On 14 October 1986 Mrs. Louise L. Whittington, the widow of William Vallie Whittington (1904–1986), wrote to inform the Dickinson School of Law that her husband recently had passed away and that she wished to give to the Library of the Law School a leather bound facsimile copy of the United Nations Charter and certain documents related to the surrender of Germany in the Second World War and the creation of the United Nations. Arrangements were completed in Spring 1987 for the transfer of the materials. These remain a significant treasure and important legacy for the development of international law and international organization without rival in any other private institution. Included in the gift was a “Historical Outline” prepared in 1967 by William Whittington to explain how he came to acquire the materials and how they were prepared and produced. His Outline constitutes a worthy contribution to the history of treaties. It had never been published and may not have circulated in any form. So far as we can determine, it appears here for the first time, a laconic account

of what must at the time have been a frantic and challenging task to prepare for signature the single most important treaty the world has ever known.