. In 1948, it became the General Secretariat for the OAS. Flugger also supervised and edited the publications of the Conservation Section, including translations from French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Flugger participated in the planning and management of the 1948 Inter-American Conference on Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources, and served as the editor of the proceedings. She also provided the indexing to William Vogt's well known work Road to Survival, and following Vogt's departure from the Conservation Section, assumed many of the duties of that office. She was a translation officer for the International Union for Conservation of Nature's General Assembly and Technical Meeting at Caracas, Venezuela in 1952.

In a letter dated May 14, 1954, Flugger wrote, "After 11 years of pioneering in the field of conservation in Latin America, the Pan American Union will abolish its Division of Agriculture and Conservation as of June 30, 1954. The Council has decided that it can be carried on at the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences at Turrialba, Costa Rica. No provision has been made, however, for conservation education work, so on that date I shall leave the Pan American Union, and there will no longer be any conservation work done here."

After leaving the Pan American Union, Flugger worked as a secretary for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in Washington D.C. She is listed in the 1st and 2nd editions of Who’s Who of American Women. She died September 24, 1962.