Quaker prison reformers -- United States

Abstract Josiah P. Marvel (1896-1959) was a Quaker, who worked with the American Friends Service Committee in France in 1940-41 and in 1942 became the chairman of the Quaker Emergency Service in New York City. This collection contains primarily Marvel's files on the Quaker Emergency Service, including its Civilian Readjustment Committee (a clinic that offered men arrested for soliciting sex with other men the option of psychiatric care in lieu of a prison sentence). The collection also includes a...

Abstract The collection is organized into four folders: the group's general records, including the initial plan and charter; the records of the Civilian Readjustment Committee, the post-war arm of the group; information on a project in Brazil; and writings by people outside the group. Of interest are transcript talks given by Peter F. Amoroso of the New York Department of Correction, and Austin H. MacCormick of the Osborne Association. There is also a carbon copy, attributed to John S. Gough, of the...