Fellowship of Reconciliation (U.S.) Records

The records of the Fellowship of Reconciliation were processed by volunteer Wilma Mosholder over many years of full-time effort at the SCPC. Her interest in the FOR's staff members and their work created a superbly organized archival collection, with many typed notes that will be of help to researchers. The collection includes material related to the founding conference in 1915; meeting minutes (1915-date), statements of purpose, by-laws, correspondence, project files, publications, resource kits, advertisements, periodicals, newsletters from regional and local FOR groups, releases and photographs. Files of the executive secretaries/directors constitute an important category of both the administrative and program records. Principal files are those of Edward W. Evans, A.J. Muste, John M. Swomley, Alfred Hassler, Barton Hunter, Richard Deats, Doug Hostetter, and Jo Becker. Other correspondence of national staff includes the files of Allan Brick, Thomas Cornell, Richard Deats, James Forest, John Heidbrink, Michael Jendrzejczyk, Bayard Rustin, Glenn Smiley, and Ronald Young. There are records of many special projects, including: reconciliation efforts in Latin America and the USSR, training in nonviolence, Shelters for the Shelterless, peace missions to Vietnam and collaboration with Vietnamese Buddhists, Dai Dong (linking environment with war/peace), and nuclear disarmament. Some were conducted with other organizations, particularly Civilian Public Service (1941-1946), and the Church Peace Mission (1950-1967) and the Rocky Flats/Nuclear Weapons Facilities Project (with AFSC, 1977-1984); includes records of the Philadelphia Fellowship of Reconciliation (1942-1962), the Greater Boston Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the New York Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Additional important correspondents are: Devere Allen, Gilbert A. Beaver, Daniel Berrigan, A. Stauffer Curry, David Dellinger, Robert F. Drinan, Harrop Freeman, Larry Gara, Richard B. Gregg, Thích Nh´ât Hạnh, George M. Houser, Paul Jones, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sidney Lens, Joseph B. Matthews, David McReynolds, Kirby Page, Adolfo Perez-Esquivel, Robert Pickus, John Nevin Sayre, Evan W. Thomas, Norman Thomas, Charles C. Walker, Arthur Waskow, Herman Will, John Howard Yoder, and Gordon C. Zahn.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for the records of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the USA (FOR-USA). The records begin with the founding conference in November 1915 and continue to the present. The earliest historical records include minutes of the conference, correspondence of the first officers and leaders, membership lists, leaflets stating the principles of the organization, and circular letters.

The basic administrative records are the minutes and reports of the National Council and Executive Committee (1916-date). By-laws were adopted in 1964. Committee work (administrative and program) is represented by minutes and releases, mainly from the 1940s-1950s. There are minutes of the executive staff meetings, and also staff memoranda, for the years 1946-1980. National and regional conferences have been held since 1916. Programs and other materials provide information about these and other similar gatherings. Anniversaries and other special events, celebrated from 1954 to 1990, are represented by invitations, correspondence and programs.

Files of the executive secretaries/directors constitute an important category of both the administrative and program records. They consist mainly of correspondence, with other items intermingled. The principal files are those of Edward W. Evans (1916-1919), A.J. Muste (1940-1947), John M. Swomley (1953-1960), Alfred Hassler (1960-1974), Barton Hunter (1974-1979), Richard Deats (1979-1984), Doug Hostetter (1987-1993), Jo Becker (1993-1997).

Correspondence is found throughout much of the collection, especially in the program files. Examples of subject areas in which correspondence and other written materials are found include:

Interfaith work (1962-1966) Eastern church leaders like Hromadka, et al. Vietnamese Buddhist leaders, notably Thich Nhat Hanh Study teams to South Vietnam: articles, reports, etc. COs during Vietnam war: personal statements of philosophy (1967-1968) Charges of subversion & communism against FOR, mainly in 1950s-1970s

Significant correspondents include James Armstrong, Anne Bennett, Daniel Berrigan, Ethelwyn Best, James E. Bristol, Emilio Castro, Edwin T. Dahlberg, David Dellinger, James & Shelley Douglass, Robert F. Drinan, Dan R. Ebener, W.H. Ferry, Caleb Foote, Harrop Freeman, Larry Gara, Richard B. Gregg, Martin Luther King, James M. Lawson, Sidney Lens, Dorothy Maas, David McReynolds, Nhat Hanh, Adolfo Pérez-Esquivel, Robert Pickus, Wilson Riles, Michael A. Robinson, Constance Rumbough, Bayard Rustin, Howard Schomer, Michael Scott, Evan Thomas, Willard Uphaus, Charles C. Walker, Arthur J. Waskow, Herman Will, Gordon C. Zahn, Carl Zietlow.

National FOR periodicals are shelved with the Periodical Collection of the SCPC. Included are The News Letter (1916-1934), Fellowship (1935-date) and newsletters, some of which are from regional and local groups. The journal The World Tomorrow (1918-1934) was published by Fellowship Press, but it was not an official organ of FOR. Additional newsletters and occasional publications are located in the FOR records.

The collection also includes many pamphlets, leaflets and brochures which the FOR published as part of its literature production, mainly during the 1920s-1950s. The Martin Luther King comic book (1957) in English & Spanish editions, was used in the civil rights movement. Greeting cards have been an annual feature since 1945.

Releases/circular letters to members and the public have been issued continuously since 1915; likewise news releases. Also included in the collection are statements on public issues adopted by the FOR National Council (1925-1979), newspaper advertisements (1960-1976) and scattered press clippings.

The collection also includes posters, resource kits, reference materials, buttons, scrapbooks, and audio-visual resources. Photographs (11 boxes grouped by persons and subjects) are located in the SCPC Photograph Collection.

Removed in September 2012; see the International Fellowship of Reconciliation Collected Records (CDG-B Netherlands).

Revised in 1971 and supplemented; Superseded by 1998 Checklist