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Within the Secretariat of the League of Nations, relationships with Latin America were always specific.

The League of Nations' peaceful and humanitarian objectives corresponded well with those of the Latin American States belonging to the 1889 Pan-American Union. Consequently, most Latin American States, except Ecuador, belonged to the League of Nations, either as signatory members of the Versailles Treaty or of the League of Nations Covenant.

It was originally decided to establish, in Rio de Janeiro or Montevideo, an external "bureau" or "Liaison with Latin America", more or less similar to the offices located in Paris or London. However, the "Bureau for liaison with Latin America" was established in Geneva in 1922. At the beginning it worked more or less as an autonomous office within the Information Section. But from 1924, it operated as a kind of "letter box" or "correspondence office" for the liaison with Latin America. It was, then, in charge of Latin American affairs dealt with by different sections of the Secretariat having no representatives in Latin America, such as political affairs, conflicts between Latin American countries, disarmament, financial and economic issues, opium traffic, health, intellectual cooperation, etc. It also prepared the work and stay of the delegates. It seems, however, that the most important questions were dealt with by the Information Section or the Political Section, in particular by
J. Nogueira, who was member of both sections.

In 1937, the "liaison" or "bureau" was merged into the High Direction (which was an auxiliary office of the Secretariat including the office of the Secretary General, as well as offices of deputy secretaries general in charge of different Sections) and shortly after ceased its activity. The Liaison with Latin America was under C. Rodriguez' responsibility, who worked for the High Direction. Because of the war situation,
A. Loveday and P. Deperon, located in Princeton, became responsible for the Bureau of Latin America.

The High Direction was one of the three divisions within the League of Nations staff. It included the Secretary General, deputy secretaries general and under secretaries general (including a judicial adviser), and 12 Directors of Sections including the Treasurer.

The Publications Service and Reproduction of Documents was made of all the services in charge of the physical preparation of all the documents and publications from the various League of Nations organs and units (printing, publishing, reproduction, page-setting, mailing, distribution, sales or supply of documents, binding, classification, cataloguing and indexing of League of Nations publications, stationery, etc.). The Publications Service and Reproduction of Documents was not at all responsible for the writing or editing of texts.

The Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Population, was established further to a bilateral convention, the Convention of Lausanne of 30 January 1923.

The history of the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Population was different from the one of the Mixed Greco-Bulgarian Emigration Commission. The work of the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Population lasted longer and was much more complex than the work of the Mixed Greco-Bulgarian Emigration Commission. Apart from the appointment of the president and of neutral members, the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Population was independent from the League of Nations. The Mandatory delegates (depending on the Council of the League of Nations) were the neutral members of the Commission. They were responsible for the protection of these populations, which were excluded from the exchange planned in the Treaty of Lausanne and especially for the protection of the Albanian Muslim minority in Greece.

The present collection of S. Lester papers covers essentially the period 1929-1946, but also includes some post-retirement material running up to 1959. This paper collection contains some pages from the diary, found once the diary was bound, private and official correspondence, reports, many press cuttings relating particularly to the Danzig period when S. Lester was targeted by the Nazi press, as well as some information on the post retirement period, photos and family letters. Finally the collection also contains some obituaries, lectures on S. Lester, publications or references to such publications, relating directly or indirectly to him, and other reference material, such as lists of people and books, etc.

It is of some interest that the more sensitive of Lester papers, together with three confidential League files on Danzig, were buried in his Geneva garden during the war years: he feared that they might cause trouble for certain anti-Nazi persons should the Germans come over the nearby Swiss frontiers as expected in 1941-1942. All the papers were retrieved.

The Lester papers relative to the years preceding 1929 - there was no diary - remain in Ireland with the Gageby family. They are to be donated to the Archives of the National University of Dublin, together with other S. Lester papers.