"In 1934 the International City Managers' Association received the first of several special grants from the Spelman Fund of New York for the preparation and administration of in-service training courses for municipal officials at the administrative or management level. This training program has been developed by the Association through its Institute for Training in Municipal Administration. ... It was necessary, therefore, for the Institute to prepare its own training texts, and by 1941 eight texts had been published; all eight have been revised several times"--Foreword, page v.