Collections | Archives & Manuscripts

Alliance for Conscientious Objectors Records

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-DG-088

Abstract The Alliance for Conscientious Objectors (AFCO), based in Seattle (Washington), was founded in 1970 by John Long and Paul Anderson, who served as its national coordinator. It changed its name in 1972 to represent a wider scope of purpose. During this time, conscientious objectors who performed two years of alternate service, the same period as those drafted into the military served, were not entitled to Veterans Administration benefits under the GI Bill of Rights. By 1974 AFCO had reached a...

Dates: 1970-1974

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Brent Dow Allinson Collected Papers

Collection — othertype: CDG-A

Identifier: SCPC-CDG-A-Allinson, Brent Dow

Scope and Contents

Collection includes undated typescript writings by Allinson, pamphlets by and about him, and a newspaper clipping discussing his court martial.

Dates: Majority of material found within 1918-1923

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

American Civil Liberties Union: National Committee on Conscientious Objectors Records

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-DG-022

Abstract The roots of the NCCO began shortly after conscription in WWII was instituted. Little is known about the New York Office of the NCCO. It was headquartered at 31 Union Square West in New York City (NY) where the ACLU had its offices, and was likely set up in 1940, under the chairmanship of Norman Angell, and stayed in existence through 1945. In Washington (DC), the Temporary Committee for Legal Aid to Conscientious Objectors was formed in 1940. R. Boland Brooks had gone to NSBRO (National...

Dates: 1940-1946

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

American Friends Service Committee: Civilian Public Service / Prison Service Committee Records

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-DG-002

Abstract Organized to provide alternative service for conscientious objectors, who were assigned "work of national importance under civilian direction; the historic peace churches (Church of the Brethren, Religious Society of Friends and the Mennonite Church) band ed together to form the National Service Board for Religious Objectors (NISBRO) which coordinated the civilian public service (CPS) program; the American Friends Service Committee administered seventeen CPS camps and over thirty special...

Dates: 1940-1947

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

American Friends Service Committee Collected Records

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-CDG-A-American Friends Service Committee

Abstract

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was set up in June 1917 as an outgrowth of and coordination point for the anti-war and relief activities of various bodies of the Religious Society of Friends in the United States.

Dates: 1917-

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

American Union Against Militarism Records

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-DG-004

Abstract In 1915 a group of New York pacifists and near-pacifists organized the "Anti-militarism Committee" to combat the war spirit of the time. Activities included lobbying, publishing, a lecture campaign, and the establishment of a Civil Liberties Bureau. The most notable achievements were the work in the successful effort to avert war with Mexico in 1916 and the encouragement of opposition to peacetime conscription following World War I. The office was raided by the government and American Union...

Dates: 1915 - 1922

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Bent Andresen Collected Papers

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-CDG-A-Andreson, Bent

Abstract

Bent Andresen registered as a conscientious objector (CO) during World War Two and was sent to a Civilian Public Service in 1944. Andresen participated in a guinea pig project in which he and several other COs lived in a refrigerated room for three months to test the impact of a high-protein diet on cold-weather conditions. He went AWOL in 1945 and was sentenced to two years in prison. Andreson was involved in various peace and justice groups throughout his lifetime.

Dates: 1928-1991

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Bennett W. Andrews and Florence N. Andrews Papers

Collection

Identifier: SCPC-DG-209

Abstract

Bennett Andrews was an absolutist conscientious objector during World War II. He served a five year sentence Danbury Prison, a federal penitentiary, in Connecticut. There he worked in a number of positions in the prison. Bennett Andrews was released from prison on July 11, 1946 and received amnesty from President Truman in 1947. Florence Andrews (born in 1913) married Bennett on July 22, 1938. She was also a strong pacifist, who fully supported her husband's C.O. stance.

Dates: 1940-1950, 1979-1980

Found in: Swarthmore College Peace Collection