Blanche Weber Shaffer papers

Blanche Weber Shaffer was born on May 20, 1902, in Switzerland. She studied literature and languages at the University of Geneva. She was a member of Geneva Monthly Meeting and joined the Friends in 1932. In 1937, she was a Swiss delegate to the Second World Conference of Friends in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and she was active in the founding of Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) at that conference. The mission of FWCC is "Answering God’s call to universal love, FWCC brings Friends of varying traditions and cultural experiences together in worship, communications, and consultation, to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world" (http://fwcc.world/about-fwcc). In 1940, she married Leslie Shaffer (d. 1952), who was the secretary of the Friends' FWCC. Blanche Weber Shaffer served as Librarian of the International Bureau of Education in Genva until 1940. With her husband, she traveled throughout the world visiting Quakers. She was naturalized on March 8, 1945 in Media, Pennsylvania. She helped write the FWCC publication, "Quakerism in Switzerland," in 1943. In 1958, she became the Assistant Director of the Geneva Friends' Center, specializing in student groups. In 1961, she was the Deputy Director of Quaker International Centre and the Secretary General of FWCC. In 1970, she retired to Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. She also served on the Second Vatican Council's Commission for Promoting Christian Unity. She died on May 9, 1974, at the age of 71.