Representative of the University of Michigan who helped plan the El Olivar Highway Equipment Training Project in Mexico. Correspondence, reports, contracts, and photographs concerning El Olivar Highway Equipment Training Project of the U. S. Foreign Operations Administration and University of Michigan.
The Earnest Boyce Papers (1953-1959) document the establishment and continuation of the Centro de Adiestramiento de Operadores (CAO). The collection focuses on the activities of the El Olivar Highway Equipment Training Project, but also included in the collection is a folder of correspondence that outlines a related project in Bolivia. Background materials, found in the first folder, provide a concise overview of the project's mission, primary participants, and history. These background materials state the CAO's importance not only for Mexican engineers and mechanics, but for a continued co-operation between the United States and Mexico.
Included in the collection are papers documenting the creation of the formal contractual governmental agreement (including the original contract) and the continued university involvement with the building and maintenance of the physical plant and the hiring of teachers and consultants.
Four folders contain a complete run of official reports which document the progress and day-to-day activities of the CAO. These reports were originally sent to Earnest Boyce by A.A. Vezzani, then superseded by Neil Lottridge.
Six folders of correspondence document the working relationships of the men involved with the project and the inevitable problems that occur when people of different cultures must work together.
Of special interest are the many photographs of the primary advisors of the CAO and several newspaper and periodical articles written to publicize the inauguration and the continuing activities of the school. Although many of the newspaper articles are in Spanish, many pictures are included which also provide important information.
