University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

In the midst of World War II, the American Law Institute convened a committee in 1941 to study the international community's position regarding human rights law. The committee's charge was to develop a Statement of Essential Human Rights. William Draper Lewis, then Director of the American Law Institute, was chair of the committee and the project's most outspoken advocate, touring the world to deliver speeches on the importance of a code of basic human rights. International in scope and in participation, the committee included representatives from Britain, Canada, China, France, pre-Nazi Germany, Italy, India, Latin America, Poland, Soviet Russia, Spain, and Syria. A version of the Statement of Essential Human Rights was finalized in 1945. The collection, 1929-1987 and undated, includes research material, constitutions, letters, conference and meeting material, drafts, publications, the writings of William Draper Lewis, and other records related to the drafting of the Statement of Essential Human Rights, finalized in 1945. The bulk of the records spans the years 1941 to 1945.