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Boston Draft Resistance Group Collected Records

Notifications

Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore 19081-1399

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 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:
CDG-A.Boston Draft Resistance Group
Repository:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Extent:
0.42 linear ft. (5 linear in.)
Preferred Citation:
Cite as: [Identification of item] in the Boston Draft Resistance Group Collected Records (CDG-A), Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Date:
1967-1969 (bulk)
Creator:
Boston Draft Resistance Group
Abstract:
The Boston Draft Resistance Group offered draft counseling and organized opposition to the Vietnam War in the Boston (Massachusetts) area.

The Boston Draft Resistance Group (BDRG) was established on April 25, 1967 by members of the Harvard We Won't Go group. The BDRG had grassroots support due to its campus and community organizing. It was heavily influenced by Vietnam Summer and Students for a Democratic Society. The BDRG offered draft resistance counseling services; its mission was to use draft resistance as a way to organize opposition to the Vietnam War. It made special efforts to reach out to Boston's working class. The BDRG was also known for its efforts to resist the draft through "Early Morning Shows" and "Horror Shows." [source: Confronting the War Machine by Michael S. Foley]

This collection documents the efforts of a Boston (Massachusetts) group to resist the draft in a collective manner and to educate the public about draft issues. The files originally belonging to Michael Ferber were donated by Michael Foley.

No particular arrangement, other than chronological, was necessary for these records.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these papers/records.

Gift of Janet Essley, 2004 [Acc. 04A-094]; Michael Foley, 2006 [Acc. 06A-059]

For the catalog record for this collection, and to find materials on similar topics, search the library's online catalog.

Processed by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, 2009.

  1. Charles Fisher collected papers (CDG-A)
  2. Michael S. Foley collected papers (CDG-A)

Items removed: Newsletter to Periodical Collection

Organization
Subject

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research without restrictions.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Use Restrictions

None.

Collection Inventory

Correspondence and notes.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

file of Michael Foley

General.
Box 1
Steering Committee: meeting minutes, 1967 (December)- 1968 (May).
Box 1
Financial records.
Box 1
Correspondence, 1967-1969.
Box 1
Position papers, form letters, etc., 1967.
Box 1
Position papers, form letters, etc., 1968.
Box 1
Position papers, form letters, etc., 1969.
Box 1
Position papers, form letters, etc., approximately 1967-1969.
Box 1
Encounters with Selective Service (local draft board interviews, etc.).
Box 1
Operation Off: letter to 200 members of Boston-area draft boards, 1968.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

includes reactions to letter

Requests for speakers, 1968.
Box 1
Publicity (including press releases); events sponsored/ co-sponsored.
Box 1
Media coverage.
Box 1
Articles by/about BDRG in "Avatar" newsletter, 1967-1968.
Box 1
Newsletter "brdg news", 1967-1968.
Box 1
Reference material: Miscellaneous.
Box 1
Reference material: Film "Operation Abolition".
Box 1
Reference material: Draft resistance.
Box 1
Reference material: Civil rights efforts (in Chester, Pennsylvania, etc.).
Box 1

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