bMS 16135

Unitarian Service Committee. Chairman and President, William Emerson. Records, 1939-1957.

Summary Information:

• Call Number: bMS 16135
• Title: Unitarian Service Committee. Chairman and President, William Emerson. Records, 1939-1957.
• Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
• Quantity: 4 boxes

Administrative Information:

• Acquisition Information: Gift of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
• Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection.

Historical Note:

The Unitarian Service Committee was formed in May 1940 as a standing committee of the American Unitarian Association. 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:

This collection contains the records of Dr. William Emerson, who was chairman of the Unitarian Service Committee when it was a standing committee of the American Unitarian Association from 1940 to 1948. When the USC was incorporated in 1948, Dr. Emerson became its president and served in that role until 1953. He was honorary president from 1953 to the time of his death in 1957. The records cover a wide variety of subjects, including documentation concerning some of the factors and conflicts which led to the incorporation of the Unitarian Service Committee in 1948. There are also reports on the work of the Service Committee throughout the world, particularly in France, Germany, England, Hungary, and Portugal.

Container List:

• bMS 16135/1 (1) American Youth for World Youth, 1947-1948
• bMS 16135/1 (2) Anecdotes, 1947-1949
• bMS 16135/1 (3) American Unitarian Association (AUA) Commission on Planning and Review, controversy with Unitarian Service Committee, 1947
• bMS 16135/1 (4) AUA, Unitarian Service Committee, documents concerning split between the two organizations, 1947-1950
• bMS 16135/1 (5) Austria, Medical Mission, 1947, 1949
• bMS 16135/1 (6) Board minutes, 1948
• bMS 16135/1 (7) Bragg, Raymond, general correspondence, 1948
• bMS 16135/1 (8) Brooks, Rev. Howard L, controversy over his mission to France, September-October 1941
• bMS 16135/1 (9) Communist charges, 1946-1947
• bMS 16135/1 (10) Correspondence and reports concerning work camps, J. Harry Hooper, 1940-1941
• bMS 16135/1 (11-12) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1946
• bMS 16135/1 (13-16) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1947
• bMS 16135/1 (17) Emerson, William, correspondence concerning displaced persons, 1947
• bMS 16135/2 (1) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1947-1948
• bMS 16135/2 (2) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1948
• bMS 16135/2 (3-4) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1949
• bMS 16135/2 (5) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1949-1950
• bMS 16135/2 (6-7) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1950
• bMS 16135/2 (8) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1951-1952
• bMS 16135/2 (9) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1953
• bMS 16135/2 (10) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1954
• bMS 16135/3 (1) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1955
• bMS 16135/3 (2) Emerson, William, correspondence, 1956-1957
• bMS 16135/3 (3) England, reports, 1941
• bMS 16135/3 (4) Executive Committee, correspondence, (includes information on medical missions), 1948
• bMS 16135/3 (5) Expansionist ambitions concerning the work of the USC, 1941
• bMS 16135/3 (6) Field, Noel and Herta, Hermann, Elsie, 1941-1950
• bMS 16135/3 (7) Finances, 1947-1956
• bMS 16135/3 (8) Fogg, Helen, correspondence with William Emerson and Raymond Bragg, 1947-1948
• bMS 16135/3 (9) France, milk distribution, reports and photograph, August 1940
• bMS 16135/3 (10) France, Toulouse, reports and correspondence with Persis Miller, 1947-1956
• bMS 16135/3 (11) Germany, child care, reports and correspondence, 1948-1954
• bMS 16135/3 (12) Growing pains of Unitarian Service Committee, (philosophy and policy changes and statements, resignations, etc.), 1940-1948
• bMS 16135/3 (13) Hibbert Houses, reports and descriptions, undated
• bMS 16135/3 (14) Home Service Committee, includes reports on work camps, 1941-1950
• bMS 16135/3 (15) Hungary, memos from Frank Glick, 1956
• bMS 16135/3 (16) Italian Sanitation mission, report from Olga Zhivkovitch, 1947
• bMS 16135/3 (17) Japanese Engineering Education, 1952
• bMS 16135/3 (18) Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, 1947
• bMS 16135/3 (19) Korea, report by Howard Brooks, 1953
• bMS 16135/3 (20) Lisbon, report from Charles Joy, 1941
• bMS 16135/3 (21) Lisbon, work details, 1941
• bMS 16135/3 (22) Lisbon, Robert Dexter, correspondence, 1941
• bMS 16135/3 (23) Medical missions, general, 1947-1956
• bMS 16135/4 (1) Medical projects, newsletters, 1947-1949
• bMS 16135/4 (2) Memoranda and documents prepared by staff of Unitarian Service Committee at request of President of AUA, (includes 1946 letter from Noel Field), 1941-1946
• bMS 16135/4 (3) Mexico, Ejido El Porvenir, 1949
• bMS 16135/4 (4) Minutes of USC, 1948-1950
• bMS 16135/4 (5) Moore, Matilda, 1954
• bMS 16135/4 (6) New York office, 1948-1956
• bMS 16135/4 (7) "Notes on the Education Projects in the Camps" by Noel Field, 1941
• bMS 16135/4 (8) Paris office, 1947-1949
• bMS 16135/4 (9) Public relations and fundraising materials, 1939
• bMS 16135/4 (10) Publications, reports and correspondence, 1946-1949. Includes texts of speeches given by Seth Gano and Juraj Slavik at a USC fundraising event at the Harvard Club in 1947, plus biographical information about other speakers at this event.
• bMS 16135/4 (11) Relief, post war, record of shipments, 1948
• bMS 16135/4 (12) Reports, 1948-1956
• bMS 16135/4 (13) Spain - notes on film about Spanish refugees in France, 43 pages, 1952
• bMS 16135/4 (14) Tempi, Herta, firing of, 1947
• bMS 16135/4 (15) Texas Migrant Worker Project, 1948
• bMS 16135/4 (16) Unitarian Service Committee, organizational material, 1938-1948
• bMS 16135/4 (17) Unitarian Service Committee, offices, 1947