bMS 16064

Unitarian Service Committee. Administrative Records, 1941-1965.

Summary Information:

• Call Number: bMS 16064
• Title: Unitarian Service Committee. Administrative Records, 1941-1965.
• Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
• Quantity: 6 boxes

Administrative Information:

• Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection. 

Historical Note:

The Unitarian Service Committee (USC) 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.

Scope and Content Note:

The bulk of this collection consists of the files of Frederick May Eliot, who was president of the American Unitarian Association from 1937 to 1958. These records include reports and correspondence on the Spanish refugees in France; the situation in Czechoslovakia; public relations; the USC medical missions; plus lists of staff members; personnel records; and USC minutes. There is also correspondence that documents the separation of the USC from the AUA and the incorporation of the USC in 1948. The collection also contains reports on the work of the USC in Germany, which includes correspondence with the Ford Foundation and other donors.

Container List:

• bMS 16064/1 (1-3) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, includes a letter from Martha Sharp (May 20, 1941), 1941-1945
• bMS 16064/1 (4-5) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1946
• bMS 16064/1 (6-7) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1946-1947
• bMS 16064/1 (8) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1947
• bMS 16064/1 (9) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1947-1948
• bMS 16064/2 (1) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1947-1948
• bMS 16064/2 (2) Frederick May Eliot, reports and correspondence, 1948
• bMS 16064/2 (3-5) Correspondence and reports concerning the status of the USC within the framework of the AUA, July to December, 1948
• bMS 16064/2 (6-7) Unitarian Service Committee minutes, 1944-1947
• bMS 16064/3 (1-2) Unitarian Service Committee minutes, 1948
• bMS 16064/3 (3) Correspondence concerning USC debt to the AUA, 1950

• bMS 16064/3 (4) Education and Child Care Institute in Germany, 1949, 1950, 1951. Reports issued by the USC in cooperation with Arbeiter-Wohlfahrt, edited by Katharine Taylor, chairman.
• bMS 16064/3 (5-8) Germany, child care, includes correspondence of Helen Fogg and Howard Brooks with the Field Foundation; Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation; and the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation, 1949-1950
• bMS 16064/3 (9) Germany, child care, Emma Schulze, correspondence, 1949-1950
• bMS 16064/3 (10) Germany, child care, Lee Taylor, correspondence, 1952-1953
• bMS 16064/4 (1-8) Ford Foundation, reports and correspondence. Includes reports to the Ford Foundation from the USC on the Bremen Neighborhood House and the Education and Child Care Institutes in Germany (later called the Arbeitskreis Soziale Fortbildung in Bremen). Also includes correspondence of USC staff member Katharine Taylor, and AUA President William Emerson, 1949-1955
• bMS 16064/4 (9) Case department policies and procedures, 1941-1945
• bMS 16064/4 (10) Case department reports and minutes, 1944-1946
• bMS 16064/5 (1) Literature promoting racial and religious harmony from various organizations, 1943-1946
• bMS 16064/5 (2-3) Canned Food Collection, 1945-1946
• bMS 16064/5 (4) Financial examination for the year ended December 31, 1952
• bMS 16064/5 (5) Budget information; includes descriptions of USC programs, 1945-1946
• bMS 16064/5 (6) Unitarian domestic work camps, ledger of contributors, 1947-1950
• bMS 16064/5 (7) Promotional USC literature for fundraising, c. 1942
• bMS 16064/5 (8) Melvin Arnold, Edward Darling, and Edward Cahill, correspondence, 1945
• bMS 16064/5 (9) USC promotion letters, press releases, 1947
• bMS 16064/5 (10) Report by Charlotte Hawkins Brown on the International Congress of Women held in Paris, 1945. Also includes information on women working with the USC, 1940s
• bMS 16064/5 (11) USC office administration files, 1945
• bMS 16064/6 (1-4) Personnel records, 1947-1958
• bMS 16064/6 (5) Personnel card file, 1946-1947
• bMS 16064/6 (6) Medical missions, reports and correspondence, 1946
• bMS 16064/6 (7-8) Medical projects newsletters, 1947
• bMS 16064/6 (9) Medical projects newsletters, 1948
• bMS 16064/6 (10) Medical projects newsletters, 1951
• bMS 16064/6 (11-12) Medical missions, project participants, 1945-1965
• bMS 16064/6 (13) Medical missions, articles about the program, 1949-1957
• bMS 16064/6 (14) Medical missions, projects, memorandums from Alice Sheridan, 1962-1964