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Archives & Manuscripts

Lucy Perkins Carner Collected Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SCPC-CDG-A-Carner, Lucy Perkins

Overview

Lucy Perkins Carner served on the board of such organizations as the American Friends Service Committee, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the War Resisters League, and the United World Federalists. She also joined the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In many ways Carner worked for civil rights, protesting discrimination in businesses, and joining organizations such as the Congress on Racial Equality and the NAACP. She was also a war tax resister and protested against the Vietnam war.

Dates

  • 1953-1977

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Limitations on Accessing the Collection

None.

Copyright and Rights Information

None.

Biographical note

Lucy Perkins Carner was born in York, Pennsylvania on November 30, 1886 to Albert Bigelow Carner and Mary Perkins Carner. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1908 (where she developed a life-long friendship with peace activists, Tracy Mygatt and Frances Witherspoon), and received an M.A. in Sociology from Columbia University in 1924. She worked with the YWCA from 1910-1936 in various roles, in Pennsylvania and New York. Of note was her involvement in organizing young factory workers to agitate for union organization and racial integration. From 1937-1953, Carner was the Secretary of the Education Division of the Council of Social Agencies in Chicago, Illinois. Carner was a Quaker by conviction. Because of her interest in peace and justice, she served on the board of such organizations as the American Friends Service Committee, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the War Resisters League, and the United World Federalists. She also joined the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and served as a member of the national board and chair of its policy committee, and gave leadership to the Pennsylvania State Branch and the Germantown Branch. She joined the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP. Her interests were broad, and her desire to actively resist injustice was demonstrated over and over throughout her life. While living in Chicago she was engaged in the struggles in Chicago for decent housing, jobs, recreation and access for minorities. In the early 1940s, she joined members of the Congress on Racial Equality in sit-ins all over Chicago, and in many quiet ways she made her position known to stores and restaurants that discriminated against minorities. For a number of years she withheld taxes in order to protest the amount of the federal budget that went toward military spending. She protested the war in Vietnam, and petitioned against the use of anti-ballistic missiles. At the age of 85 she participated in a demonstration at Fort Detrick against germ warfare, where she stood for two days at the camp entrance with a sign that read "Make This a Health Center."

After Carner's retirement in 1952, she moved back to Philadelphia. She joined the faculty of Bryn Mawr College as an adjunct professor of the School of Social Work, where she taught community organization. Carner died on February 20, 1983.

Extent

0.42 Linear Feet (5 linear in.)

Additional Description

Other Finding Aids

For the catalog record for this collection, and to find materials on similar topics, search the library's online catalog.

Custodial History

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for this collection of papers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Lucy Perkins Carner.

Related Materials

Tracy Mygatt and Frances Witherspoon Papers (DG 089)

Legal Status

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Processing Information

Processed by SCPC staff. Checklist prepared by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, February 1998.

Subjects

Related Name

Administrative Information

Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Find It at the Library

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting Swarthmore College Peace Collection Library

http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/
Contact:
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Swarthmore 19081-1399 USA US
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