Repository: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College / Subject: Society of Friends -- War relief and reconstruction - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: .1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (1 folder.))
Abstract:: This collection includes letters written to Anna Wharton regarding her relief efforts for formerly enslaved people and war hospitals during the American Civil War.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 4 linear ft. (8 boxes)
Abstract:: This collection contains the papers of Philadelphia Quaker Owen Biddle (1737-1799), his son, Clement Biddle (1778-1856), and numerous descendants. Owen Biddle, a scientist and merchant, was a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and helped in the establishment of Westtown School (1799). Owen Biddle's papers, 1772-1793, (Series 1) include correspondence, and journals, some of which relate to his Revolutionary War activities. Three of his letterbooks, 1778-1779, have been microfilmed. The collection contains correspondence, journals, letterbooks, and account books, together with other manuscript material reflecting the social and cultural life and religious activities of a prominent Quaker family of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Papers of Lucy Biddle Lewis (1861-1941) are important for association with the women's suffrage movement and for early activities of the American Friends Service Committee. Other names represented in the collection are Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, Clement...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.5 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:: Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall and her husband, D. Robert Yarnall, were Quakers, active in the American Friends Service Committee relief efforts. They worked with the Quaker center in Vienna, Austria, during the summer of 1938 to help in the emigration of German and Austrian Jews. The collection contains correspondence concerning their work with refugees and letters from refugees asking for assistance, especially the musician and composers Karl Weigl and his wife, Vally, who emigrated in October 1938. Also several essays by Elizabeth Yarnall on her Vienna experience and letters from Dorothy Canfield Fisher in her efforts to create an American children's relief organization for German children. The material conveys the difficulties in Jewish emigration in the years just preceding the Second World War.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 2.92 linear ft.
Abstract:: The collection contains correspondence of the family of C. Canby Balderston, a prominent Quaker and businessman. He served with the Friends Relief Service and the Relief Commission for Belgium during WWI and both of his sons, Frederick Emery Balderston and Robert W. Balderston, were COs in WWII, working as ambulance drivers. Frederick E. Balderston (1923-2007) married Judith Braude (1926-1993) in 1949. A significant part of the collection consists of her childhood and college correspondence with her parents. It particularly reflects details of Swarthmore College students life, 1942-1946. Of special interest are the letters that Canby Balderston sent to his mother from France and Belgium, 1917-1919. Also included in the collection is correspondence of C. Canby Balderston's parents, John Lloyd Balderston and Anna Elizabeth (Marshall) Balderston, Quakers of Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 5 linear ft. (10 boxes (includes 9 boxes manuscript, 1 box pictures))
Abstract:: Nelson Fuson was a physicist and educator, active in Quaker concerns. The collection contains extensive correspondence and papers concerning his service as a conscientious objector in Civilian Public Service during World War II. As the child of missionaries to China, his hope was to do relief service in China, and many of the papers deal with CPS China Units. However, the China Units were never activated and Fuson was assigned to camps in Maryland, Indiana, New York, and North Dakota. He also attended a seminar in international administration at Columbia University as part of a detached CPS unit, training intended to prepare military and civilians for post-war occupation. In addition to the CPS material, Nelson, a long time professor of physics at Fisk University, and his wife, Marian, were active in Quaker concerns including participation in international student seminars sponsored by the AFSC.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: .1 linear ft. (1 folder)
Abstract:: The New York Friends Service Committee was established in 1917 following an appeal by New York Yearly Meeting to assist the American Friends Service Committee in its clothing appeal for European war relief. By 1922, the focus had changed to famine relief particularly for Russia, and the Committee was encouraged to work directly through AFSC. This small collection contains minutes, annual reports, and financial records.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 6 folders
Abstract:: The collection contains the correspondence of Rebecca Mary Hannum (1889-1984) mostly related to her work with the American Friends Service Committee child feeling program in post WWI Germany, 1921-1924 and Peasant Industries, Poland. After the child feeling project was transferred to local groups in Germany, Mary Hannum became involved with the Peasant Industries program which supported women's handwork for sale in the United States and elsewhere. Her personal and business letters contain detailed descriptions of relief work in Germany, travel, and administration of the Peasant Industries. Also included are three letters presumably from her brothers sent from Camp Greenleaf Detention Camp, Tennessee, and typed carbons of reports of relief workers in Poland and Russia including a diary of Quaker relief worker Beulah Hurley.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Search