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Roland F. Smith 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.Smith, Roland F.
Repository:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Extent:
1.25 linear ft.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item], in the Roland F. Smith Collected Papers (CDG-A), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Date:
1939-1946, 1981,1987-1990 (inclusive), 1981, and 1992
Creator:
Smith, Roland F. (Roland Frederick), 1917-1992
Abstract:
Papers of Roland F. Smith documenting his service in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during WWII, as well as family papers.

Roland F. Smith was born on April 8, 1917 and died on April 21, 1992. Smith was from Milton, Massachuseets and belonged to the Congregational Christian Church. He was employed as a teacher. During WWII he was classified as a conscientious objector, and served in Civilian Public Service (CPS) at Buck Creek Camp (#19) in Marion, Marion, North Carolina, from November 25, 1941 to December 1942, at the Cheltenham School for Boys (#62) in Cheltenham, Maryland from January 1943 to May 30, 1943, at the Powelsville Camp (#52) in Powellsville, Maryland from May 31, 1943 to August 30, 1943, and at the Philadelphia State Hospital [Byberry] (#49) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from September 6, 1943 to December 16, 1945. Smith married Ada Mary Johnson (born February 13, 1920) on March 28, 1945; On October 5, 1945 she was hit by a car and died the next day. Roland Smith married Ada Mary's sister, Margaret Johnson the following year.

Papers were given to the SCPC by the daughter of Roland Smith. It was decided to name the collection after him, even though there are family papers included of his wives, parents, parents-in-law, brother-in-law (Charles Johnson), and Marcia Geiger. The diaries and letters of this collection provide a window into family relations and into the work and conditions existent at state mental hospitals and CPS camps in the 1940s.

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

Gift of family of Roland F. Smith, 2007.

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

Processed, and checklist created, by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, August 2007; updated December 2012.

Photos removed to the Photograph Collection include snapshots of Roland Smith, and of the various CPS camps where he served.

People
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

Biographical information.
Box 1
C.O. position.
Box 1
Mss. "Reactions to Byberry".
Box 1
"Marienfield Diary" (5th season), 1941.
Box 1
Diary, November 22, 1939 - July 28, 1942.
Box 1
Diary, July 29, 1942 - January 6, 1946.
Box 1
Student paper "Nonviolent Defense in History and in the Present", 1981 (March).
Box 1
Letters to Margaret Johnson.
Box 1
Letters to parents, August 29, 1940 - 1942.
Box 1
Letters to parents, 1943-1944.
Box 1
Letters to parents, 1945 - 1946 (January).
Box 1
Letters to Shirley Smith (sister).
Box 1
Letters to/from parents-in-law.
Box 1
Letters from parents, 1940-1941.
Box 1
Letters received, 1940.
Box 1
Letters received, 1941.
Box 1
Letters received, 1942.
Box 1
Letters received, 1943-1945.
Box 1
Letters from Ada Mary Johnson [while attendant at Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, Virginia], 1943-1944.
Box 2
Letters to _______ from Marcia Geiger (cousin?) [while attendant at Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, Virginia], 1944.
Box 2
Letters to Margaret Johnson from Ada Mary Johnson.
Box 2
Letters to parents from Ada Mary Johnson.
Box 2
Letters to/from Roland and Ada Mary Johnson.
Box 2
Letters from Mrs. Smith to Margaret Johnson and Earl Johnson, 1945.
Box 2
Letters to parents from Charles Johnson (CPS Camp Antelope #37, Coleville, CA).
Box 2
Scope and Contents

photos removed to Photograph Collection

Letters to Margaret Johnson from Charles Johnson (CPS Camp Antelope #37, Coleville, CA).
Box 2
Scope and Contents

photos removed to Photograph Collection

Reminiscences about his C.O. stance and about CPS, 1987-1990.
Box 2
Photograph album.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

dismantled; photos removed to Photograph Collection

Reference material.
Box 2

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