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Wilmer Brandt Collected Papers
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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
Wilmer Brandt was born on January 13, 1920. He grew up on a dairy farm in Hershey (Pennsylvania), and was a member of a Church of the Brethren congregation. Brandt was able to go to Junior College because Milton S. Hershey (of Hershey Chocolate) provided a full scholarship in 1938 for anyone who attended there. When Brandt finished, he worked for a year at the chocolate factory before he was drafted for WWII. Brandt declared himself to be a conscientious objector and took part in alternative service, called Civilian Public Service (CPS), from February 1942 to January 1946. He was first in forestry service in Kane (Pennsylvania), then doing hookworm control in Florida. After being discharged, he became a "sea-going cowboy" working on a boat that transported cattle and horses to war-torn Europe; in all, he made three trips for the Heifer Project. This was followed by a stint at the Macedonia Cooperative Community in Georgia, followed by working on the grounds at a graduate school in Putney (Vermont). Then he moved to Goddard, where he graduated from Goddard College in 1955. His major was in elementary education, but a year of teaching convinced him that it was not to be his vocation. He worked thereafter as a cook or gardener / treeman in children's camps and schools, going on to be a forester.
Brandt joined a Quaker meeting, and was interested in peace topics. He admired Jeannette Rankin for being the only person in Congress to vote against U.S. involvement in both WWI and WWII. They met, possibly through both being members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and corresponded for many years.
Brandt built a house in Marshfield (Vermont), where he still lives.
This small collection is primarily made up of correspondence with Jeannette Rankin and others, including Round Robin letters sent to (and received from) friends, most likely those who were in CPS with him.
The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these papers.
Gift of Wilmer Brandt, 2014 [acc. no. 2014-060, 2014-062].
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, June 2016.
Items removed: Photos removed to the Photograph Collection; originals of Jeannette Rankin letters removed to the Restricted Documents collection.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Swarthmore College Peace Collection
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open to researchers, but originals of the Jeannette Rankin letters may only be seen with permission.
- Copyright may have been transferred to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection or may have been retained by the creators/authors (or their descendants), in this collection, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Please contact the SCPC Curator for further information.
- Use Restrictions
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None.
Collection Inventory
includes photocopies of letters from Jeannette Rankin, originals removed
with CPS friends?
with CPS friends?
with CPS friends?
photocopies; photographs removed