James Garrett Vail papers

James Garrett Vail (1886-1951) was an American Quaker and industrial chemist with a focus on silicates. Between 1905 and 1940, he was employed by the Philadelphia Quartz Company, where his scientific endeavors and Quaker service efforts frequently overlapped as he reported on the latter to his colleagues at the Quartz Company and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 1910, he married Ruth Masters Russell (1886-1989), with whom he had three children, Benjamin Franklin Vail (1912-1978); James Garrett Vail, Jr. (1919-1921); and Philip Cresson Vail (1924-2003).

Vail frequently engaged in service missions outside of the United States, beginning with child-feeding efforts in Germany in combination with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) after the First World War. In 1939, he again traveled to Germany and other European nations to assist Jewish refugees. Between 1940 and 1945, Vail acted as secretary of the Foreign Service Section of the AFSC, and in 1944 he visited India and China to assist in famine relief efforts. Between April 15 and May 4, 1948, James G. Vail, Kendall G. Kimberland, and Edgar B. Castle traveled through Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, and Jerusalem to investigate Jewish and Palestinian tensions at the conclusion of the British Mandate under the direction of the AFSC and Friends Service Council, London (FSC). In 1951, James and Ruth Vail traveled to India under the sponsorship of the AFSC and FSC to continue work in the Friends International Center, Delhi. Vail died in India in December 1951.