Call Number:

DG.120

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

48 linear ft. (48 linear ft.)

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Clergy and Laity Concerned Records (DG 120), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1965-1983 (inclusive)

Creator:

Clergy and Laity Concerned (U.S.), Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (U.S.), Armentrout, Barbara, Bennett, John C. (John Coleman), 1902-1995, Boardman, Richard M., Brickner, Balfour, 1926-2005, Bromley, Dorothy Dunbar, 1896-1986, Brown, John Pairman, Brown, Robert McAfee, 1920-2001, Coffin, William Sloane, Jr., 1924-2006, Cox, Harvey, 1929-, Davies, Peter, 1931-, Fernandez, Richard R. (Richard Ritter), Hayes, Thomas Lee, 1932-, Henderson, Ron (Editor), Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 1907-1972, Hurwood, David L., 1922-, Lecky, Robert S., Lifton, Robert Jay, 1926-, Maslow, Robert A., Neuhaus, Richard John, Peck, Sidney M. (Sidney Morris), 1926-, Rogers, Carl D., Van Voorhis, Richard, Webber, George W., West, Charles C., Will, Herman, 1915-, and Young, Trudi Schutz

Abstract:

The collection includes minutes (1966-1973), correspondence (1965-1978), material on Clergy and Laity Concerned's programs and projects, Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC) publications and posters, press releases, clippings, photographs, and files on local CALC groups, particularly the Metropolitan Chicago Chapter (1969-1981). Also included are files of the newspaper American Report (1970-1974) and material relating to Help Unsell the War, a mass media campaign in 1971-1972. Correspondents include Barbara Armentrout, John C. Bennett, Richard M. Boardman, Balfour Brickner, Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, John Pairman Brown, Robert McAfee Brown, William Sloane Coffin, Harvey G. Cox, Peter Davies, Richard R. Fernandez, Thomas Lee Hayes, Ron Henderson, Abraham Heschel, David L. Hurwood, Robert S. Lecky, Robert Jay Lifton, Robert A. Maslow, Richard John Neuhaus, Sidney M. Peck, Richard Van Voorhis, George W. Webber, Charles C. West, Herman Will, and Trudi Schutz Young.

Clergy and Laity Concerned is a nationwide network within the religious community which was founded to mobilize opposition to U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia. In late 1965, John C. Bennett, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Rabbi Abraham Heschel and others organized the National Emergency Committee of Clergy Concerned About Vietnam. This committee soon developed a national organization of Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant clergymen and laymen which was known as Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (CALCAV). Richard R. Fernandez was hired as Exectuive Secretary in 1966, continuing in that capacity or as Co-Director until 1973. Others who have served as Director or Co-Director include Richard M. Boardman, John Collins, Robert S. Lecky, Barbara Lupo, Don Luce, Richard Van Voorhis, and Trudi Schutz Young.

During the first ten years of its existence, CALC's program focused on mobilizing the religious community to oppose U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Indochina, supporting those who refused induction into the armed services, and challenging governmental and corporate policies which were more concerned with power and profit than with the needs of people. CALC sponsored several mobilizations of religious leaders in Washington, DC, sent Rev. Thomas Hayes to Sweden to minister to American deserters in that country, and produced and distributed numerous publications. In addition, CALC sought to influence religious insitutions to use their investments as a means of moving American corporations out of the war-making business. The Honeywell Campaign, launched in 1972, focused on that corportation's manufacture of anti-personnel weapons. From 1973 to 1977, CALC worked with the American Friends Service Committee in a joint Stop the B-1 Bomber/ National Peace Conversion Campaign.

In 1972, the name of the organization was shortened to Clergy and Laity Concerned to reflect the broadening scope of the organization's concerns. Since the end of the Vietnam war, CALC has worked in the areas of reconstruction and reconciliation in Indochina, amnesty, world hunger, human rights, corporate responsibility, and peace conversion. Their human security program focuses on support for a nuclear moratorium. The basic belief which underlies these programs is that moral/ethical/religious values must be brought to bear on problems of political, economic, and social injustice.

CALC is an action-oriented movement of individuals and groups. From the beginning, an effort has been made to stimulate concern and action at the grassroots level. Trudi Schutz Young was hired in mid-1971 to work on field development, building a more cohesive and organized accosciation of local, regional, and national staff through training, frequent communication, and periodic conferences. The 1976 Annual Report stated that the local chapters were "the heart and soul of CALC--- generating public pressure for change and struggling to embody CALC's vision of a better society in our daily lives." In 1982, there were 42 chapters and affiliates in 29 states.

Formerly guided by the national staff and a National Steering Committee, the governing structure of CALC has gradually become more decentralized and democratic. From 1977 onward, the highest decision-making body in CALC has been the National Assembly, a group composed of chapter and action group members and at-large members. Between annual meetings of the National Assembly, a National Interim Steering Committee and the regional staff coordinate the work of the local chapters. The national office in New York City provides administrative and program support for CALC's network of local groups, raises funds, and represents CALC in public forums and in national coalitions.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for the records of the national office of Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC). The bulk of the material deposited to date is from the period 1966-1977. Included in the collection are minutes of the Steering Committee and other administrative committees (1966-1973, incomplete), correspondence (1965-1978), inter-office memoranda, various materials relating to CALC's programs and projects, CALC publications (periodicals, pamphlets, reprints, flyers, form letters, and posters), press releases, clippings, and photographs. Correspondence with and newletters from local CALC groups throughout the United States are included, as well as printed and mimeographed material from various other organizations.

American Report, a weekly or biweekly newspaper, was published by CALC from 1970-1974 under the editorship of Robert S. Lecky and later Robert G. Hoyt. Records of American Report in the CALC collection include correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and financial records.

The collection also contains materials relating to Help Unsell the War, a mass media campaign which CALC helped to promote in 1971 and 1972. Help Unsell the War materials include correspondence, posters, sound recordings, and videorecordings.

Additional files document the joint CALC/AFSC campaign against the B-1 bomber (1973-1977).

Among the correspondents are CALC staff members Barbara Armentrout, Robert Bland, Richard M. Boardman, Richard, R. Fernandez, Ron Henderson, Robert S. Lecky, Carl D. Rogers, Richard Van Voorhis, Trudi Schutz Young, and Vicki West. Other correspondents include John C. Bennett, Robert McAfee Brown, William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Harvey G. Cox, Peter Davies, Thomas Lee Hayes, Abraham Heschel, David L. Hurwood, Robert Jay Lifton, Robert A. Maslow, Richard John Neuhaus, Sidney M. Pack, George W. Webber, Charles C. West, and Herman Will, Jr.

The records of Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC) came to Swarthmore College Peace Collection in three accessions in 1979 and 1980. Upon examination of the contents of the 49 cartons, it was decided that the material need not be treated as three separate units. Material which obviously belonged together as a series was often found in two or three accessions. Unfortunately, the boxes had not been labelled or numbered in any way by the CALC staff before the material was shipped, so it was up to the SCPC staff to determin which materials belonged together.

To the extent possible, materials which were found together have been kept together and materials which looked as though they belonged to the same series have been brought together even if they were found in several different boxes.

In each series, the boxes are numbered starting with Box 1. This numbering system will facilitate the addition of material to the collection when future accessions are processed.

Series I, Administration, is an "artificial" series which has been brought together from the files of several different staff members. The minutes of the Executive Committee, the Steering Committee, and of several administrative committees are imcomplete and are filed with related material.

Sries II, Correspondence, consists of several subseries. Two folders of correspondence and statements are from the files of John C. Bennett, but the bulk of the series is the correspondence (1966-1973) of Richard R. Fernandez, the first Executive Secretary of CALC, most of which is in chronological order. The 1966 correspondence is in alphabetical order. Correspondence for the period January 1969 through June 1970 is missing. Correspondence (1970-1971) of Vicki West, an administrative assistant, is filed in separate folders in the same chronological sequence. A file of correspondence (1970-1974) and information about prospective donors is in alphabetical order.

Series III, Programs and Projects, brings together material from numerous cartons and represents the work of many CALC staff members. Boxes 1-12 cover the period 1966-1972 and are presumed to be the files of Richard R. Fernandez. Folders are arranged in alphabetical sequence as found. Box 13 contains material on Deserters in Sweden and files of Peggy Scradnick, bother pertaining to the time frame of the preceding twelve boxes, and several mailing lists (1972-1974). Boxes 14-21 are arranged in rough chronological order (1971-1974) and are primarily the files of Trudi Schutz Young and Barbara Armentrout. Boxes 22-24 are arranged by topic (Corporate Responsibility, Amnesty, B-1 Campaign), with each section arranged to show the development of CALC's program in that area.

Series IV, Publications and Public Relations, brings together material from many cartons and includes publications of various types, records of the Literature Services Department, and of American Report, press releases, clippings, posters, and material relating to Help Unsell the War. Arrangement is by types of material and, in most cases, chronological. Office files of the Literature Services Department were found to be in alphabetical order and have been kept that way. The files relating to the newspaper, American Report, published from october 1970 to November 1974, were not in good order when found and some re-arrangement has been done to put the material in a logical order. The material relating to editorial work on the paper (staff memoranda, correspondence with authors, etc.) dates almost entirely from Robert S. Lecky's editorship (October 1970-November 1972).

A subject file of clippings, primarily from American Report, has been handled as follows. Because a complete set of American Report is available in the periodical collection of SCPC, it was decided to discard the clippings from that source after making and index to the articles. Material from other sources has been kept as a subject file and is arranged in alphabetical order.

Information about the casualty posters and issue posters put out regularly by CALC from 1969 to 1972 and about the Help Unsell the War campaign of 1971-1972 is filed in Series IV. The actual posters, advertisments, videorecordings, and sound recordings which were produced and distributed have been moved to appropriate storage in the oversize or audio-visual areas.

Series V, Files of Local CALC Groups, are arranged geographically, by state and city (in alphabetical order). These files were found in three separate sequences (1968-1971, 1971-1973, 1973-1975) but have been combined into one series. Within each city (or chapter), the arrangement is chronological.

Series VI, Photographs, is housed with SCPC's photograph collection.

Series VII,

Reference Material, contains two types of material: an alphabetical file on organizations and subjects (1965-1972) and a file of miscellaneous reference material (1968-1977). The file on organizations and subjects was found in two alphabetical sequences but has been combined into one sequence because the folder labels and the span dates indicated that the material belonged together. This file covers approximately the same time period as the correspondence file in Series II (Boxes 3-11) and the files of Richard R. Fernandez in Series III (boxes 1-12). Some folders contain a small amount of correspondence.

Box 8 of Series VII contains reference material on several topics which was found throughout the CALC collection and which could not be incorporated elsewhere.

Series VIII, Audio-visual material is arranged according to the type of material.