Scattergood Hostel

The collection consists primarily of letters written by John E. Kaltenbach to his parents, Edward C. and Ethel Kaltenbach, from Wesleyan University, Yale Divinity School, and while working as the acting director for the Scattergood Hostel for European Refugees in Iowa. Also a small number of letters from his sister, Linda Kaltenbach, while a student at Swarthmore College.

Scattergood Friends School opened in Iowa in 1890. The school closed during the Great Depression, and was repurposed during World War II as Scattergood Hostel to acclimate refugees from Europe. In 1944, it reopened as a school and remains open today. The bulk of this collection is photographs of Scattergood Refugee Hostel, but there are also photographs of pre-war and post-war Scattergood Friends School.