Call Number:

DG.068

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

7.25 linear ft. (7.25 linear ft.)

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], in the Women's Committee to Oppose Conscription Records (DG 068), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1942-1948 (inclusive)

Creator:

Women's Committee to Oppose Conscription, Balch, Emily Greene, 1867-1961, Chalmers, Frances K. (Frances Kinghorn), Cleghorn, Sarah Norcliffe, 1876-1959, Detzer, Dorothy, 1893-1981, Elfenbein, Elsie Wright, French, Paul Comly, 1903-1960, Garst, Eleanor, Harkness, Georgia Elma, 1891-1974, Hughan, Jessie Wallace, 1875-1955, La Force, Pearl A., Libby, Frederick J. (Frederick Joseph), 1874-1970, Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967, Mygatt, Tracy D. (Tracy Dickinson), 1885-1973, Pierce, Katharine C. (Katharine Curtis), 1882-, Randall, Mercedes M. (Mercedes Moritz), 1895-1977, Schomer, Elsie, Scudder, Vida Dutton, 1861-1954, Stewart, Annalee, 1900?-, Swomley, John M., 1915-2010, Wilson, E. Raymond (Edward Raymond), 1896-1987, and Witherspoon, Frances, 1886-1973

Abstract:

This group was originally named the Committee to Oppose the Conscription of Women [WCOC], and then the National Committee to Oppose the Conscription of Women. It was formed in 1942 to protest the Austin-Wadsworth legislative bills and similar measures, which proposed that American women be drated into a civilian workforce for the duration of World War II. When the immediate threat of drafting women had passed, the group changed its name again, this time to the Women's Committee to Oppose Conscription, reflecting its stand against any conscription. Mildred Scott Olmsted served as Director, A.J. Muste as Treasurer, and Grace Rhoads as secretary. The Committee was headed by Katherine Pierce and Frances Chalmers of New York City.

This group was originally named the Committee to Oppose the Conscription of Women [WCOC], and then the National Committee to Oppose the Conscription of Women. It was formed to protest the Austin-Wadsworth legislative bills and similar measures, and as an independent committee with one objective it expected to educate and motivate a constituency no organized peace group could reach. At its height, the group had a governing committee of 150 members and a national mailing list of 3000. When the immediate threat of drafting women had passed, the group changed its name again, this time to the Women's Committee to Oppose Conscription, to reflect its stand against any conscription. Mildred Scott Olmsted served as Director, A.J. Muste as Treasurer, and Grace Rhoads as secretary. The Committee was headed by Katherine Pierce and Frances Chalmers of New York City.

The material in this collection came in 1948 from Grace Rhoads; in 1966 from Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Mildred Scott Olmsted's files); and in 1969 from Mildred Scott Olmsted. It is difficult to know if this comprises all of the files kept by the Committee's office, though it is unlikely.

In 2001, the collection was rearranged and refoldered; because of time constraints, however, no attempt was made to do preservation photocopying (much of the paper in this collection is brittle), or to put into chronological order the material within the folders