Call Number:

RG5.256

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Extent:

0.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item or series here], Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall Refugee Papers, RG5/256, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Date:

1938-1945 (inclusive)

Creator:

Yarnall, Elizabeth Biddle, 1897-1975, Weigl, Karl, 1881-1949, Weigl, Vally, Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 1879-1958, Yarnall, D. Robert (David Robert), 1878-1967, and American Friends Service Committee. Refugee Section

Abstract:

Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall and her husband, D. Robert Yarnall, were Quakers, active in the American Friends Service Committee relief efforts. They worked with the Quaker center in Vienna, Austria, during the summer of 1938 to help in the emigration of German and Austrian Jews. The collection contains correspondence concerning their work with refugees and letters from refugees asking for assistance, especially the musician and composers Karl Weigl and his wife, Vally, who emigrated in October 1938. Also several essays by Elizabeth Yarnall on her Vienna experience and letters from Dorothy Canfield Fisher in her efforts to create an American children's relief organization for German children. The material conveys the difficulties in Jewish emigration in the years just preceding the Second World War.

Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall (1897-1975) was a graduate of Westtown School and Bryn Mawr College and taught at the Oakwood School. In 1923 she married fellow Quaker, David Robert Yarnall, the son of Edward Smedley and Sidney Garrett Yarnall. and they had three children, D. Robert, Jr., James, and Nancy. D. Robert Yarnall (1878-1967) was a mechanical engineer and member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. He served the Society of Friends in many capacities, including Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox), Chairman of the Board of Pendle Hill, and Chairman of the American Friends Service Committee Child Relief Mission to Germany after WWI and Refugee Committee before WWII. In the years preceding WWII, he sought to convince the German government to modify its stance against minorities and to expedite the emigration of Jews from Germany and Austria. He, along with George Walton and Rufus Jones, represented the AFSC in a meeting with the Gestapo in Berlin in December 1938 to discuss Quaker relief work.

Elizabeth Yarnall was a founding member of Chestnut Hill Meeting and a member of the AFSC Mission Committee which was active in feeding starving children in Germany after World War I. During the summer of 1938, she accompanied her husband to work at Friends Center in Vienna, Austria, aiding German and Austrian refugees.

The collection contains materials concerning the Yarnalls' work with German and Austrian refugees after the March 1938 Anschluss. Primarily correspondence, it includes letters concerning refugee projects and letters from refugees asking for help, especially the musician Karl Weigl and his wife, Vally, who emigrated in October 1938. There are some family letters from Elizabeth Yarnall sent from Europe in the summer of 1938 and letters from Dorothy Canfield Fisher in her effort to create an American children's relief organization for German children. Also several essays by Elizabeth Yarnall on her Vienna experience and notes for a talk. The material conveys the difficulties involved in Jewish emigration in the years just preceding the war.

Organized into two series:

1. Correspondence
2. Miscellaneous