Swarthmore
College Peace Collection, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA
19081-1399, U.S.A.
Women's Committee to
Oppose Conscription
Records,
1942-1948
Document Group: DG 068
Provenance: Donated by Grace Rhoads, Mildred Scott Olmsted,
& WILPF National Office; 1948, 1966,
1969
Size: 7.5 linear feet
Restrictions: None
Microfilm: None
Finding Aid: Collection re-processed & checklist
revised by Anne Yoder, April 2001
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace
Collection.
Introduction
This group was originally named the Committee to Oppose the
Conscription of Women, and then the National Committee to Oppose
the Conscription of Women. It was formed to protest the
Austin-Wadsworth legislative bills and similar measures, and as an
independent committee with one objective it expected to educate
and motivate a constituency no organized peace group could reach.
At its height, the group had a governing committee of 150 members
and a national mailing list of 3000. When the immediate threat of
drafting women had passed, the group changed its name again, this
time to the Women's Committee to Oppose Conscription, to reflect
its stand against any conscription. Mildred Scott Olmsted served
as Director, A.J. Muste as Treasurer, and Grace Rhoads as
secretary. The Committee was headed by Katherine Pierce and
Frances Chalmers of New York City.
For further information on the history of WCOC, click here
for a speech by Wendy Chmielewski.
The material in this collection came in 1948 from Grace Rhoads; in
1966 from WILPF (Mildred Scott Olmsted's files); and in 1969 from
Mildred Scott Olmsted. It is difficult to know if this comprises
all of the files kept by the Committee's office, though it is
unlikely. In 2001, the collection was rearranged and refoldered;
because of time constraints, however, no attempt was made to do
preservation photocopying (much of the paper in this collection is
brittle), or to put into chronological order the material within
the folders.
See also the records of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (DG 013:
Series A-3, box 16; Series C, box 17).
Contents of
Collection
Box
1 Checklist / History of
WCOC General
Meeting minutes, 1942-1943
Meeting minutes, 1944 - 1947 (Jan.)
Governing Committee: biographical information
Governing Committee: correspondence [see also general
correspondence]
Governing Committee: form letters sent to
Form letters sent to members etc., 1943-1948, n.d.
Statements of purpose
Statements / testimony / reports
Literature produced
Literature development
Box
2 General Releases / flyers produced
Articles written (drafts)
Publicity / articles / letters to the editor published
Work re: legislation
Calls to action re: legislation, 1947 Financial records Correspondence & finance reports to New York office,
1943-1944
General, 1942-1947
Bills
Expense accounts
Donations etc., 1947
Donations
Box
3 Financial records Donations (cont.) Correspondence To/from government officials
With prospective members
Box 4 Correspondence With prospective members (cont.)
With radio broadcasts [includes texts of broadcasts]
With editors
Re: placing articles in magazines & newspapers
With Strassheim Printers
Re: booklet "Peacetime Military Training: The 19th Annual Debate,
1945-1946" [includes copy of booklet,
which has an article by Annalee
Stewart]
Box 5 Correspondence Re: layout of pamphlet
Re: possible speakers
Re: speaking engagements of members
Re: reprinting articles from Christian Century and The
Christian Advocate Requests for pamphlet for debates on conscription,
1945-1946
Literature requests
Of Eleanor Garst [see also General Correspondence]
Of A.J. Muste [see also General Correspondence]
Box 6 Correspondence Of Mildred Scott Olmsted [see also General
Correspondence]
Of Annalee Stewart, 1944-1947
Of Annalee Stewart [removed from DG 043]
With religious leaders etc., 1943-1945
Box 7 General Correspondence With American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
With/About CPS camps
With Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)
With Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
With Greater Philadelphia Committee Against Peacetime
Conscription
With/About labor unions
With National Council Against Conscription
With National Council Against Peacetime Conscription Now
With National Council for the Prevention of War (NCPW)
With National Peace Conference
With Northern California Committee to Oppose Conscription
With Post War World Council
With Religious News Service
With/about settlement houses
With War Resisters League (WRL)
With Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF)
Box 8 General Correspondence With A [collective file]
Alderton, Mr. & Mrs. Marion
Alexander, Grace
Armstrong, Eunice
Ba [collective file]
Bainton, Roland & Ruth
Balch, Emily Greene
Be [collective file]
Beardsley, Helen Marston
Bennett, Fay
Bernard, Napoleon
Bi-Bri [collective file]
Blazier, Orpah [not Orpha]
Boss, Charles
Bristol, James (AFSC)
Bro-By [collective file]
Bromley, Ernest
Broyles, Berthalee
Box 9 General Correspondence With Ca-Ch [collective file]
Calley, Ann Laws [nurse at CPS camp #108, Gatlinburg,
TN]
Cannon, Josephine Johnson
Carner, Lucy P.
Catt, Carrie Chapman
Chalmers, Frances (Mrs. Allan Knight Chalmers)
Chase, Wallace
Ci-Com [collective file]
Cleghorn, Sarah
Code, Marion
Colburn, Fern
Con-Cu [collective file]
Conant, Sarah, Edith & Lyda
Corson, Helen
Cotton, J. Paul
Cummings, Dolly
Curl, Olive
Da-De [collective file]
Day, Dorothy
Detzer, Dorothy
Di-Du [collective file]
Dingman, Mary
Dougherty, (Cardinal) D.J.
Duncan, Mary Clement
Box 10 General Correspondence With Ea-Ei [collective file]
Eaton, Emily
Eichel, Esther (Mrs. Julius Eichel)
El-Ev [collective file]
Elfenbein, Elsie
Evans, Rebecca Winsor (Mrs. Edmund Evans)
F [collective file]
Farquharson, Mary [FOR Field Secretary]
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
Foster, Hazel E.
G [collective file]
Ha-Hal [collective file]
Ham-Han [collective file]
Hansen, Edith (Mrs. Lorenz Hansen)
Har-Hav [collective file]
Box 11 General Correspondence With Harkness, Georgia
He-Ho [collective file]
Hines, Marjorie L.
Hoge, Florence
Hu- [collective file]
Hughan, Jessie Wallace
I [collective file]
Ja-Je [collective file]
Jacobs, Betty
Jo- [collective file]
Johnson, Evelyn G.
Johnson, Jean
Ka-Ki [collective file]
Kirkpatrick, W.H.
Kl- [collective file]
LaForce, Pearl
Box 12 General Correspondence With Le-Ll [collective file]
Lo-Ly [collective file]
Longstreth, Emily
Lunde, Erling
Ma [collective file]
Mace, Herbert
Mc [collective file]
Me-Moo [collective file]
Moffett, Anne
Mor-My [collective file]
Mygatt, Tracy D.
N [collective file]
O [collective file]
O'Neill, Genevieve
Box 13 General Correspondence With Pa-Ph [collective file]
Pearson, Marie
Pi-Pr [collective file]
Pierce, Katherine
Q [collective file]
Ra-Ri [collective file]
Randall, Mercedes M.
Rea, Helene
Read, Mary
Ro [collective file]
Robinson, Polly
Rockel, Anna
Ru [collective file]
Ruch, Clara
Box 14 General Correspondence With Sa-Sc [collective file]
Sayre, Kathleen (Mrs. John Nevin Sayre)
Scudder, Vida
Se-Sh [collective file]
Si-Sr [collective file]
Simon, Emily Parker
Solenberger, Edith Reeves
St-Sy [collective file]
Stahl, Ruth
Stanislawski, Doris
Stevens, Thelma
T [collective file]
Box 15 General Correspondence With U [collective file]
V [collective file]
Wa-We [collective file]
Walser, Gladys
Wentworth, Lydia
Wh-Wi [collective file]
Whitmer, Annie
Whitney, Norman (Syracuse Peace Council)
Winsor, Ellen
Winsor, Mary
Witherspoon, Frances
Wo-Wy [collective file]
Woods, Amy
Y-Z [collective file]
Zutt, Elizabeth
Unknown senders
Box 16 Events Pendle Hill Seminar on Conscription . . . , Wallingford (PA),
Oct. 16-24, 1943
Schoolmen's Week, Temple University, Philadelphia (PA), March
1944
Formation of Committee to Oppose Peace Conscription, Chicago (IL),
Oct . 19, 1944
Meeting of those interested in legislative action against
conscription, Nov. 09, 1944 Lists Governing Committee members
Local committees / unit leaders
Members
Contacts: religious
Contacts: general / misc. names Misc. Miscellaneous notes etc. Reference / Reading Material re: Conscription & Universal
Military Training Negro rights
Religious / denominational / local church statements
Legislation
Newsclippings Reference / Reading Material re: Conscription & Universal
Military Training:
Opinions of Groups American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Anti-Conscription Campaign
Citizens' Committee for a National War Service Act
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
Box 17 Reference / Reading Material re: Conscription &
Universal Military Training
Opinions of Groups Greater Philadelphia Committee Against Peacetime
Conscription
Joint Peace Board [formerly Joint Strategy Board]
National Council Against Conscription
National Council Against Peacetime Conscription Now
National Council for Prevention of War (NCPW)
National Peace Conference
National Service Board for Religious Objectors (NSBRO)
Post War World Council
War Manpower Commission
War Resisters League (WRL)
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Workers' Defense League
YMCA
Box 18 Reference / Reading Material re: Conscription &
Universal Military Training:
Opinions of Misc. Groups/Persons A-Y [collective files]