|
|
|
|
Document Group: CDGA
Size: .75 linear feet
Provenance: Donated by William C. Biddle
Restrictions: None
Microfilm: None
Finding Aid: Checklist revised by Anne Yoder, December 1997
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Historical Introduction
William C. Allen was born on March 09, 1857 on the premises of the Westtown School, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (4th and Arch Streets) of the Society of Friends, and was recorded as a Minister there in 1898 (circa). He lived for many years in San Jose, California, and later moved to Denver, Colorado in 1925 (circa). He was married in 1883 to Elizabeth C. Bromly. They had one surviving daughter, Grace Allen Bell.
Allen was deeply opposed to war and wrote often about the problems of propaganda, censorship, conscription, imperialism, and the munitions industry. He contributed articles on the Christian's attitude toward war and its causes to over twenty church papers. Allen traveled widely, going twice to Asia, four times to Australia and New Zealand, and three times to South Africa. He wrote many articles about his experiences abroad; perhaps most significant were the ones which championed the rights of native peoples in South Africa. Allen worked against conscription in California, he was a strong advocate for the temperance movement, and he was actively interested in the Federal Council of Churches, to name a few involvements. He established the Peace Committee of the Churches of the Pacific Coast.
Allen wrote several books, among them A Quaker in the Orient and War! Behind the Smoke Screen. These are available in the tri-college consortium.
Allen died on November 14, 1938.
Contents of Collection
|
Box 1 |
|
Clippings about Allen |
|
Correspondence, 1914-1931 |
|
Transcripts of journals, 1898 (account of the North Carolina Yearly Meeting), 1926 (excerpt) |
|
Transcript of war diary, 1917 |
|
MS articles (arranged by title): A-I |
|
MS articles (arranged by title): J-W |
|
Published articles, 1915-1936, n.d. |
|
Pamphlets: |
o "Real War As Seen in South Africa, 1899-1900" (n.d.; 1st and 3rd editions) |
o "An Appeal to Christians Regarding Militarism" (1901) |
o "Philadelphia Quakerism and Its Perpetuity" (1903) |
o "The Awful Sin in the World" (1933) |
o "Rights of Conscience" (n.d.) |
o "A Free Ministry As Taught By the Early Friends" (n.d.) |
|
MS of book International Anarchy in Action |
|
Transcript of "Letters" Allen wrote to himself on peace and war," 1917 |
|
Box 2 |
|
Reference material used for speeches and writings: |
o Profiteering and armaments, 1913-1933 |
o War, 1914-1928 |
o Treatment of conscientious objectors, 1916-1935 |
o Propaganda, 1916-1935 |
o Cost of war, 1920-1933 |
o Censorship, 1917-1921 |
o Labor and war, 1920-1935 |
o Religion and war, 1898-1933 |
o Imperialism, 1921-1923 |
o Militarism, 1915-1933 |
o Conscription and military training in schools, 1916-1931 |
o Hate and reprisals, 1917-1932 |
o South Africa, 1919-1936 |
o Miscellaneous, 1895-1933 |
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
For more information, contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator, at
wchmiel1@ swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8557.
For other resources, see the college's online library catalog (Tripod).