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Mennonite Central Committee Collected Records

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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

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) was formed when representatives of various Mennonite conferences met July 27-28, 1920, in Elkhart (Indiana), and pledged to aid hungry people, including Mennonites, in Russia and Ukraine.The first three MCC workers, Orie O. Miller, Clayton Kratz and Arthur Slagel, delivered aid in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. Kratz disappeared and was believed killed. Miller and Slagel returned. Since then, more than 13,000 people have served one-, two-, three- and five-year assignments with MCC worldwide on relief, peace and development projects. Thousands of others have volunteered in thrift shops, at relief sales and in other ways. Its vision statement states: "Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God's love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation." More may be learned at http://mcc.org/about/welcome. The Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office (see http://washington.mcc.org/) opened in July 1968, upon the recommendations of Mennonite denominational bodies and conference peace committees, after a decade of study and discernment concerning Mennonite witness to government. From its beginning, the Washington Office has been a listening and interpreting post for MCC constituents and a bridge between MCC constituent concerns and the U.S. government. MCC also has an United Nations Laision Office.

This small collection includes printed material (brochures, reports, newsletters) and print-outs of emails.

The bulk of MCC's archives is held by Mennonite Archives USA in Elkhart, Indiana (see the finding aid at http://www.mcusa-archives.org/MCC/IX-00-00(MCC).html) [may have been moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2013/2014].

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is not the official repository for the records of the Mennonite Central Committee.

Received via mail.

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

Processed, and checklist prepared, by Anne Yoder, Archivist, January 2010.

The newsletter "Draft Counselor's Update" (1980-1989) was removed to the Periodical Collection.

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

"Our Attitude As Nonresistant Christians in the Present Situation: A Message to Mennonites and Other Nonresistant Christians, Adopted by the Mennonite Central Committee, Chicago"- pamphlet "Must Christians Fight: A Scriptural Inquiry" by Edward Yoder, in collaboration with Jesse W. Hoover and Harold S. Bender, January 3, 1942; 1943.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Handbook", 1943.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Compromise With War: A Brief Critique of the War Philosophy of Charles Clayton Morrison" by Edward Yoder, 1944.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "The Christian and Conscription: An Inquiry Designed as a Preface to Action" by Edward Yoder and Don Smucker, 1945.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Mennonite Community Sourcebook" ed. by Esko Loewen, 1946.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Before You Decide: A Quest of Christian Youth for Alternatives in an Age of Violence" by Howard Charles in collaboration with Jesse W. Hoover, 1948.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Twenty-Five Years: The Story of the M.C.C.", 1920-1945.
Box 1
Miscellaneous, 1940-1949.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "A Declaration of Christian Faith and Commitment", 1950.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "From Military Service to Christian Nonresistance: The Testimony of a Former French Army Officer" by Pierre Widmer, 1950.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Proceed With Caution: An Orientation Booklet for Men Enter I-W Service", 1954.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "A Statement of Guiding Principles About Civil Defense", 1956.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Portrait of a Peacemaker" (2 versions).
Box 1
Pamphlet: "Think...On These Things" (2 versions).
Box 1
Article: "The Peace Mission of the Mennonite Central Committee" by John A. Lapp, circa 1989.
Box 1
Pamphlet: "MCC's Commitment to Peace", circa 1980s.
Box 1
Pamphlet: Booklet "Silence and Courage: Income Taxes, War and Mennonites" by Titus Peachey (MCC Occasional Paper #18), 1940-1993.
Box 1
Miscellaneous.
Box 1
Civilian Bonds for war relief and Civilian Public Service (CPS).
Box 1
Civilian Public Service (CPS) and I-W Service.
Box 1
Mutual aid.
Box 1
Relief efforts.
Box 1
Annual reports, 1958-1965.
Box 1
Reports on cluster bombs, 2000.
Box 1
Newsletters: Miscellaneous.
Box 1
Periodical "A Common Place" focused on peace, 2021.

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