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Daniel A. Seeger 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

Call Number:
CDG-A.Seeger, Daniel A.
Repository:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Extent:
2.9 linear ft. (35 linear in.; 7 boxes)
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item], in the Daniel Seeger Collected Papers (CDG-A), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Date:
1958-2008 (inclusive)
Creator:
Seeger, Daniel A.
Abstract:
Seeger is best known for the 1965 Supreme Court court case regarding his conscientious objector claim without belief in a Supreme Being as grounds for C.O. status.

[from Wikepedia]

Daniel Andrew Seeger is a retired American non-profit-business administrator, and a Quaker religion and social-issue writer, who was earlier a defendant in a case on conscription of pacifists that was decided by the Supreme Court.

Seeger had come from a Roman Catholic background, been heavily influenced by Quaker ideas, and volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). In 1958, he was denied conscientious objector status under the 1948 military-draft law, on grounds that his religious beliefs did not constitute "belief in a Supreme Being"; he was eventually ordered to enter the armed forces, and convicted of draft refusal. In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled in United States vs. Seeger that his conviction was mistaken, because Congress, in its statutory language, "did not intend" using "the usual understanding" of "Supreme Being", but rather an interpretation that extended to Seeger's "compulsion" to "goodness".

Seeger made a career in the administration of the AFSC, and also worked as Executive Director of Pendle Hill, from which he retired in September 2000. On April 1, 2010, Seeger stepped into the role of Interim General Secretary at the AFSC, pending the conclusion of the search for a permanent General Secretary.

These papers are primarily about Seeger's draft case from 1963-1965. They include FBI files on Seeger, received through the Freedom of Information Act.

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

Gift of Daniel A. Seeger, 2014 [acc. 2014-008 and 2014-018].

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, April 2014.

  1. Student Peace Union Records (DG 065)
  2. American Friends Service Committee Collected Records (CDG-A)

One photograph of Seeger with his bride, Betty Jean Adams (January 31, 1960), was removed to the Photograph Collection.

People
Organization
Subject

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

None.

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

None.

Collection Inventory

Biographical information.
Box 1
Autobiographical writings / draft resistance.
Box 1
Work at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) [includes regional responses to statement on C.O.s / the Draft].
Box 1
Media coverage of Seeger.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1958-1959.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1960.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1961-1962.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1963.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1964 (January-February).
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1964 (March-December).
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, 1965-1966.
Box 1
Correspondence to/from/about, n.d.
Box 1
Speaking engagements.
Box 2
Broadcasts on radio shows.
Box 2
Writings: article "Reconciling Religious Faith and Democratic Practice: The Problem of the Elusive Definition of Religion" (North Dakota Law Review, vol. 84:1), 2008.
Box 2
Involvement (?) with the Voluntary Organizations and a World Without War.
Box 2
Attendence at Midwest Voluntary Organizations and a World Without War Conference, January 9-10, 1965.
Box 2
Efforts in South Africa, 1965.
Box 2
Notes / drafts.
Box 2
Mailing lists.
Box 2
Letters to/from government officials.
Box 2
Correspondence with lawyers.
Box 2
Miscellaneous re: court cases.
Box 2
Letters of support to government officials.
Box 2
Non-Seeger correspondence.
Box 2
Daniel Seeger Defense Fund of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO).
Box 2
Daniel Seeger Defense Fund of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO): fundraiser / appeal correspondence.
Box 2
Daniel Seeger Defense Fund of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO): fundraiser / appeal.
Box 2
Trial document, U.S. Supreme Court, October Term, 1963.
Box 3
Trial documents, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, no. 28346, 1963-1964.
Box 3
Trial documents, Southern District of New York, (6.2 Cr. 1003) [folder 1].
Box 3
Trial documents, Southern District of New York, (6.2 Cr. 1003) [folder 2].
Box 3
Trial documents, U.S. Supreme Court, no. 50, October Term [folder 1], 1964.
Box 3
Trial documents, U.S. Supreme Court, no. 50, October Term [folder 2], 1964.
Box 3
Trial documents, "Transcript of Record," U.S. Supreme Court, no. 50, October Term, 1964.
Box 3
Trial documents, U.S. Supreme Court, no. 50 and 51 and 29, October Term, 1964.
Box 3
Statements and reports, re: court cases [folder 1].
Box 3
Statements and reports, re: court cases [folder 2].
Box 3
FBI file (copies received after Freedom of Information Act request).
Box 4
Writings by Seeger's mother, Dorothy Seeger.
Box 4
Reference material: miscellaneous.
Box 4
Reference material: trial document of Supreme Ct., re: religion and education (no. 119 and 142), October Term, 1962.
Box 4
Reference material: trial documents of Supreme Ct., v. Forest Britt Peter (no. 787) and v. Arno Sascha Johnson (no. --), October Term, 1963.
Box 4
Reference material: mss. "The American Peace Movement: A Study of Its Themes and Political Potential" by A.E. Wessel, 1962.
Box 4
Reference material: article "Defining Religion...", 2007.
Box 4
Scope and Contents

with annotations - by Seeger?

Reference material: mss. "The Effects of U.S. v. Seeger on Selective Service" by Phillip Steinberg.
Box 4
Reference material: article "The Supreme Court, 1964 Term" [mentions Seeger on p.113], 1965.
Box 4
Reference material: article "When is a Religious Belief Religious? U.S. v. Seeger..." by Robert L. Rabin, 1966.
Box 4
Correspondence to/from/about, miscellaneous documents, 1962-1967.
Box 5
Correspondence to/from/about, miscellaneous documents, 1967-1969.
Box 5
Miscellaneous written work, 1967-1970.
Box 5
Correspondence to/from/about, 1970.
Box 5
Correspondence to/from/about, 1971.
Box 5
Correspondence to/from/about, 1971-1972.
Box 5
Correspondence to/from/about, 1972.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1973.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1974.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1975.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1975-1976.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1976-1978.
Box 6
Correspondence to/from/about, 1978-1979.
Box 7
Correspondence to/from/about, 1980.
Box 7
Correspondence to/from/about, 1981.
Box 7
Correspondence to/from/about, 1982.
Box 7
Tasks and Goals of NYMRC.
Box 7

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