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COLLECTION Identifier: bMS 16081

Unitarian Service Committee. Executive Director. Records, 1941-1951.

Overview

This collection contains the records of various acting and executive directors of the Unitarian Service Committee. The records cover 1941-1951.

Dates

  • Creation: 1941-1951.

Access

There are no restrictions on access to this collection.

Extent

17 boxes

This collection includes the records of Raymond B. Bragg, executive director, 1947-1952; Howard L. Brooks, associate director, 1943-1953, and acting director, July-November 1952, July 1946-March 1947; Charles Joy, executive director, 1944-1946; and Helen Fogg, director of child and youth projects. It also includes correspondence from USC staff members who worked with individuals who were attempting to flee Europe after World War II. Some of these case workers were Erna Pustau, Friedl Reifer, and Persis Miller.

The files in this collection cover a wide variety of subjects, focusing mainly on the work of the USC during and after World War II in France, Germany, Poland, Austria, and other parts of Europe, as well as in Canada and the United States. The correspondence deals with such subjects as the displaced intellectuals in Europe who were assisted by the USC; the work of various institutes for child care in Germany; and the plight of Spanish refugees in France. The USC had a program of workcamps for young people who wished to volunteer for service in the United States and abroad, and there are reports, correspondence, and applications concerning the workcamps in this collection. After World War II the Unitarian Service Committee sponsored a number of medical missions in various parts of Europe, and this collection includes information about some of those missions. There is also considerable correspondence about fund raising and public relations for the USC, which includes the correspondence of Elizabeth Schoppe, who was the USC promotional director.

Biographical / Historical

The Unitarian Service Committee (USC) was formed as a standing committee of the American Unitarian Association in May 1940. Its purpose was to investigate opportunities in America and abroad for humanitarian service. During and after World War II, the Unitarian Service Committee aided hundreds of displaced persons in occupied countries, allowing many of them to find passage to the United States. The present-day Unitarian Universalist Service Committee continues to endeavor to advance human rights and social justice throughout the world.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

General note

NOTE: For each entry in the following list, the bMS number indicates the collection number, the number after the slash is the box number, and the number in parentheses is the folder number. Portions of this collection have been digitized for a collaborative project with the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC), France. Those items have a "See digital image" link.

Title
Unitarian Service Committee. Executive Director. Records, 1941-1951: A Finding Aid.
Author
Andover-Harvard Theological Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
div16081

Repository Details

Part of the Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University Repository

Special Collections at Harvard Divinity School Library preserves and makes accessible primary source materials documenting the history of religion and theology, with particular historical emphasis on American liberal religious traditions. Though the historical strengths of the collections have been in the field of Christianity, other religious traditions are increasingly reflected, in step with Harvard Divinity School's evolving focus on global religious studies. Known as Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1911, it was renamed the Harvard Divinity School Library in 2021.

Contact:
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