Call Number:

MC.1259

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Wood Family papers (HC.MC.1259), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1899-1973 (inclusive)

Creator:

Wood, James (Jim) (1927-) and Wood, Carolena Morris, 1871-1936

Abstract:

Papers of Carolena Wood relating to her involvement in a number of Quaker philanthropic and relief efforts, and Jim Wood's interest in responsible investing.

Carolena Morris Wood was born on May 21st, 1871 in Mount Kisco, New York. The second of three children of Haverford College graduate James Wood and Emily Hollingsworth Morris, Carolena received her education from a Quaker governess, Union Theological Seminary, various tutors, lecture courses on law and social service, two years of music and language studies in Europe, and extensive international travel with her family. Carolena's cultivated "international mind" and her lifelong membership in the Society of Friends equipped her to assume her father's active role in civil service. Carolena's service abroad included leading reconstruction and child-feeding efforts in Europe, visiting Nicaragua with a deputation from the Fellowship of Reconciliation during the Sandino Rebellion, and organizing mission trips to China, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Palestine, and Turkey. She was an active member of the American Friends Service Committee, and also of The Garden Club, The Croton Lake Study Club, and the Bedford Farmers Club. Even amid international service trips, Carolena was active close to home, co-forming the District Nursing Association of Northern West Chester County, doing hospital work during the Spanish-American War, serving Native Americans in Oklahoma, and on the Board of Managers of New York Orphan Asylum and Home for Colored Children. Carolena died in 1936.

James (Jim) Wood was born on May 2nd, 1927 in Mt. Kisco, New York. Jim's almost 50 year career in banking and finance included positions at the Bank of New York, Kemper Securities, and Solomon Smith Barney. Jim served on boards such as the Lions Club, the Bedford Farmers Club, the Bedford Hills Historical Society, The American Bible Society, Bryn Mawr College, and his alma mater, Haverford College (class of 1950).

L.H.W. and Anna Travilla Speakman. "Carolena Morris Wood," Friends Intelligencer, Vol. 93, Third Month 21, 1936. Bloomberg Business. http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=140298142&privcapId=109401309&previousCapId=3128005&previousTitle=Columbia%20University (accessed July 15, 2016).

The collection is divided into six sections: correspondence, committee reports, Quaker tracts and pamphlets, university and college materials, responsible investing materials, and miscellaneous.

"Correspondence" includes correspondence to Carolena Morris Wood between 1917 and 1920. A significant number of letters re-addressed to Carolena from female correspondents, as well as from Friends she was personally close with or had financially or otherwise assisted (by procuring employment, housing, or monetary allowances). Notable topics include missionary work in Jamaica and Europe, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nicaragua, accounts of combatant and civilian casualties in Russia, and Friends' testaments to Carolena's influence over their own service and political interests. This correspondence also contains letters and newspaper clippings, written in English and German, from the Brauning-Oktavio family, explaining and offering to write articles for American newspapers on the political and economic "German Condition."

"Committee Reports" contains reports by or for various committees, dating from 1899 to 1920, that largely pertain to Carolena's missionary work and interests. Such committees include the Executive Committee of Friends in Indian Affairs, peace committees of the Five Years Meeting and the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the American Friends Board of Foreign Missions, the Peace Association of Friends in America, and the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relations.

"Quaker Tracts and Pamphlets" contains publications dating from 1904 to 1934 of theological beliefs and transcripts of spoken addresses given at various Quaker meetings. Most of these publications are later editions modified to reflect the changed socio-political contexts. Major topics include Quaker conscience; Christianity, the gospel, and baptism; silence, speaking, and manner of worship in Meeting; and peace, freedom, and international arbitration. The series also contains pamphlets pertaining to Friends' relief missions in Europe and conscientious objections to military conscription. Frequent publishers include the London Yearly Meeting, the New York Yearly Meeting, and the Philadelphia Yearly meeting.

"University and College Materials" includes brochures, bulletins, and reports from Friends University (Wichita, Kansas) and Whittier College (Wittier, California); all materials with dates cite publication in 1906. Major topics include the academic institutions' respective histories, budgets, teaching staff, student and alumni accomplishments, and information for prospective students.

"Responsible Investing Materials" illustrates Jim Wood's interest and involvement in social responsibility by attending conferences and collecting reports and publications about Quaker guidelines for investiture. The series stretches from 1971 to 1973, and contains materials from conferences such as The First National Quaker Conference on Investments [1972], The Second National Conference on Investments, and The Conference of the Embattled Trustee, as well as reports and publications from the investment committees of the New York Yearly Meeting, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and the Friends Peace Committee.

"Miscellaneous materials" includes Carolena's last will and testament [undated], handwritten drafts of a letter to the Five Years Meeting on the "Education of Negroes," and a 1978 newspaper story "Quakers Fight Austere Prison Atmosphere."

Materials are arranged chronologically within each folder.