Waldo Gifford Leland (July 17, 1879, in Newton, Massachusetts – October 19, 1966) was an American historian and archivist whose work for the Carnegie Institution and the Library of Congress was instrumental in the founding of the National Archives.
During this time Leland joined the American Historical Association (AHA) and served as the secretary in 1909-1920, working closely with J. Franklin Jameson to lobby Congress to establish a National Archive.
After completing the Guide, Leland's next assignment from the Carnegie Institution was to travel to repositories throughout the eastern United States to collect letters of Continental Congress delegates.
In an associated activity, he directed the foreign copying program of the Library of Congress for French manuscripts relating to the United States.
He conceived the first Conference of Archivists in the United States, which met at Columbia University in conjunction with the American Historical Association's 1909 Annual Meeting.
He took this opportunity to introduce Americans to a variety of European concepts that soon became institutionalized as standard best practices in the United States and formed the basis for archival theory.
Leland led a delegation of Americans to the First International Congress of Archivists and Librarians in Brussels in 1910, a meeting that set the stage for the growing global interchange of archival theories and concepts.
As the ACLS representative in the negotiation of the “1935 Gentleman’s Agreement for Fair Use in Education”,[2] Leland was heavily involved in the first official policy statement concerning the use of copyrighted materials by researchers.
Also, through fellowships and the sponsorship of scholarly conferences, the ACLS was able to encourage the development of area studies in the United States for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Iranian, Slavic, Near Eastern, and Latin American culture and civilization.
After his retirement from the ACLS in 1946, Leland became active in the promotion and development of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, testifying before Congress, giving speeches, and working with architects and designers.
It not only advised the United States Secretary of the Interior and the NPS director on policy, but it evaluated new areas proposed for addition to the system.