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Ernest Votaw Family 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
Ernest Votaw (1894-1988) was the Quaker administrator of a child feeding program in Germany in 1919-1922. He was the son of Albert H. and Phebe Nicholson Votaw. His father, Albert H. Votaw (1850-1931) was a Pennsylvania Quaker active in prison reform. He was born in 1850 and grew up in Indiana.
Ernest Votaw (b. 1894) was the Quaker administrator of a child feeding program in Germany in 1919-1922. The collection contains reports and related materials (some in German) of the Friends Feeding Mission, 1910-1923, other activities of the American Friends Service Committee, and reference material collected by Ernest Votaw in post-war Germany concerning jail conditions and other social problems. The collection also includes a small amount of correspondence and four articles written by Ernest Votaw's father, Albert H. Votaw, presumably for publication in a Quaker periodical. Included is his account of Yearly Meetings in Richmond, Indiana, reminiscences of Indiana Friends, and a discussion on the subject of singing in meeting.
The collection is divided into three series:
- Biographical material
- Albert H. Votaw (1850-1931)
- Ernest Votaw (b. 1894)
Accession information
Donor: Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Votaw, 1957
The collection was given by Ernest Votaw and his wife in December, 1957. It was catalogued as two separate collections, the Ernest Votaw Papers (which included his father's correspondence) and a Small Collection, Writings of Albert H. Votaw. In November 2000 the collections were reunited into a single Record Group collection.
The collection was given by Ernest Votaw and his wife in 1957. It was originally catalogued as two separate collections, the Ernest Votaw Papers (which included his father's correspondence) and a Small Collection, Writings of Albert H. Votaw, SC 139. The latter was subsequently cited as Albert H. Votaw Papers, 1923-1929. In November 2000, the Albert Votaw writings were reunited with his correspondence in the larger collection, and the collection was reorganized into three series: Biographical, Albert H. Votaw Papers, and Ernest Votaw Papers.
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2000
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research
- Use Restrictions
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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
Includes letters from Hiram Hadley, Henry Hodgkin, George W. Kirchwey, regarding views on ministry, unity, suggested subjects to include in reporting jail conditions, and other matters.
Presumably for publication in a Quaker periodical. Included is an account of Yearly Meetings in Richmond, Indiana, reminiscences of Indiana Friends, and a discussion on the subject of singing in meeting. Prveiously cited as SC 139.
Includes mimeographed reports of German mission of the AFSC; description of its work and of its re-organization; graphs; bulletins outlining procedures for district officers; clippings; list of personnel; reunion letters (2 c. 7/1922, 6/1923) of Friends Service; AFSC bulletins; and miscellaneous material such as feeding mission tickets.
Excerpts from minutes of General Meeting of Friends, held at Fritchley, Derbyshire, England, 1917; minute from same General Meeting, 1919 to the Mtg. of Friends in America or elsewhere...; leaflet issued by the Society of Friends in Great Britain, London, 1919, pamphlet containing two articles, (1) "The Quakers", by Alfons Paquet, (2) "A Letter to the Quakers", by Wilhelm Schäfer; Directory of Delegates to the All Friends Conference, London, 1920; booklets listing names, addresses of those present at the International Conference of Young Friends, Jordan, 1920; program of Five Years Meeting of Friends, Richmond, Indiana, 1922; series of outlines for course of study on The Life and Teachings of Jesus, prepared by Elbert Russell, for use at Woolman School, fall of 1922; 2 flyers of Friends' Union for International Service; typewritten copy of The Declaration of Faith, regarding "the form of its faith" in the Society of Friends, author not given.
Includes periodical, The Crusader; "Thirty-Three Questions About Germany;" Leaflet, What is the Young Democracy?
Includes Alfons Paquet article "The Quakers"; program prepared for visit of Quakers to orphanage at Rummelsburg; letter of appreciation from Youth Commission in Berlin to Quaker Feeding Mission; cartoon with inscription "The League of Nations has only stones for Germany -the Quakers have bread"; materials on Quaker views and practices.
Includes napshots; family, Feeding Mission, scenes and events in Germany such as Kapp Putsch, Quaker groups in England. Some not labeled.
Photographs from conference trips (Conference 7/7/1920, Founder Conference at Kent), group photos of members of the Berlin office, Essen office, trainees at Jordans, specific names mentioned include Alice Fernback, Milly [Wal]dorf, "Hoff," Vera Linger, Keis Erbroch, Helen Vail, Alice Patliff, Pleasa[nance] Parsons, Arthur PArsons, Mrs. Sop[hty,] Mrs. Sonett. Alexandra Prudy, German mission
Berlin cityscapes, photographs of workers, warehouses, bakery, [Ferieupeisung?] Weissensee July 1920
Photographs of children eating, differnet kitchens for the child eating program including Lichtenberg kitchen and Central Kitchen Berlin, as well as kitchen workers including a baker, "chief [?]"
Photographs from Jordans, Buckinghamshire (Esther, E. Votaw, Helen, Muriel, The peace market paddocks); Stoke Poges Village; Blue Idol Quaker Meeting House in West Sussex; Little Thackeham; London
Portraits of Ernest Votaw
Photographs of non-Berlin German cities and landscapes including Hamburg, Ulm, Wettin, the Siebengebirge, "Kinderheim July 1920"
Henry Cadbury (1920), Family portraits ( B"Merr[ie] Xmas from us all, Sunnyside 1920, Gilbert Barron," "Uncle Lewis, Carrie, myself"), group photos of E. Votaw, Julia Branson, Caroline Nicholson, James Vail including a trip on the Rhine near Cologne, other identified individuals include Emma Williams, Catherine Cox, Robert Taylor, Caroline [Noument], Milly Hirsch, Mary H., Margaret [Sh], Geoffrey Frank[lin], Martha Speakman, Hubert Richardson, Faith Baxton, Elsie Fox Howard)
Caroline Nicholson Jacob, Julia Branson, Nora Matthews, Ed Wood, Samuel E Peters, Ja[z] W. Ri[dh]ath (New Sharon Iowa USA Aug 12-19), Emma Williams, Herta Kraus
Photographs of the Kapp coup in Berlin, March 1920
Photographs and drawings of the Child Relief Mission of the American Friends Service Committee including locations in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden
Miscellaneous group photographs, some say "Jo" on the back, include people playing/eating/standing in nature, people in a boat, people at a table