Unitarian Service Committee. Records on relief work in Czechoslovakia, 1938-1946.
Overview
Chiefly the records of Frederick May Eliot, president of the American Unitarian Association from 1937 to 1958, who was on the Committee on Relief in Czechoslovakia, an early effort on behalf of several agences to aid the victims of war-torn Europe. The collection also includes considerable correspondence to and from Robert Dexter, a member of the executive committee of a later group called the Commission for Service in Czechoslovakia, and some case file information on individuals the Service Committee tried to assist.
Dates
- Creation: 1938-1946.
Extent
2 boxesThis collection is comprised largely of the files of Frederick May Eliot, who was the president of the American Unitarian Association from 1937 to 1958. Eliot was on the Committee on Relief in Czechoslovakia, which was an early effort on behalf of several agencies to aid the victims of war-torn Europe. The collection also includes considerable correspondence to and from Robert Dexter, who was on the executive committee of a later group called the Commission for Service in Czechoslovakia. The collection includes some case file information on individuals who the Service Committee tried to assist, including children and several well-known artists and writers.
Biographical / Historical
The Unitarian Service Committee was formed as a standing committee of the American Unitarian Association in May 1940. Its purpose was to be a committee to investigate opportunities both 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.
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. Records on relief work in Czechoslovakia, 1938-1946: A Finding Aid.
- Author
- Andover-Harvard Theological Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- div16003
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.
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