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Friends World Committee for Consultation. Section of the Americas Records

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG1

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the records of the office of Friends World Committee for Consultation. Section of the Americas, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Materials include minutes and reports, correspondence, Conference information, and documents of the Wider Quaker Fellowship, Right Sharing of World Resources, Quaker United Nations Program, and many other programs.

Dates

  • Creation: 1933-2010

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Physical Access Note

All or part of this collection is stored off-site. Contact Friends Historical Library staff at friends@swarthmore.edu at least two weeks in advance of visit to request boxes.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

In the late 19th and early 20th, after years of division within the Society of Friends, concerned Friends began to work towards unity, cooperating in a number of joint conferences both in the United States and Europe. A Friends World Conference sponsored by British Friends was held in London in 1920 and described as an All Friends Conference. In the 1930s, the American Friends Service Committee created a "Fellowship Committee" which sponsored conferences open to representatives from all groups of Friends. This committee became the American Friends Fellowship Committee. In 1932, the Fellowship Committee suggested to the AFSC that a world conference of Friends should be developed. A World Conference Committee was established, first chaired by Passmore Elkinton. In 1934, Anna Griscom Elkinton, his wife, took over the chairmanship. The representatives at the Second World Conference of Friends, which was held at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, Pennsylvania, in 1937, approved the establishment of a continuing international organization, a Friends World Committee, to promote international contacts and cooperation among Friends. In 1958, it was formalized as Friend World Committee for Consulation which meets triennially at different locations all over the world. The purpose of the Friends World Committee for Consultation is to encourage fellowship among all the branches of the Religious Society of Friends.

Friends from yearly meetings and groups in 75 nations participate in FWCC. FWCC's World Office is in London. Since 1948, FWCC has had “consultative” status with the United Nations and is responsible for the two Quaker UN Offices, in Geneva and New York City. Around the world there are four cooperating, autonomous FWCC Sections serving Africa, the Americas, Asia and the West Pacific, and Europe and the Middle East.

FWCC's Section of the Americas is based in Philadelphia, Pa. According to its mission statement, "In bringing Friends together face to face and heart-to-heart across traditions and national borders, FWCC Section of the Americas seeks to promote exchanges that advance spiritual renewal and vitality within the Religious Society of Friends." In 1954,the American Friends Fellowship Committee was merged into the Section of the Americas of FWCC.

Extent

131 linear ft.

Additional Description

Abstract

A Friends World Conference Committee, sponsored by the Fellowship Council of the American Friends Service Committee, was established in 1932 to promote better understanding among Friends world wide. The representatives at the Second World Conference of Friends, held at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, Pa., in 1937, approved the establishment of a continuing international organization, a Friends World Committee, to promote international contacts and cooperation among Friends. In 1958, it was formalized as Friend World Committee for Consulation which meets triennially at different locations all over the world. FWCC's World Office is in London, England, and it has four sections: Africa, Americas, Asia and West Pacific, and Europe amd Middle East. FWCC's Section of the Americas is based in Philadelphia, Pa. This collection contains the records of the office of Friends World Committee for Consultation. Section of the Americas.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Deposit: Friends World Committee for Consultation. Section of the Americas, beginning before 1949 and at irregular intervals thereafter

Donor: Thomas A. Foulke papers given by Eliza Foulke and Anna Elkinton, 1959.

Separated Materials

In 2009, the archives of Right Sharing of World Resources, formerly included in this collection, were withdrawn and deposited at Earlham College with the later records of RSWR.

Separated Materials

See PA 147 for some Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas audiovisual materials that were separated from various FWCC accruals.

Bibliography

Herbert M. Hadley. Quakers world wide : a history of Friends World Committee for Consultation. London : Friends World Committee for Consultation in association with William Sessions, c1991.

Processing Information

The records of the Second Friends World Conference of 1937 held at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, Pa., were deposited at Friends Historical Library before 1949. These records were stored as received. In 1954, the records were sorted, sifted, and arranged by Hannah Stapler. In 1959 related correspondence and papers of Thomas Foulke, a gift of Eliza Foulke and Anna Elkinton, were added to the collection. In 1967, records of the 4th FWCC Conference, Guilford, N.C., were deposited by Herbert Hadley and Hannah Stapler. These records were organized and inventoried when received and included nine boxes of photographs from Ruth and Delbert Replogle (since removed to SFHL-PA-122). Records of the 5th FWCC Conference, Wichita, Kansas, 1977, were stored as received.

Records of Philadelphia office of Friends World Committee for Consultation’s Section of the Americas were deposited at irregular intervals, sometimes in three year groupings. In 2005 a project was begun to reprocess these records into a more coherent fashion: Series 1-7 are organized in chronological series, by decade. Series 8 (2000-2010) contains files that were deposited in 2011, some dating back into the 1980s. All folders are labeled as closely to the original folder titles as possible.

In 2022, accruals received in 2016, 2021, and 2022 were processed and sorted into the collection according to their creation dates. Most of the material was added to Series 8, though almost every earlier series received some material as well. Series 9 (2010-2019) and Series 10 (2020-2029) were created as part of this process.

The following box numbers do not exist in this collection. They are neither in the finding aid, nor on the off-site inventory: 177, 178, 179, 232, 233, 234.

Related Names

Subject

Subjects

Topical

Record Groups

Administrative Information

Title
Finding aid for Friends World Committee for Consultation. Section of the Americas Records, 1933-2010
Author
FHL staff
Date
2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2024: This finding aid was reviewed in order to change or contextualize any outdated, harmful terminology related to Indigenous Peoples, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading

Find It at the Library

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 Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library

http://www.swarthmore.edu/friends
Contact:
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore Pennsylvania 19081 USA

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