Roy Kepler Papers (DG 185), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Roy Kepler Papers, 1940-1985

Collection: DG 185

Contact Information
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399
U.S.A.
Telephone: (610) 328-8557 (Curator)
Fax: (610) 328-8544
Email: wchmiel1@swarthmore.edu (Curator)
URL: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/

Descriptive Summary
Repository
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Creator
Kepler, Roy (1920 - 1994)
Title
Roy Kepler Papers
Inclusive Dates
1940 - 1985
Call Number
DG 185
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
6.25 linear /feet [papers only]
Abstract
Roy Kepler was a radical pacifist and conscientious objector during World War II. In this period he was active in political organizing in Civilian Public Service camps. After WWII and until his death he owned an independent paperback bookstore in Berkeley, California. Kepler remained politically active, working. with draft resisters during the Vietnamese Conflict, with the War Resisters League, particularly West Coast branches; also with the Peacemakers, the Committee Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Nonviolent Action, the Institute Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) the Study of Nonviolence, the Third Camp, and other groups advocating nonviolent social change. Kepler was one of the founders of the Pacifica Foundation and public radio in California.

Administrative Information
Restrictions to Access
None
Usage Restrictions
None
Alternate Form of Material
None
Acquisitions Information
Gift of the Resource Center Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Nonviolence, 1995 [Acc. 95A-088]; 1996 [Acc. 96A-036]
Processing Information
This collection is unprocessed
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Roy Kepler Papers (DG 185), 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
War Resisters League Records (DG 040)

Historical Background
Roy Kepler was a radical pacifist and conscientious objector during World War II. In this period he was active in political organizing in Civilian Public Service camps. After WWII and until his death he owned an independent paperback bookstore in Berkeley, California. Kepler remained politically active, working. with draft resisters during the Vietnamese Conflict, with the War Resisters League, particularly West Coast branches; also with the Peacemakers, the Committee Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Nonviolent Action, the Institute Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) the Study of Nonviolence, the Third Camp, and other groups advocating nonviolent social change. Kepler was one of the founders of the Pacifica Foundation and public radio in California.

Collection Overview
This collection includes Roy Kepler's files on his various political affiliations from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Arrangement of Collection
This collection is unprocessed and remains in the order in which it was donated. The Kepler Papers were donated in two accessions:

Acc. 95A-088
Acc. 96A-036

Some of the material in this collection may concern the War Resisters League rather than be the papers of Roy Kepler.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Box 1 [Acc. 95A-088]
Kepler, Roy - legal briefs
Civilian Public Service union, 1940s
Personal file, correspondence, Civilian Public Service
National conference War Resisters League, 1973
Acts for Peace (origins)
Conscription, personal file, 1946 - 1947
Miscellaneous
Mixed bag
[unlabeled folder]

Box 2 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous (newspaper clippings)
Mid Peninsula Free University
Fremont School (personal)
A.J. Muste articles, miscellaneous
“Coalition” debate, War Resisters League
Miscellaneous
War Resisters League conference, 1973
[3 unlabeled folders]

Box 3 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous clippings
War Resisters International
Peace games, 1969 (Spring)
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) miscellaneous
French correspondence
Miscellaneous

Box 4 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous reference material
Correspondence
(Miscellaneous) clippings
Pamphlets and newsletters

Box 5 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous clippings
Publicity – Dad and bookstore, #1
Miscellaneous

Box 6 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous clippings
Booklet - “Brainstorming Toward Survival”, Harold Fowler
Booklet - “The German White Paper”
Booklet - “UNESCO and Public Opinion Today”
Booklet - “Education and Fallout”
Booklet - New Frontiers, Vol. 5, no. 1, 1937 (January)
Booklet - “Freedom Without Violence”, Clifford Manshardt
Booklet - “Banishing War”, J.C. Kumarappa
Booklet - “The Atomic Bomb Versus Civilization”, Robert M. Hutchins
Booklet - “An Appeal to Reason”
Taxpayers Against the War
War Resisters League, 1971 - 1972
War Resisters League, 1966 - 1967
[unlabeled folder]

Box 7 [Acc. 95A-088]
War Resisters League national, 1967
War Resisters League current
Kent Smith and Steve Ladd, 1973 - 1974
Correspondence, miscellaneous, 1975 - 1976
War Resisters League / west
Miscellaneous clippings
War Resisters League
War Resisters League correspondence, 1972
Devi Prasad, 1973 - 1974
Miscellaneous clippings
Small Claims

Box 8 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous (atomic)
Miscellaneous clippings
Roy Kepler
Miscellaneous SANE
Garland peace collection
Miscellaneous clippings
Santa Rita inmates
Share the Wealth
War Resisters League correspondence
Chris-Dorothy and Courtions Bennet

Box 9 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Information psychological testing
Clippings - nuclear problems, fallout shelter debate, 1958 - 1962
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous reading notes
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous Stanford, Silby etc

Box 10 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Committee for Nonviolent Action
Strike at Big Flats
End the War Now Committee
Union of Concerned Scientists, miscellaneous
World Without War Council
SANE
Miscellaneous
SNCC and SCLC
Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
War Resisters League
Peacemakers
Promoting enduring peace
Committee Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) Justice to Puerto Ricans

Paper
Personal
Contacts

Box 11 [Acc. 95A-088]
AGAPE
Booklet- Classics of Non-Violence: Numer Two
Booklet- A Defence of Poetry
American Friends Service Committee
Miscellaneous clippings, letters, and newsletters
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous War Resisters International
Miscellaneous clippings
Miscellaneous
Reports
Newspaper Clippings Misc.

Box 12 [Acc. 95A-088]
Personal
Contacts
War and the state
Thinking about Unthinkable, 1
Thinking about Unthinkable, 2
Court case, 1968
Miscellaneous
Joan Baez
Correspondence
Institute plans
NV Institute, misc.
Miscellaneous

War Resisters League
Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
Miscellaneous

Box 13 [Acc. 95A-088]
Miscellaneous
Tax refusal correspondence, 1956
Civil Action Day Committee (October 16 - 26), Correspondence
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Murray Thompson, Canadian Friends Committee Correspondence, Grindstone Island
Taxpayers Against the War

Box 14 [Acc. 95A-088]
Resist and CDR #1
Information, conscription

Box 15 [Acc. 95A-088]
KPFA
Kepler commentaries, KPFA
KPFA
Germfask, newsletter, and letters to the editor
Draft resistance
CDR #3
CDR: Committtee for Draft Resistence

Box 16 [Acc. 95A-088]
KPFA
KPFA
KPFA
KPFA miscellaneous

Box 17 [Acc. 95A-088]
Minersville
Civilian Public Service, 1942 - 1944
Civilian Public Service - Germfask and Minersville
Civilian Public Service - Germfask
KPFA
Germfask and Minersville, 1944 - 1963
War Resisters League, 1973 - 1974
Miscellaneous, 1965
Civilian Public Service, 1943 - 1944
Resist, War Resisters League, tax refusal
Miscellaneous
KPFA
Miscellaneous
KPFA

CDR #3
CDR

Acc. 96A-036
Box 1
[Loose material]
More KPFA commentaries, letters, etc., 1949 (?) (September)
KPFA commentaries, letters, etc.
[Loose material]