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New York Bureau of Legal Advice 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

Call Number:
CDG-A.New York Bureau of Legal Advice
Repository:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Extent:
0.63 linear ft. (7.5 linear in.)
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item], in the New York Bureau of Legal Advice Collected Records (CDG-A.), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Date:
1917-1920 (inclusive)
Creator:
New York Bureau of Legal Advice
Abstract:
The New York Bureau of Legal First Aid was founded on May 11, 1917. In May 1918, the group changed its name to the New York Bureau of Legal Advice. The Bureau was the first organization to provide free legal service to men who resisted the new draft laws related to the entry of the United States into the First World War. In September 1918, the Bureau was raided by the FBI which temporarily disrupted its work. The Bureau closed in the fall of 1919, shortly before the Armistice.

The New York Bureau of Legal First Aid was founded on May 11, 1917 with a $100 grant from the Woman's Peace Party. It was initially sponsored by the People's Council, the Socialist Party, the Civil Liberties Bureau and the Workmen's Council. In May 1918, the group changed its name to the New York Bureau of Legal Advice. The Bureau was the first organization to provide free legal service to men who resisted the new draft laws related to the entry of the United States into the first world war. Its primary efforts went into monitoring the government's attitude toward conscientious objectors to war, and campaigning for their humane treatment and eventual amnesty from prison terms. It also opposed the deportation of labor union radicals (especially members of the International (Industrial) Workers of the World), and the harassment of others opposed to the war. In September 1918, the Bureau was raided by the FBI which temporarily disrupted its work.

Frances Witherspoon, a feminist and socialist peace activist, served as the Bureau's Executive Secretary. Charles Recht, a Czech-born attorney, was its General Counsel. Members of the Executive Committee included Tracy D. Mygatt, Roger Baldwin, Martha Gruening and Fola La Follette (daughter of Senator La Follette). The Bureau closed in the fall of 1919, shortly before the Armistice.

The NYBLA collection includes correspondence with C.O.s and their families, office/administrative records, and newspaper clippings.

Many of the letters and documents, as well as transcriptions, from the NYBLA Collected Records have been published in the SCPC website about WWI conscientious objection / objectors (http://cosandgreatwar.swarthmore.edu/)

Unknown.

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

Processed by Peace Collection staff; Anne Yoder, July 1999; this version of finding aid by Wendy E. Chmielewski, July 2012.

Tracy Mygatt and Frances Witherspoon Papers (DG 089)

The Peace Collection holds the microfilmed collection of NYBLA holdings from the Tamiment Library at New York University. See tripod record for further information.

Photos were removed to the Photograph Collection.

Organization
Subject

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

None.

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

Archival Resource Key. Checklist; removal form; holdings in Tamiment Library.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Programmatic material (includes bylaws), 1917-1919.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Correspondence with army camp commanders etc., 1918-1919.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. General correspondence re:conscientous objectors, 1918 - 1920 (January).
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Letters from conscientous objectors, 1917-1919.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Letters from conscientous objector, Bruno Grunzig, 1918-1920.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Letters from wives and fiancees of conscientous objectors about visits to camps/prisons, 1918-1919.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Statements of conscientous objectors re: their convictions, and reports of conditions (and treatment) in camps/prisons.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Reports re: court-martials of conscientous objectors, 1918 (March) - 1919 (February).
Box 1
Scope and Contents

including Julius Eichel

Archival Resource Key. Statements from 2 conscientous objectors who were deported from the U.S.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Answers to survey of 256(?) conscientous objectors.
Box 1
Archival Resource Key. Lists of conscientous objectors.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

includes some notes re: conditions in camps/prisons

Archival Resource Key. Newsclippings re: conscientous objectors [removed from scrapbook; photocopied].
Box 2
Archival Resource Key. Newsclippings re: conscientous objectors [photocopied], 1918-1919, n.d.
Box 2

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