Theodore Brinton Hetzel papers and graphics
Scope and Contents
Theodore Brinton Hetzel papers and graphics include newsletters, correspondence, memos, and minutes from the American Friends Service Committee and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, as well as records of the Indian Program Subcommittee and the Associated Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs. From Haverford College, the collection includes faculty minutes, engineering department correspondence, minutes and correspondence of the Committee on Graduate Curriculum and the Social and Technical Assistance program, photographs of Haverford buildings, sporting events, and groups and individuals, occasionally well-known, such as Bayard Rustin. The collection includes photographs related to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, photographs related to Native American programs of the American Friends Service Committee, and printed materials from organizations involved in Native American affairs, such as the Alaska Conservation Society and American Indian Development. A significant portion of the papers is concerned with the Friends Kinzua Dam Project.
Letter writers include: Hugh Borton, John Coleman, Ada Deer, Elihu Grant, Fritz Janschka, George McGovern, Arthur E. Morgan, Walter Taylor, and Gilbert White.
All correspondence dates are standardized rather than transcribed, viz: yr mo/day.
Though not all letters are listed individually, those that are highlighted are done so on the basis of content of the letter or historical importance of the letter writer.
An addition to the Hetzel papers is in boxes 1-17 & 20-26. Boxes 18 & 19 were received earlier and their accession numbers are not recorded.
Dates
- Creation: 1866-1987
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1930 - 1987
Creator
- Hetzel, Theodore Brinton, 1906-1990 (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Biographical/Historical note
Theodore Brinton Hetzel (1906-1990) was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and attended Westtown School and Haverford College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1928. He completed graduate studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, the Technical University of Munich (Germany), and Pennsylvania State University. He returned to Haverford College in 1936 as a member of the faculty and later chair of the department of engineering, remaining on the faculty until 1972. While at Haverford, he also served on the Committee of Arts and Service, as a member of the Corporation, on the Eighth Dimension Advisory Committee, and as advisor to the Social and Technical Assistance Program. He was secretary of the faculty from 1965 to 1971.
Hetzel served on the Indian Committees of the American Friends Service Committee and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. In 1955, the Indian Rights Association asked him to join its board of directors. In 1969, the Association appointed him its executive director and editor of its publication, Indian Truth. In 1971, he was named general secretary. Adopted by the Seneca Nation of Indians, he was given the Seneca name Ong Gwa Dao, meaning “our friend.” An avid photographer, Hetzel was contracted by Haverford College for a number of years. His photographs were also used for Friends’ periodicals and for projects with which he was affiliated.
Hetzel was a member of Quaker organizations which worked with Native Americans, perhaps especially American Friends Service Committee. Among the projects with which he was connected was the Friends Kinzua Dam Project. In the 1950s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned a dam named Kinzua on the Allegheny which would flood nearly the entire Seneca reservation, but would protect the city of Pittsburgh. However, there was an alternative: by utilizing a naturally occurring glacier hole to create a reservoir, the Conewango dam would produce three times as much flood water at less cost than Kinzua. The Seneca asked that this alternative be investigated prior to final decision, though the Corps of Engineers was adamant. The Friends group worked to alleviate this situation.
Sources:
Information from internal evidence and the Dictionary of Quaker Biography.
Extent
13 linear ft. (26 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Theodore Hetzel (1906-1990) was a Quaker professor of engineering at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, whose interests led him to involvement with Native American and Quaker issues. An avid photographer, the materials in this collection are primarily photographic, as well as correspondence and documents.
Other Finding Aids
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Theodore Brinton Hetzel papers and graphics were donated to Special Collections, Haverford College by Rebecca Wills Hetzel through Janet Hetzel Henderson.
Processing Information
The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’s “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos; completed October, 2010.
Subject
- Borton, Hugh (Person)
- Coleman, John Royston (Person)
- Deer, Ada Elizabeth (Person)
- Grant, Elihu, 1873-1942 (Person)
- Janschka, Fritz (Person)
- McGovern, George S. (George Stanley), 1922- (Person)
- Morgan, Arthur E. (Arthur Ernest), 1878-1975 (Person)
- Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987 (Person)
- American Friends Service Committee (Organization)
- Associated Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs (Organization)
- Haverford College (Organization)
- Hetzel, Theodore Brinton, 1906-1990 (Person)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Indian Committee (Organization)
- Society of Friends (Organization)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Library (Organization)
- Taylor, Walter (Person)
- White, Gilbert F. (Person)
- Haverford College -- Buildings (Organization)
- Haverford College -- Pictorial works (Organization)
- Haverford College -- Sports (Organization)
- Title
- Theodore Brinton Hetzel papers and graphics, 1866-1987 (bulk 1930s-1980s)
- Author
- Haverford College Library Special Collections
- Date
- October, 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Sponsor
- The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’s “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project. Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
Find It at the Library
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