Call Number:

DG.195

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

2.7 linear ft. (2.7 linear feet.)

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Henry Leroy Finch Jr. (Roy Finch) Papers (DG 195), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Date:

1933-1995 (inclusive)

Creator:

Finch, Henry Le Roy, Dellinger, David T., 1915-2004, Lens, Sidney, and Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967

Abstract:

Henry Leroy (Roy) Finch Jr. was a pacifist, conscientious objector to World War II, philosopher and writer.

Henry Leroy Finch, Jr. was born on August 8, 1918. He was a pacifist and conscientious objector during World War II. He served in Civilian Public Service (CPS) Camp 11 (Ashburnham, Massachusetts) and Camp 37 (Coleville, California), and with CPS Unit 41 Williamsburg, Virginia). The first two were engaged in U.S. Forest Service efforts, and the latter was a mental hospital. After the war, Finch worked as an editor for Alternative and Liberation. For a time he was involved with the American Forum for Socialist Education, but his primary affiliations were with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and War Resisters League. He earned a PhD, taught philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College for twenty years and at Hunter College for sixteen years, and wrote several books, including Simone Weil and the Intellect of Grace. Finch was one of the founders of the American Weil Society in 1970. He died on August 22, 1997.

Finch was known as Roy in pacifist circles during the 1940s-1950s, and as such this name is noted in parentheses in the title of his papers because it shows up this way in the various collections at the SCPC. He used Henry as his name in his professional life.

This collection is comprised of material related to Finch's pacifist activities in the 1940s and 1950s. It includes much correspondence, as well as some administrative material for organizations or efforts he involved himself with. The papers contain only slight reference to Finch's work as a philosopher, writer and professor.