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James Morgan Read Papers

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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
RG5.128
Repository:
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Extent:
6 linear ft. (12 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item or series here], James Morgan Read Papers, RG 5/128, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Date:
1940-1987 (inclusive)
Creator:
Read, James Morgan, 1908-1985, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, American Friends Service Committee, Wilmington College (Wilmington, Ohio), Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Dartmouth Conference (XIII : 1981 : Moscow), Dartmouth Conference (XIV : 1984 : Dartmouth), Lester B. Pearson Conference on the Canada-United States Relationship (5th : 1981 : Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.), and Soviet-American Writers Conference (3rd : 1979)
Abstract:
James Morgan Read (1908-1985) was a Quaker and president of Wilmington College from 1960-69. He also served as the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner from 1951-60, and was a vice president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation from 1969 until his retirement in 1974. The bulk of the collection documents James Read's work as a consultant after 1974. His diaries date from his association with Wilmington College. Areas of particular interest include the establishment of Soviet-American dialogue and the Dartmouth and Soviet-American Writers Conferences, U.S./Canadian relations and the Lester B. Pearson Conference, the American Friends Service Committee, and the U.N. (non-governmental organizations).

James Morgan Read (1908-1985) was a Quaker and president of Wilmington College, Ohio, from 1960-69. He also served as the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner from 1951-60, and was a vice president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation from 1969 until his retirement in 1974.

James Morgan Read was born in Camden, New Jersey, the son of a Methodist Minister. He graduated from Dickinson College (1929), Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and earned a D. Phil. from Marburg University (1932) in Germany and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1940). He taught History at Lycoming College from 1932-1934 and served as Associate Professor of History and then Chairman of the Social Sciences Department at the University of Louisville from 1935-1943. In 1940, he married Henrietta Morton; they raised three children: Austine (Bonnie), James III, and Edward. In 1949, Read joined the Society of Friends as a member of the Gwynedd, Pennsylvania Monthly Meeting. Two years after Henrietta Read's sudden death from cancer in 1976, James Read married Theresa K. Dintenfass.

From 1943-1945, Read was employed in Civilian Public Service. He then took a job as Associate Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington and focused his efforts on legislation for displaced persons. He continued that concern as Secretary in the Foreign Service Section of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) from 1947 to 1949, overseeing that organization's relief work in the immediate postwar period.

In 1950, James Read was named Chief of the Division of Education and Cultural Relations of the United States High Commissioner for Germany (State Department). From 1951 to 1960 he served as the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and was briefly appointed Acting High Commissioner in 1956. He returned to the academic world as President of Wilmington College in Ohio from 1960 to 1969.

Read stepped down as President of Wilmington College in 1969 to take a job as Vice-President of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Five years later, when he reached the mandatory retirement age, Read chose to continue his association with Kettering, serving as Senior Consultant in International Affairs. In that capacity he was involved in three of the Dartmouth Conferences which were administered and co-sponsored by Kettering, and he acted as Rapporteur for the third Soviet-American Writers Conference in the USSR in 1979. Read also wrote a report for Kettering on the Council on Foreign Relation's fifth Conference on the US-Canada Relationship in 1981.

James Read also maintained his involvement with the American Friends Service Committee, serving on the AFSC Board of Directors as member and Chair of the AFSC Information and Interpretation Committee. He served as Clerk of the Quaker United Nations Committee in New York and did a study of the Special Committee of the UN General Assembly Banning the Use of Force. His experience with the UN also led to involvement with the US Committee for the UN Institute for Training and Research. In 1983, he acted as a Consultant to Crosscurrents to study the possibility of establishing an office for Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung.

James Read (1908-1985) was a Quaker whose work emphasized international programs and higher education.

The bulk of the collection documents James Read's work as a consultant after 1974. His diaries date from his association with Wilmington College. Areas of particular interest include the establishment of Soviet-American dialogue and the Dartmouth and Soviet-American Writers Conferences, U.S./Canadian relations and the Lester B. Pearson Conference, the American Friends Service Committee, and the U.N. (non-governmental organizations).

The collection is divided in nine series:

  1. Biographical material
  2. Correspondence, 1950-87
  3. Diaries, 1961-82
  4. Speeches and seminar presentations, 1960-84
  5. Published articles, 1950-85
  6. Kettering Foundation, 1969-82
  7. AFSC, 1979-84
  8. Other activities, 1976-85
  9. Miscellaneous

Donor: Theresa K. Read, 1987

Subject
Place

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Author
FHL staff
Finding Aid Date
1988
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Collection Inventory

General,, 1954-1985.
Box 1
Inauguration/Resignation,, 1960-69.
Box 1
Communist Speaker Controversy,, 1962.
Box 1

Business, Letters Received, 1978.
Box 1
Business, Letters Sent, 1978-79.
Box 1
Christmas, Letters Received,, 1961-78.
Box 1
Christmas, Letters Sent, 1950-76.
Box 1
Family, Letters Received, 1965-71 & 1977-84.
Box 1
Family, Letters Sent, 1970 & 1977-79.
Box 1
Personal Letters Received, 1962-76 & 1977-84.
Box 1
Personal Letters Sent, 1977-79.
Box 1
Immigration Reform, 1965-70.
Box 1
Writers' Conference, 1977-78.
Box 1
World Hunger Education Service, 1979-81.
Box 2
Earth Aid Society, 1981.
Box 2
Albert Einstein Institution, 1984.
Box 2
Program on Non-Violent Sanctions, 1984.
Box 2
"Women and Men": Raymond Lloyd, 1980-83.
Box 2
William Huntington, 1982-83.
Box 2
Shepherd Stone, 1983.
Box 2
Reference Letters Resumes, 1978-81.
Box 2
Miscellaneous, 1962-79.
Box 2

Diary, 1961-64.
Box 2
Diary, 1965-75.
Box 3
Diary, 1979.
Box 3
Diary, 1981-82.
Box 3

Scope and Contents

Files contain manuscript copies of articles, author's notes, and some research material.

Speeches While President of Wilmington College, 1960-69.
Box 4
Physical Description

9 folders

"Reflections on the Last Two Decades of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1962-83,", 1984.
Scope and Contents

For the International Studies Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

Correspondence, 1981-84.
Box 5
Speeches Delivered at Conference, 1984.
Box 5
Articles by Irwin Abrams, 1945-83.
Box 5
Prize Nominations by AFSC, 1975-84.
Box 5
Acceptance Speeches: Red Cross, 1917, 1944, 1963.
Box 5
Acceptance Speeches: UNICEF, 1966.
Box 5
Acceptance Speeches: Amnesty International, 1977.
Box 5
Misc. pamphlets and clippings, 1974-84.
Box 5
Scope and Contents

For the Aspen Institute-Berlin.

Correspondence, 1984-85.
Box 5
Agenda and Proceedings, 1984.
Box 5
Articles Clippings.
Box 5

Scope and Contents

Files contain manuscript copies of articles, author's notes, and some research material.

Early published articles, 1950-67.
Box 6
"Distinctives of a Quaker College," Friends Journal, and unfinished sequel., 1963.
Box 6
Research Materials, Grenada St.Lucia.
Box 6
"The Best Kept Secret," Friends Journal, October 1981.
Box 6
"United Nations Seminar," Quaker Life, 1982.
Box 6
"Non-Use of Force," Friends Journal, 1982.
Box 6
Releases, 4/80-4/81.
Box 6
Releases, 4/81-11/81.
Box 6
Releases, 3/82-4/82.
Box 6
Releases, 1/83-10/83.
Box 6
Releases, 8/84-2/85.
Box 7
Releases, 8/84-2/85.
Box 7
Annual Reports,, 1981-84.
Box 7
Correspondence,, 1981-83.
Box 7
Quaker UN Office Releases,, 1983-85.
Box 7
Miscellaneous Articles Notes.
Box 7

Scope and Contents

These files, arranged chronologically by project, include reports and related correspondence.

Personnel, 1969-80.
Box 7
Travel and Expense Accounts, 1977-78.
Box 7
Scope and Contents

The Dartmouth Conferences were a series of off-the-record informal talks between leading citizens of the US and USSR, initiated at the suggestion of President Eisenhower and administered and co-sponsored by the Kettering Foundation.

Dartmouth Conference X, 1976.
Box 7
Dartmouth Conference XI, 1977.
Box 7
Dartmouth Conference XII Williamsburg, Virginia, 1979.
Box 7
Dartmouth Conference XIII Moscow, 1981.
Box 8
Dartmouth Conference XIV Dartmouth College, 1984.
Box 8
Related Organizations.
Box 8
Citizen Exchange Corps, 1979.
Box 8
UN Assoc.-Soviet/US Relations, 1979.
Box 8
Miscellaneous Related Materials, 1977-79.
Box 8
Scope and Contents

The Soviet-American Writers Conferences were an outgrowth of the Dartmouth Conferences. The Kettering Foundation co-sponsored and administered the first two, in 1977 and 1978. James Read acted as Rapporteur for Kettering in 1979 when sponsorship was transferred to the Kennan Institute. In 1980, he was an observer for Kettering and wrote a report.

Writers Conference II, USA, 1978.
Box 8
Writers Conference I, USSR, 1977.
Box 9
Writers Conference Preliminary Meeting, Austria, 1978.
Box 9
3rd Soviet-American Writers Conference, USSR, 1979.
Box 9
4th Soviet-American Writers Conference, California, 1980.
Box 9
5th Soviet-American Writers Conference, USSR, 1982.
Box 9
Related Articles, 1978-82.
Box 9
Scope and Contents

Read was a Delegate to the Lester B. Peason Conference (V) on the US-Canada Relationship and wrote a report for Kettering.

Correspondence, 1977-80.
Box 9
Pearson Conference, 1981.
Box 10
Pearson Conference, 1982-83.
Box 10
Pearson Conference, 1984.
Box 10
Canada-Mexico Project, 1978.
Box 10
US-China Writers Conference, 1982.
Box 10
US-China Writers Conference, 1983.
Box 10
Related Articles.
Box 10
World Without War, 1978-79.
Box 10
Glenn Paige, 1979-80.
Box 10
Esalen Institute, 1981-82.
Box 10

Memos.
Box 10
Minutes.
Box 10
Nominations and Staff Lists.
Box 10
AFSC and Canada.
Box 10
1977 Discussions, 1977.
Box 10
1981 Discussions, 1981.
Box 10
1983 Discussions., 1983.
Box 10
Miscellaneous.
Box 10
Biographical Sketches, Subcommittee Lists.
Box 11
Correspondence.
Box 11
Memos Intra-Committee Correspondence.
Box 11
Minutes Agendas.
Box 11
Correspondence.
Box 11
Memos Intra-Committee Correspondence.
Box 11
Minutes Agendas.
Box 11
Reports.
Box 11
Scope and Contents

The Quaker United Nations Offices in New York are sponsored by FWCC in its capacity as an international non-governmental organization (NGO) at the UN, and administered by the AFSC. Read was Clerk of the QUNC. He discovered the existence of a Special Committee appointed by the General Assembly of the UN to deal with the question of the non-use of force, and wrote two articles for Friends Journal. See Series 2, Published Articles. Correspondence, 1973-77.

Membership Sub Committee Lists, 1982-85.
Box 11
Memos Intra-Committee Correspondence, 1979-85.
Box 11
Minutes Agendas, 1983.
Box 11
Reports, 1978-79.
Box 11
United Nations, 1983-84.
Box 11
FWCC, 1983-84.
Box 11

Scope and Contents

Read was involved with the US Committee for the UN Institute for Training and Research.

UN Institute for Training and Research, 1980-83.
Box 11
Crosscurrents, 1983-84.
Box 11
Council on Religion and International Affairs (CRIA), 1979-85.
Box 12
Scope and Contents

CRIA is concerned with the interrelationship of ethics and foreign policy and sponsors regular seminars (CRIA Conversations) which bring together authorities and policy makers for presentations and discussion. James Read was an Associate and wrote an article for their magazine, Worldview. See also Series 2, Published Articles.

Physical Description

4 folders

Dayton Friends Meeting, 1976-82.
Box 12
National Council on Philanthropy, 1978.
Box 12
SUN (Symphony for United Nations), 1978-79.
Box 12
General, 1982 & n.d.
Box 12
Shmukler, 1982.
Box 12
UNHCR (Genie Soffe), 1964-73.
Box 12
Peace Academy/AC DA Education, 1979-84.
Box 12

Speeches, 1941, 1965.
Box 12
Scope and Contents

Two drafts, speeches:

Who Caused the Last War? University of Louisville, circa 1940

Can Education be Higher and Christian? Bluffton College, 1965

Notes, comments, 1971-1983, undated.
Box 12

Print, Suggest