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Edith Reeves Solenberger Papers, 1897-1979
Collection: DG 176
Contact Information
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399
U.S.A.
Telephone: 610-328-8557 (curator)
Fax: 610-690-5728
Email: wchmiel@swarthmore.edu (curator)
URL: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/
Descriptive Summary
Repository
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Creator
Solenberger, Edith Reeves (1886-1976)
Title
Edith Reeves Solenberger Papers
Inclusive Dates
Dates of 1897-1979
Call Number
DG 176
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
four linear feet [papers only]
Abstract
Edith Gertrude Reeves Solenberger (1886-1976) was a Quaker peace activist who participated in a broad range of organizations. She was Co-Clerk of the Lansdowne Monthly Meeting, a founder of the Lansdowne-Upper Darby branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and an officer of the Delaware County WILPF Council. Edith Reeves graduated from Radcliffe College, earning an AB in 1907 and an AM in 1910. Her career included social work, writing, and public speaking. She was WILPF's referent on Native Americans in the 1950s. Edith Solenberger was interested in disability issues and had a notable impact on the treatment of children with physical disabilities in the Philadelphia area.
Administrative Information
Restrictions to Access
None
Usage Restrictions
Yes, this collection is located off site. Please contact SCPC staff at least two weeks in advance of visit.
Alternate Form of Material
None
Acquisitions Information
Gift of Robert Solenberger, 1994,
1995, [Acc. 94A-082, Acc. 95A-036]; Purchase, [Acc. 08B-061]
Processing Information
Processed by Kate Myer, October
1993, revised by Anne Yoder, May 1995; revised by Wendy E. Chmielewski, September 2008
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Edith Reeves Solenberger Papers (DG 176), Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online library/archival catalogs.
See tripod record
Related Collections
DG 043 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section (Local Branches, Series B, 5 PA)
Diary of Edith Reeves available at the University of South Dakota;
Diary of Edith R. Solenbeger and photograph at Schlesinger Library, Harvard University
Historical Background
Edith Gertrude Reeves Solenberger (1886-1976) was a Quaker peace activist who participated in a broad range of organizations. Edith Reeves was born in 1886 in South Dakota. She attended the University of South Dakota and graduated from Radcliffe College, earning an AB in 1907 and an AM in 1910, with an interest in crippled children. Reeves married Edwin Solenberger of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania and moved to that community in August of 1913. Edith Solenberger was Co-Clerk of the Lansdowne Monthly Meeting, a founder of the Lansdowne-Upper Darby branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and an officer of the Delaware County WILPF Council.Her career included social work, writing, and public speaking. She was WILPF's referent on Native Americans in the 1950s.
Together with her husband, Edwin, Edith traveled to the 1955 Pacific Yearly Meeting as a representative of the Lansdowne Monthly Meeting. Other Quaker sponsored trips included those to Canada to learn about the Doukhobors, a Russian immigrant-based pacifist Christian group. Warm friendships developed as a result of her trips in 1951, 1955 and 1956.
As a WILPF member, Edith Solenberger represented that organization at the 1951 Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco. Other conferences she attended were the first and second Pendle Hill Pacifist Conferences, Wallingford, Pennsylvania. in1940 and 1941, and the All American Friends Conference, Richmond, Indiana, 1942.
Other organizations which attracted Solenberger's interest ranged from the America First Committee to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. Subject matters of interest to her included academic freedom, chemical warfare, disarmament, fallout shelters, referenda on war, the role of the clergy in wartime, and world reorganization.
In addition to her special collection on Doukhobors, Solenberger collected information on Native American issues, and she corresponded with legislators on this topic--especially concerning the Kinzua Dam Project--from 1957 to 1964. Edith Solenberger sponsored a young Native American student with whom she corresponded from 1963 to1969.
Within the Philadelphia community, Edith Solenberger had a notable impact on the treatment of children with physical disabilities. This crusade began as early as 1910 with her work with the International Society for Crippled Children in Elyria, Ohio, and lasted until1968.As Edith Reeves, she authored the semiunal volume of its day on this topic in 1911 entitled Care and Education of Crippled Children in the United States.. The Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults issued a Letter of Introduction describing Edith Solenberger as a Charter Member of the Society's Board of Directors. She was a pioneer in work on behalf of disabled children. In 1949, she visited post-war Europe inspecting hospitals institutional homes, schools and agencies for persons with orthopaedic handicaps.
Persons of interest to her included Jane Addams, Gandhi, the Duke of Windsor, and Norman Thomas. She was concerned with the treatment of refugees, post-war Germany, and United States involvement in Vietnam prior to her death at age 90 in 1976.
Edith Reeves Solenberger's life journey ranged from a frontier childhood in the South Dakota Territory to international scholarly travel, and included family commitments, rearing four children, and spiritual and intellectual dedication to many diverse causes.
Collection Overview
The Edith Reeves Solenberger papers, distributed between correspondence, handwritten notes on various subjects, printed literature on organizations, and clippings files, are organized by headings: Correspondence, Articles by her, Conferences attended and Committees served (chronologically arranged), Countries which concerned or interested her, Organizations, Reference Files and Special Collections: The Doukhobors, American Indians, and Work Related to Crippled Children. The majority of correspondence in the Crippled Children Special Collection is between Edith Reeves Solenberger and Edgar F. "Daddy" Allen, President of the International Society for Crippled Children (1924-1937). Beyond 1937, she maintained her volunteer activities for this cause with the Philadelphia Society for Crippled Children and Adults, of which she was a charter member. These special collections include correspondence as well as published information.
Accession 08B-061 was acquired through purchase in 2008. This accession includes a school copy book of Edith Reeves, dated 1897-1899; a diary, dated 1900; an herbarium (n.d., but perhaps from 1913); wedding announcements and correspondence, 1913; telegram from Edith Reeves on women's rights, 1912; University of South Dakota [?] graduation program for Althea Margaret Reeves [Edith's sister?], 1914; three family photographs-two of Emerson G. Reeves [Edith's father], one of Emma Sprague Reeves [Edith's mother]. Edith Reeves, and Harrison Sprague Reeves [Edith's brother], circa 1892; one lock of hair [unidentified]