Call Number:

DG.046

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

1 linear ft. (1 linear ft.)

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the A. Ruth Fry Papers (DG 046), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1905-1957 (inclusive)

Creator:

Fry, A. Ruth (Anna Ruth), 1878-1962, Albright, William A., Beaton, Grace M., and Brown, H. Runham (Herbert Runham), 1879-1949

Abstract:

[Anna] Ruth Fry was an activist and a writer born into a prominent Quaker family in England. From 1914-1924, she served as general secretary of the Friends Relief Commission, which provided help for refugees and others ravaged by World War I. Fry wrote about her experiences in A Quaker Adventure (1926). She was also the first chairman of the Russian Famine Relief Fund in 1921. Fry went on to write numerous books, pamphlets and tracts, on a variety of Quaker and peace topics. She died on April 26, 1962.

[Anna] Ruth Fry was born in Highgate, England on September 4, 1878, into a Quaker family. Her father, Sir Edward Fry, was both a judge and a lawyer who gained international repute for his role as a skilled negotiator at the Hague Tribunal in 1917. Ruth was educated at home, and then went on to work for peace as an activist and a writer. From 1914-1924, she served as general secretary of the Friends Relief Commission, a committee organized by British Quakers to provide help for refugees and others ravaged by the war. Fry toured the war zones as a traveling commissioner and wrote about the various relief efforts in her book A Quaker Adventure (1926). She was also the first chairman of the Russian Famine Relief Fund in 1921. In 1926-1927, she served as the secretary for the National Council for the Prevention of War, and in 1936-1937 as the treasurer of the London branch of the War Resisters' International. The pacifist journal Reconciliation appointed her to its editorial board in 1935. During the Boer war, Fry was treasurer of the Boer Home Industries Commission. Fry wrote numerous books, pamphlets and tracts, many of which are available in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. She died on April 26, 1962.

The Fry Papers contain biographical information; correspondence (1918-1948); a scrapbook (1925-1942); photographs; hand-drawn maps of Friends' relief work in Poland and the Soviet Union; and her writings. The latter consist of books, numerous peace tracts, articles and reports that were printed in newspapers and periodicals, and manuscript reports and journals about her trips to France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, the Soviet Union, Germany, the United States, Switzerland, and South Africa (with her father and alone).

Box 1 contains biographical information about A. Ruth Fry and her correspondence, and some of the books and pamphlets she wrote. Box 2 contains more writings, mostly published, by and about Fry. Some of these items have been cataloged on Tripod.