1945 correspondence of Thomas Waring

ca. 355 items through December Letters from Tom Waring (TW) to Theodora Elkinton (TE) explaining his thoughts and activities. He is still in CPS camp in Coleville, CA and writes nearly daily. In order to maintain the "conversation." He later moves to work, still as a CO, in a psychiatric hospital in Williamsburg, VA and some of his letters provide details of that work, as well as his decision to become a doctor. Announcement of their engagement on Nov. 8, 1945, though they both planned to finish college before marriage. There is a lot of discussion about what marriage should be like. Letters from relatives aftern the announcement of their engagement.TE's letters to TW are filed here as well, rather than with Elkinton family. They both offer extraordinary description of their days and thoughts and the growing relationship between them

Other correspondents include: Katharine Elkinton (KE), Howard Elkinton (HE), - Jameson, Robert Holmes, C.J. Harriman, Grace Waring, Bernard Waring, Eva Ladd, Walter Johnson, Tom Richie, Cornelius Kruse, Martha Sharpless, Peter Elkington and Francke Elkington, Stephen Clarke, Frank Tarbox, Thomas Richie

TW to TE. 1/1. Fire season, so would not be able to come visit her.

TE to TW. 1/1. 950 people attended the Emlen/Cooke wedding

TW to TE. 1.5 Has put in a request to work in an east-coast psychiatric hospital

HE to TW. 1/6. Question regarding the status of administering CPS camps -- does this make Friends agents of the government and responsible for conscription into the army

Waring, Grace. 1/16. Reasons she believes contribute to the situation of C.O.s vis a vis the government

TW to TE. 1/18. Thoughts on religion and relationships

TW to TE. 1/25. Re experiment on college-age students to see if they are able to resist temptations, in this case, those who could / would be considered fit for college

Waring, Grace. 2/21. For men in the military, a number of them committed suicide rather than go back to the front. Committee on race relations of PYM is working hard over race relations...and hope to ward off the threatened violence in the post-war world

Elkinton, Howard. 2/2. What Quaker attitudes and examples can offer to the world

TW to TE. 2/21. Expresses the mutual understanding he and Howard Elkinton have about Civilian Public Service

Waring, Bernard. 2/2. Relationship of the military to conscientious objectors

Ladd, Eva. 2/5. A German woman's perspective (i.e. Eva Ladd) on what the war is doing to Germans

TE to TW. 2/11. There is no college vacation because of the war

War Department. 2/1. (TW had written Roosevelt against post-war conscription). Pre-printed answer.

TW to TE. 2/17. Can't decide whether to go into medicine when it may be better to help people in need in other ways

Richie, Tom. 2/25. Refers to TW's willingness to help finance his medical training with a loan

TW to TE. 2/28. The transfer he hoped would happen taking him from Coleville CA to Williamsburg VA will not happen

TW to TE. 3/2. If he is to pursue medicine, and she wants to do reconstruction work in Europe, then maybe she should go there herself. And being a homemaker is something you pick up along the way, while a career needs to be built. His mother had wanted to go to work in India but raised a family instead. She felt regrets, he thought her value as a homemaker was greater than what she could have done in India

TW to TE. 3/30. Describes his orientation to life and duties as an orderly at Williamsburg State Hospital

TE. 4/10. Theological ideas and a poem by TE

Sharpless, Martha. 4/16. Her experiences as a nurse

Waring, Bernard. Philadelphia, PA, 4/27. Information about Weekend work camps

Waring, Bernard. 4/26. Legal status of land belonging to Bernard Waring in New Lisbon

TW to TE. 4/17. A day in his work at the psychiatric hospital

TW to TE. 4/23. Thoughts about Germans who did not vote for Hitler

Reynolds, Paul. 4/27. Rumor that CPS headquarters are moving unit #81 from Middletown, CT, possibly because some had voted against Friends' administration and regular employees of the hospital have voiced a gripe against having COs there

Don ? Camp Antelope, Colesville, CA, 4-28. Many acquaintances discussed

TW to TE. 5/1. If one opposes military action, giving soldiers books to read is the same as giving them guns

TE. 5/1. Proud of Smith's perceived lack of racial prejudice in students and faculty and progressing toward having an active and powerful honor system; response to world events

TW to TE. 5/6. Ruminations about Aristotle

TW to TE. 5/8. Tom continues to learn about caring for patients and witnesses his first autopsy and was given an anatomy lesson

TW to TE.5/13. Thought expressed about war against the Russians coming next

TW to TE. 5/16. The hospital director uses COs as cheap labor and underrates them; discussion on the medical profession and socialized medicine

Ladd, Eva to TW et al. Bennington, VT, 5/30. References to the San Francisco Conference, politics, and the seeming military preparation for war with Russia

TE. 7/3. Believes TW should stay at the hospital in Williamsburg, even if it is not run by Friends

TW to TE. 7/11. Reports on some of the methods used at the hospital where he is working; thinks he might like to go into psychiatric work

TW to TE. 7/14. Discusses his behavior with a patient and that the institution does no more than keep people locked up

TW to TE. 7/24. How state mental institutions work

Tom ---. 6/25. Explains how the medical aptitude test works

TW to TE. 7/26. Doesn't trust women doctors.

TW to TE. 7/27. Using Tolstoy's War and Peace to state his own beliefs in what husbands and wives should do in a good marriage

Harriman, C.J. Saipan, 7/27. (U.S military base) with a good description of their location. "All the Saipan population is confined in camps and allowed to go out to their fields in the day-time There is a basic population of Chamorras, with slave-imported Koreans and Okinawans, and an upper crust of Japanese."

TW to TE. 8/8. Ruminations about the use of the atomic bomb

HE. 8/11. Advises Tom to vote the straight Republican ticket.

HE. 8/16. Concern for Europe in the aftermath of war and what deprivation will look like

Elkington, Peter. 8/18. Thoughts on CPS and AFSC participation in future alternatives to military training or service

TW to TE. 8/30. Had determined to return to Wesleyan to finish his degree

Harriman, C.J. 9/4. Even though Japanese have surrendered, the war will not be over until they get home, for things go on there as before.

Waring, Bernard. 9/11. Reports all his responsibilities: Yarnall-Waring Co., Social-Industrial Section of the AFSC, as Secretary for Branches for the Service Committee, Chairman of the Social Order Committee, and family member

Kruse, Cornelius. 9/27. Even if the nature of man cannot be changed, behavior can (the answer to the argument that wars cannot be avoided)

Waring, Bernard. 10/23. Concern regarding Pres. Truman's message about universal military training, leading surely to another war

Richie, Thomas. 11/1. Attached to letter re his activities is an IOU for TW's financial assistance toward his medical education

TW to TE. 11/10. Heard Reinhold Niebuhr once speak at Wesleyan about change

Waring, Grace. 11/16. One cannot generalize about humans, but marriages while young have a greater rate of failure

TW to TE. 11/21/ Reasons why they are suited for one another

Kruse, Cornelius. 12/4. Not surprised that TW resigned from fraternity at Wesleyan, as "the exclusive feature of fraternities can not be justified."