PART III: U.S.
SECTION
Series A,4, Committees & Conferences, 1920-1959
Appendix A: Committee on the Americas
Heloise Brainerd resigned from the Pan American Union in July
1935 to take up volunteer work at WILPF. She served as chair of the
Inter-American Committee (changed in 1938 to Committee on the
Americas) from 1936 until her retirement in 1954.
The Committee on the Americas was responsible to the international
co-chairs of WILPF, but was financed by the U.S. Section. Regular
reports were made to both WILPF International and to the U.S.
Section. The goals of the Committee were to bring women of Latin
America into the world-wide peace movement, to spread a knowledge of
WILPF principles, and to try to establish national sections in each
country. Through some travel, but primarily through correspondence
and through contacts with Latin American women in the U.S., Brainerd
sought to accomplish these goals and to help women of Latin America
solve their own political and social problems. A primary means of
communication was a mimeographed newsletter in Spanish
Noticias, distributed in 1936-1954 to about 400 organizations
and individuals throughout the Americas.
In 1936, Brainerd traveled to Mexico and Central America in
connection with her Committee work, and on behalf of the People's
Mandate to Governments to End War. During the winter of 1938-1939,
she spent seven months visiting the six republics on the west and
north coasts of South America. She made many personal contacts and
helped to organize WILPF national sections or committees in several
countries (only the Brazil Section lasted for any length of time).
Early in 1946, the U.S. Section initiated plans for an unofficial
Inter-American Congress of Women. Brainerd served as Secretary of the
Organizing Committee for the congress, held in Guatemala City in
August 1947. This congress established an ongoing organization, the
Federation of Women of the Americas. A second Inter-American Congress
of Women was held in Mexico City in 1951.
The Inter-American Committee of the U.S. Section began circa 1933.
It's name was changed in 1938 to Committee on the Americas; later the
name was changed to the Committee on Latin America. Brainerd served
as chair of this U.S. Section committee or as Coordinator of
Inter-American Work from 1936-1954.
Brainerd's extensive correspondence includes letters to/from such
people as Devere Allen, Gertrude Baer, Emily Greene Balch, Roger
Baldwin, Mary McCleod Bethune, Ellen Starr Brinton, Pearl Buck,
Hannah Clothier Hull, Frederick Libby, Mildred Scott Olmsted and
Mabel Vernon, as well as leaders in South America, diplomats and
congressmen. Her correspondence files also include reports and
proposals, as well as secondary material [arrangement set up by
Brainerd?].
See also CDGA: Brainerd, Heloise (for personal
material)
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