New England Regional Planning Commission Collection
Organized in March 1934, the New England Regional Planning Commission was a coalition of state planning boards intended as a permanent, non-partisan, representative body. Charged with the continuous coordination, review, and revision of state plans, the Commission coordinated research and physical planning relating to transportation (including the highway system and airports), interstate water resources, land utilization, conservation of forests and wildlife, and recreational facilities.
This small collection consists of printed reports, bulletins, and minutes from the NERPC from its founding through middle of the Second World War. Ephemeral in nature, the reports chart the growth of regional cooperation in planning in the use of water and land resources and the transportation system, spurred by the federal New Deal.
Background on New England Regional Planning Commission
The beginnings of effective regional cooperation in planning in New England can be traced to the 1920s and the formation of two voluntary associations: the New England Council (1925), which brought together business leaders from each of the six states, and the New England Regional Planning League (1929), which consisted of gubernatorial appointees. With the New Deal establishment of a federal National Planning Board (later the National Resources Committee) in the Department of the Interior, and motivation provided by the hardships of the Great Depression, the New England Regional Planning Commission represented a major step forward in interstate coordination.
Organized in March 1934, the NERPC was a coalition of state planning boards intended as a permanent, non-partisan, representative body. Charged with the continuous coordination, review, and revision of state plans, the Commission coordinated research and physical planning relating to transportation (including the highway system and airports), interstate water resources, land utilization, conservation of forests and wildlife, and recreational facilities.
This small collection consists of printed reports, bulletins, and minutes from the NERPC from its founding through middle of the Second World War. Ephemeral in nature, the reports chart the growth of regional cooperation in planning in the use of water and land resources and the transportation system, spurred by the federal New Deal.
Provenance unrecorded.
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, July 2015.
)Cite as: New England Regional Planning Commission Collection (MS 069). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.