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Blanche Weber Shaffer papers

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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
MC.1301
Repository:
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
Extent:
0.82 linear ft. (2 hollinger boxes)
Preferred Citation:
Blanche Weber Shaffer papers (HC.MC.1301), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.
Date:
1918-1979 (bulk) and 1940-1979 (bulk)
Creator:
Shaffer, Blanche, 1908-1974
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of Blanche Weber Shaffer, a Swiss Quaker who was involved with the Friends World Committee for Consultation and devoted her life to fostering relationships between Quakers throughout the globe. The materials in this collection include personal, professional, and travel materials, as well as diaries and correspondence, spanning the years 1940 to 1979, with some earlier letters from John Marshall Crosman in 1918.

Blanche Weber Shaffer was born on May 20, 1902, in Switzerland. She studied literature and languages at the University of Geneva. She was a member of Geneva Monthly Meeting and joined the Friends in 1932. In 1937, she was a Swiss delegate to the Second World Conference of Friends in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and she was active in the founding of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) at that conference. The mission of FWCC is "Answering God's call to universal love, FWCC brings Friends of varying traditions and cultural experiences together in worship, communications, and consultation, to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world" (http://fwcc.world/about-fwcc). In 1940, she married Leslie Shaffer (d. 1952), who was the secretary of the Friends' FWCC. Blanche Weber Shaffer served as Librarian of the International Bureau of Education in Genva until 1940. With her husband, she traveled throughout the world visiting Quakers. She was naturalized on March 8, 1945 in Media, Pennsylvania. She helped write the FWCC publication, "Quakerism in Switzerland," in 1943. In 1958, she became the Assistant Director of the Geneva Friends' Center, specializing in student groups. In 1961, she was the Deputy Director of Quaker International Centre and the Secretary General of FWCC. In 1970, she retired to Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. She also served on the Second Vatican Council's Commission for Promoting Christian Unity. She died on May 9, 1974, at the age of 71.

This collection contains the papers of Blanche Weber Shaffer, a Swiss Quaker who was involved with the Friends World Committee for Consultation and devoted her life to fostering relationships between Quakers throughout the globe. The materials in this collection include personal, professional, and travel materials, as well as diaries and correspondence, spanning the years 1940 to 1979, with some earlier letters from John Marshall Crosman in 1918. There are a few documents in German and French, but most are in English.

This collection is arranged into five series: correspondence, diaries, personal papers, travel materials, and professional records. Within each series, the materials are arranged chronologically.

The Blanche Weber Shaffer papers were donated to Special Collections, Haverford College in October, 1974 by the D. Steere and E. Williams Woodbrooke College Library, Selly Oak, Birmingham, England.

Processed by Madison Arnold-Scerbo; completed August, 2018.

Organization
Subject

Publisher
Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
Madison Arnold-Scerbo
Finding Aid Date
August, 2018
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Collection Inventory

Archival Resource Key. Alice Shaffer postcard, 1963.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

A postcard written to Alice Shaffer

Archival Resource Key. Letters from John Marshall Crosman, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Letters to his parents, Edward N. Crosman and Mrs. Edward N. Crosman and his grandmother Mrs. John Marshall Buddy.

Archival Resource Key. Letters from John Marshall Crosman, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Letters to his parents, Edward N. Crosman and Mrs. Edward N. Crosman and his grandmother Mrs. John Marshall Buddy.

Archival Resource Key. Letters from John Marshall Crosman, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Letters to his parents, Edward N. Crosman and Mrs. Edward N. Crosman and his grandmother Mrs. John Marshall Buddy.

Archival Resource Key. Letters from John Marshall Crosman, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Letters to his parents, Edward N. Crosman and Mrs. Edward N. Crosman and his grandmother Mrs. John Marshall Buddy. Includes a Red Cross "Safe Arrival" notice, and phtographs from France during World War One. His return address was France in the U.S. Army

Archival Resource Key. Photographs from John Marshall Crosman, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Photographs of field service in France, French Schools, churches, and a war ship.

Archival Resource Key. The American Friend article and letter, 1940.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Contains a letter to Blanche from Richard R. Wood, secretart of The Friend. Also contains an article about Blanche Weber Shaffer and her husband Leslie D. Shaffer, discussing his time with the World Conference and how the two got married.

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1958-1959.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1960-1961.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1962-1963.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1964-1965.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1966-1967.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1968-1969.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Daily diaries, 1972-1974.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

These diaries contain notes on Quaker meetings, nots and letters sent to Selly Oak, violin practice, wedding annoucnemtns, and report writing

Archival Resource Key. Appointment books, 1964-1972.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains three volumes of appointment and agenda books

Archival Resource Key. Photograph of Leslie D. Shaffer, 1940.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

One large photograph of Leslie D. Shaffer, the husband of Blanche Weber Shaffer

Archival Resource Key. Pocketbook notes and minute, 1962-1965.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains personal notes taken from a small pocketbook and a "Minute for Blanche Shaffer" from the Geneva Center Committee

Archival Resource Key. Notebook, 1962-1965.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains handwritten prose and journal entries

Archival Resource Key. Travel notebooks, 1962-1964.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains three spiral notebooks with notes from Blanche Weber Shaffer's travels

Archival Resource Key. Travel reports, 1962-1972.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains travel notes from her travels for Friends World Committee for Consultation to Rome, Istanbul, Beirut, Tokyo, India, Hong Kong, and Korea in 1964, and South America in 1967. Also contains materials about Friends in Switzerland. Also includes "A Visit to the Friends Mission in Guatemala" (c. 1962)

Archival Resource Key. Travel notes and reports, 1962-1971.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains handwritten notes and reports about British Council of Churches, Asia, Italy, Europe, Africa, Ireland, middle East, Second Vatican COuncil Commission, Report on Centre Work in Geneava June 1958 to April 1962, Latin American Friends Mission to Guatemala

Archival Resource Key. Travel in Germany, 1966-1971.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains documents "About inner religious experience," Visit to Friends in the German Deomcratic Republic (1971), visiting churchs in East Germany. Some of these materials are in German.

Archival Resource Key. Conference meeting notes, 1964-1967.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

FWCC, witness of friends in Asia, Africa, and America.

Archival Resource Key. Conference meeting notes, 1967-1972.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains notes from conferences pertaining to the history of Quakerism, the current state of Quakerism in various regions of the world. Notes from World Family of Frineds, Sally Oak Meeting, and Geneva Conference.

Archival Resource Key. Speeches and sermons, 1969-1979.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Contains drafts for speeches and sermons by Blanche Weber Shaffer, including: At the Earlham School of Religion (1972), Worldwide Meeting of Friends, Message of Society of Friends to the World Today Woodbrooke College (1969), speeches and reports regarding Quakerism and Quaker activities, race, education, religion

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