The Dudley M. Phelps papers contain substantial information related to reparations calculations after World War II and the study of marketing and distribution practices in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Researchers will also be interested in information regarding the first graduating class of the University of Michigan School of Business Administration. The collection comprises of 2.6 linear feet composed mainly of correspondence, memoranda, research notes, reports, and photographs. The collection is arranged into four series: UM School of Business Administration, Department of State, Post-Retirement, and Visual Materials.
Dudley Maynard Phelps was Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan School of Business Administration (1926-1966) and a United States diplomat during World War II and the post-war reparations process. He was born May 8, 1897, to Charles and Cora Phelps in Manton, Michigan. Phelps completed his entire higher-level education at the University of Michigan, graduating with the first undergraduate class of the School of Business Administration in 1925, earning his MBA in 1926, and PhD in 1931.
During his tenure at the University of Michigan Phelps served on several university committees and received the Distinguished Faculty Award. Beginning as an Instructor in the School of Business Administration in May 1926, he was eventually appointed as full Professor of Marketing in July 1941. He was a member of the American Marketing Association, acting as its Director in 1939 and its President from 1957 to 1958. The American Marketing Association awarded Phelps the Parlin Award and Hall of Fame in Distribution Award in 1964. Phelps conducted significant international research, including the study of the immigration of American industry into Latin America in Argentina, the development of rubber manufacturing in Brazil, and lecturing at Waseda University in Japan. He headed the official U.S. exchange delegation to study marketing and distribution practices in the Soviet Union. He developed the Netherlands' first business program in cooperation with the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam.
Phelps briefly left the University of Michigan between 1942 and 1946 to work for the U.S. Department of State, holding positions in Venezuela, Washington D.C., and Western Europe. He served as the Associate Chief, Division of Financial and Monetary Affairs to the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela. In 1945 he became deeply involved in the reparations process following World War II, serving as a member of the Rosenman Mission to Western Europe, Deputy Delegate to the Paris Conference on Reparations, and U.S. Representative to the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency. Following this assignment, he returned to the University of Michigan in 1946, remaining at the university until his retirement in June 1966. He passed away on January 1, 1993. He had a wife, Mildred, and two children Marcia and Richard.
