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Technocracy fonds
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7.3 m of textual records
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The Technocratic movement was started by Howard Scott, an American engineer, in 1919. In that year, Scott and a number of other scientists and engineers, impressed by American mobilization efforts during the First World War, organized a group known as the Technical Alliance to conduct a survey of the of the potentialities of the American Economy in peacetime. The group was renamed Technocracy in 1930 and in 1932, its basic findings were published. In 1933, Technocracy was incorporated in New York State as a non-profit organization with Howard Scott as its director in chief. The objects of the new organization were: to carry out on a program of economic research; to bring technocratic theory to the attention of the public; and to provide a skeleton organization capable of forming the Technate of North America in the event of a final collapse of the social and economic order based on the price system. From the beginning the movement disavowed revolutionary and political activities. Scott began touring North America and soon chapters were formed in many North American centres including Calgary and Edmonton. The movement gained strength throughout the 1930s but in 1940, due to its stated opposition to the Second World War, was banned in Canada. The ban was lifted in 1943 when Technocracy modified their opposition to the war and sections were re-formed accordingly. However, the post-war years, perhaps due to continued economic prosperity saw membership and interest in Technocracy decrease. Though, relatively insignificant the movement has continued on into the early years of the 21st century.
Custodial history
The records remained in the possession of their donors -- Walt Fryers, Dr. Helen Diemert, Doug Tomlinson, and John Gregory -- until their donation to the University of Alberta Archives. Preferred Citation Please note the following example for citation purposes: "Accommodation – General Insurance coverage for office space," 1977-1985, Technocracy Fonds, Box 96-123-1 File 68, University of Alberta Archives. Acquisition Information The Technocracy records were received at the University of Alberta Archives as five separate accessions. Walt Fryers of the Edmonton Regional Division donated Accession 93-20 in April 1993. Dr. Helen Diemert of the Calgary Regional Division donated Accession 93-55 in April 1993. Doug Tomlinson of Edmonton donated Accession 95-54 in May 1995. Walt Fryers donated Accession 96-123 in 1996, and John Gregory of the Edmonton Regional Division donated Accession 2007-07 in March 2007. The donations have been brought together in one comprehensive finding-aid.
Scope and content
The records have been arranged in three broad series: Series one is the records of the Edmonton Technocracy regional district; Series two is the Calgary Technocracy regional district records; and Series three is the records of a long-standing individual member of the Edmonton Technocracy group, John Gregory. Within each series are several sub-series to further facilitate the description of the record. Sub-series include: organizational records, office administration files, special collections from individual Technocracy members, outreach and publicity records, and publications. The predominant amount of the fonds is comprised of publications, including newsletters, pamphlets and booklets, reprints and other articles, periodicals, and books. Much of this material is the official publications of Technocracy, Inc. head office, or material published by individual sectors on matters of more local concern. Individual members also wrote papers on a variety of Technocracy topics, and submitted their writings to CHQ (Corporate Headquarters) for comment and approval before considering wider distribution. Also included are other articles, papers, theses and books that write about Technocracy as a topic or about subject-mater of interest to Technocracy members. A published series of lessons discussing Technocracy doctrine was published by Technocracy, Inc. and titled “Technocracy Study Course”; various editions of the Study Course publications are found in this fonds. Technocracy Headquarters also prepared regular ‘general mailings’ and operating instructions which were sent to all their members, and included information updates, book reviews, activity reports and plans for upcoming meetings and visits. Strategies for attracting membership and related outreach activities were discussed in the CHQ mailings, and member sectors responded in turn with monthly reports to CHQ detailing their membership and financial activity, meetings and outreach plans. Series three, John Gregory’s records, includes interesting correspondence between himself and Howard Scott, originator of Technocracy and long-serving Director-in-Chief of Technocracy, Inc. Issues around water and continental hydrology are one topic of their correspondence. Mr. Gregory also collected long playing albums that record a lecture Howard Scott gave in Ohio in 1952. While categorically not a populist movement, the Technocracy papers deposited with the University of Alberta Archives reflect the popular interwar currents of thought in North America regarding the political and economic organization of society. In this sense, the Technocracy movement is significant in the same manner that many prairie populist movements hold historical research value. The records are in excellent physical shape and provide valuable insight into a unique North American social movement.
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The fonds consists of the following series:
- Edmonton Technocracy Section
- Calgary Regional District Technocracy Records
- John Gregory Records
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Scans of Technocracy material can be found on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/ualberta_technocracy.
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There are no access restrictions on these records. Restrictions on Use There are no use restrictions on these records.
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Finding aid written by Lynn McPherson. Encoded by Raymond Frogner on April 23, 2007.