Call Number:

Print Collection 63

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.2 linear_foot (1 box and oversized folder)

Preferred Citation:

Howard Haines Brinton collection of Upper Silesia plebiscite material, 1919-1925, Print Collection 63, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1919-1925 (inclusive)

Creator:

Brinton, Howard H. (Howard Haines)

Form:

Propaganda and Publications (documents)

Abstract:

Howard H. Brinton (1884-1973) was a Quaker educator who, from 1921 to 1922, worked for the American Friends Service Committee, directing its child-feeding program in Saxony and Silesia. This collection, gathered by Brinton, contains printed propagandist material, created by both the German and Polish governments, relating to the plebiscite of 1921 in Upper Silesia which determined whether the region was to remain part of Germany or join the newly established Second Polish Republic.

Born in 1884, Howard Haines Brinton was the son of Edward and Ruthanna Haines (Brown) Brinton and was educated in a Quaker school before graduating from West Chester High School in 1900. He went on to study at Haverford College where he majored in mathematics and graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1904. He earned master's degrees from Haverford in 1905 and from Harvard circa 1909; and earned his doctorate from the University of California.

His early career was spent teaching: at Friends' Boarding School in Barnesville, Ohio from around 1905 to 1907; at Pickering College in Newmarket Ontario, teaching physics and mathematics; and at Guilford College in North Carolina, teaching mathematics and serving as acting president from 1917 to 1918 and as dean from 1918 to 1919.

In 1919, he left North Carolina in order to serve as director of publicity for the American Friends Service Committee, which worked in post-World War I welfare activities. According to "Current Biography," "in 1920, he was sent by the Committee to direct its child-feeding program in Saxony and Silesia and later in the plebiscite area of Upper Silesia." He described his experiences in his article "From the Devil's Cauldron," published in The Survey on May 21, 1921. Following the first World War, Upper Silesia was an economic battleground for both Germany and Poland, both wishing to control its mines and forges. As a result of these battles, the citizenry of the area (especially the cities of Eichenau (Germany) and Sosnowitz (Poland)) suffered. The outcome of "the plebiscite of 1921 in Upper Silesia to decide whether the region was to remain part of Germany or join the newly founded Poland," was in no way a certainty, "as Upper Silesia was an ethnically mixed region," (Lapp, page 565). In his article, Brinton described Upper Silesia as "squalid [and] wounded …with its bomb-throwing, shootings and riots … where two great nations faced each other with a hatred which the bitter struggle for Upper Silesia had intensified through every device known to propaganda." During his time there, he met Anna Shipley Cox (1887-1969), who was also working with the child feeding program of the American Friends Service Committee. They were married in 1921.

In 1922, the Brintons returned to the United States and served as professors at both Earlham College and Mills College. In 1936, the couple received the post of directors of Pendle Hill Graduate School for Religious and Social Study in Wallingford, PA. According to Pendle Hill, "the Brintons led Pendle Hill over the next two decades and were largely responsible for making Pendle Hill a significant Quaker resource for the Religious Society of Friends in the United States and around the world," ("Pendle Hill Beginnings"). Howard retired from Pendle Hill in 1952 and he and Anna moved to Japan, working for the American Friends Service Committee until their return to Pendle Hill in 1954. Brinton died on April 9, 1973.

Works cited:

Brinton, Howard H. "From the Devil's Cauldron." The Survey, May 21, 1921. Page 236.

Lapp, Benjamin, "Review of National Identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border, 1918-1922, by T. Hunt Tooley." The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 72, No. 2, June 200, pages 565-566.

Pendle Hill. "Pendle Hill Beginnings." (https://pendlehill.org/explore/pendle-hill-beginnings/ accessed 2019 November 5).

This collection contains printed material relating to the plebiscite of 1921 in Upper Silesia which determined whether the region was to remain part of Germany or join the newly established Second Polish Republic. Because the region was ethnically mixed, the material is often printed in both German and Polish and was collected by Brinton from both the German and Polish governments. According to the Catharine Brinton Cary (daughter of Howard H. Brinton), Brinton probably collected these materials to aid in relief fundraising among German American communities. Limited material in English about the Upper Silesia plebiscite was also collected.

The material is heavily illustrated and propagandist in nature. According to Lapp, "the German government did its utmost to influence the outcome [of the plebiscite]: Upper Silesia was a rich industrial borderland, and its retention was seen as vital to the newly formed Weimar Republic," (Lapp, page 565). It appears that the Polish government made equal efforts.

This collection is arranged chronologically. A fair amount of material is not dated but was clearly produced circa 1920 to 1921.