Dorothy Medders Robinson

Papers, 1946-1978

Document Group: DG 127

Provenance:

Depositors: Phebe Robinson Jacobsen

Received: l978,1980

Accessions: 78A-112, 80A-74, 05A-076

Size: .5 linear feet

Restrictions: No

Microfilm: No

Finding Aids: Checklist prepared by Martha P. Shane, March l986

These records were processed under a grant from the Ford Foundation

This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection

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Historical Introduction

Dorothy Medders Robinson (?-l982) did her undergraduate work at Columbia University with a major in economics and social science. She did graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in psychology and studied New Testament Greek at Westminster Theological Seminary. She married Dr. Orris Grovenor Robinson, who served as minister of Calvary Methodist Church in Washington. The couple had two daughters and a son.

Besides being active in church work, Dorothy Robinson was deeply interested in peace. She served as president of the Carroll County, Maryland, Board of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) from l933 until l936. She was president of the Maryland State Board from l936 to l939. She served as National Vice President from l939 to l94l and as National President from l94l until l946. She subsequently served as Treasurer of both the U.S. section of WILPF and WILPF International.

Robinson travelled extensively for WILPF. In l946, she was a delegate to the U.S. Section of the International Congress in Luxembourg and she attended International Executive Committee meetings in Geneva from l946 to l949 as Consultative Member.

In l966, she accepted the general chairmanship of the Jane Addams Hall of Fame Committee which culminated in the the induction of Addams on May l9, l968.

Scope and Content

The papers of Dorothy Medders Robinson include correspondence (l946 l978) some of which she wrote to her family in l948 when she attended the WILPF International Executive Committee Meeting in Geneva. There are articles, speech notes, and speeches by her.

There is a 77 page typewritten account of her trip to the l946 WILPF International Congress in Luxembourg. A notebook she made contains WILPF printed material issued in l95l and l952. There is also material (l966-l968) about the Jane Addams Hall of Fame Committee which Robinson chaired, including a program from the event (May l9, l968), publicity, and organizational correspondence.
Correspondents include Adelaide N. Baker, Ruth Chalmers, Jo Graham,
and Elizabeth Polster.

Arrangement

Correspondence and other documents were placed in chronological order. One folder of copies of l96l correspondence relating to the preservation of Hull House was moved to DG 1 (Jane Addams).

Box l
Checklist/Removal sheets
Series I. BIOGRAPHY/HONORS/PUBLICITY
Series II. CORRESPONDENCE
DMR letters from Europe (l948)
Miscellaneous correspondence (l946-l978)
Series III. ARTICLES AND SPEECHES BY DMR
Series IV. DMR ACCOUNT OF TRIP TO INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS, WILPF

(1948)

Series V. WILPF NOTEBOOKS 1951-1952

Record of Work of WILPF, U.S. Section, 1951-1952

Diary (with entries on WILPF activities) 1951; two documents found loose in diary [Acc. 05A-076]

Series VI. MISCELLANEOUS
Series VII. JANE ADDAMS HALL OF FAME COMMITTEE
Program/Brochure/Letterhead
Minutes, l966-l968
Memoranda/Form letters/Reports
Publicity
Correspondence, l966-l968 (3 folders)