From Relief to Belief: The Belgian American Educational Foundation and the Domestication of Academic Knowledge (1919-1970)

The Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) was created in 1919 as an offspring of two humanitarian agencies set up during World War One in Belgium. One was the Committee for Relief in Belgium (CRB), launched and directed by future US President Herbert Hoover; the other was its local counterpart, the National Committee for Relief and Alimentation, headed by Belgian financier Emile Francqui and inspired by the prominent chemical tycoon Ernest Solvay. Relying in a dubious manner on the foundations’ financial remainders (Francqui had secured the money from the government), they envisaged t... Mehr ...