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International Fellowship of Reconciliation Collected Records

 Collection
Identifier: SCPC-CDG-B-Netherlands-International Fellowship of Reconciliation

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises a small amount of material collected over the years. Note that the main repository for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation records are in Berlin at the Central Archives of the Evangelical Church of Germany.

The main body of International Fellowship of Reconciliation records of 1919-1969 is found in the files of John Nevin Sayre, who served in an official capacity from 1935 to 1967 (DG 117, Series C).

Dates

  • Creation: 1919- current

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Conditions Governing Use

None.

Historical note

In August 1914, an ecumenical conference was held in Konstanz, southern Germany (near Switzerland) by Christians seeking to prevent the outbreak of war in Europe. Before the conference ended, however, World War I had started and those present had to return to their respective countries. Henry Hodgkin (an English Quaker) and Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze (a German Lutheran) parted company at the railway station at Cologne with the words "We are one in Christ and can never be at war." To take that pledge forward, Hodgkin organised a conference in Cambridge in 1915, where the "Fellowship of Reconciliation" was formed (England FOR). Shortly after the Cambridge conference, in the autumn of 1915, he went over to America and the American Fellowship was founded (Nov. 1915). The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) was established in 1922 with the name of Movement Towards a Christian International; its current name came into use in 1923.

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation has had as many as 40 national Fellowships on all continents. The German branch, Versuhnungsbund, held its first conference in 1932, but in 1933, when Hitler came to power, it dissolved. Siegmund Schultze was arrested twenty-seven times during World War I and was forced to live in exile during the Nazi period. FOR Germany was officially reestablished just in 1956 with Schultze as President.

To learn more of IFOR history, see http://www.ifor-mir.org/index.php/about-ifor/history.

The IFOR Secretariat has been located in various places throughout the years, but has stayed in Alkmaar, Netherlands since 1977.

IFOR executives (International Secretariat), Dates, and Office Locations:

  1. Kees Boeke, 1919-1921, Bilthoven, Netherlands
  2. Oliver Dryer, Secretary, 1921-1928, London, England
  3. Donald Grant, & Kaspar Mayr, Secretaries, 1929-1933, Vienna, Austria
  4. Henri Roser, General Secretary Daniel Hogg, Assistant Secretary, 1933-1938, Paris, France
  5. Percy W. Bartlett, General Secretary, 1938-1956, London, England
  6. Ernest Best, 1956-1957, London, England
  7. E. Philip Eastman, 1957-1966, London, England
  8. J. J. Wentink (interim), 1967, London, England
  9. Erwin Rennert, 1967-1968, Vienna, Austria
  10. Pieter A. Eterman, Administrative Secretary, 1968-1969, Driebergen, Netherlands
  11. Alfred Hassler (half-time with P.A. Eterman, Admin. Secretary), 1970-1974, Driebergen, Netherlands; Copenhagen, Denmark
  12. International Fellowship of Reconciliation-Dai Dong Collective, 1974-1976, Brussels, Belgium
  13. James H. Forest, Coordinator; General Secretary, 1977-1988, Alkmaar, Netherlands
  14. David Atwood, 1989-1994, Alkmaar, Netherlands
  15. David Atwood, 1989-1994, Alkmaar, Netherlands
  16. Anke Kooke, 1995- , Alkmaar, Netherlands

Extent

3.33 linear ft. (8 manuscript boxes)

Abstract

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation was founded in 1922, though international work under the umbrella name "Fellowship of Reconciliation" began as early as 1915.

Custodial History

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is not the official repository for these papers/records.

Note that these materials had been part of DG 013: Fellowship of Reconciliation Records until 2012, when they were separated into their own collection.

Separated Materials

  1. Photographs removed to the Photograph Collection.
  2. Periodicals from many countries are catalogued and shelved together at the SCPC under the Fellowship of Reconciliation .

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

Originally processed by Wilma Mosholder through 1999; additional material, garnered from other archival collections, was added in later years.

Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2018 and 2023: additional material added

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 or requesting repoductions from Swarthmore College Peace Collection Library

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