Swarthmore College Peace Collection

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Papers of E. Raymond Wilson, 1914-1987

Collection: DG 070

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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/

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Descriptive Summary
Repository
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Creator
Wilson, E. Raymond (1896-1987)
Title
E. Raymond Wilson Papers
Inclusive Dates
1914-1987
Call Number
DG 070
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
35.25 linear feet [papers only]
Abstract
E. Raymond Wilson (1896-1987), a Quaker peace lobbyist, helped found the Friends Committee on National Legislation in 1943 and served as its Executive Secretary until 1962. He also helped organize the Committee on Militarism in Education in 1925. From 1931 to 1943, he served as Field and Education Secretary of the Peace Section of the American Friends Service Committee. He was the author of two books.
The papers of E. Raymond Wilson contain personal and professional correspondence, biographical material, writings including drafts for two books, notes on travel, program of meetings and conferences he attended, a subject file, photographs, scrapbooks, sound tapes, and memorabilia. The papers of his wife Miriam Davidson Wilson (1899-1965) are also in this collection. Correspondents include Horace Alexander, Brent Dow Allinson, Iwao Fred Ayusawa, Roswell P. Barnes, Francis G. Brown, Dorothy Detzer, Harrop A. Freeman, Jeanette Hadley, Ray Newton, James M. Read, Esther B. Rhoads, John Nevin Sayre, Edward F. Snyder, Guy W. Solt, Annalee Stewart, Wilbur K. Thomas, Helen F. Topping, and Walter C. Woodward.

Administrative Information
Restrictions to Access
None
Usage Restrictions
None [except 2 weeks advance order for boxes stored off-site]
Alternate Form of Material
None
Acquisitions Information
Gift of E. Raymond Wilson
Processing Information
Processed by E. Raymond Wilson; index to collection prepared by Anne M. Yoder, Jan. 2006
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the E. Raymond Wilson Papers (DG 070), 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
Friends Committee on National Legislation Records (DG 047)

Historical Background
Often called the "dean of Washington religious lobbyists," E. Raymond Wilson was one of the founders and served as the Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, from its establishment in November 1943 until he became Executive Secretary Emeritus in January 1962.
Born on a farm in Iowa, Wilson graduated from Iowa State College in 1921 and received an MS degree religious education from Columbia University in 1925. After helping to found the Committee on Militarism in Education, he studied and toured for a year (1926-1927) in Japan under a Japanese Brotherhood Scholarship. From 1931 to 1943, he was Field and Education Secretary for the Peace Section of the American Friends Service Committee. Wilson also served as co-chair of the Disarmament Working Group of the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy.

In 1975, Wilson's book Uphill for Peace: Quaker Impact on Congress was published, and in 1976, his autobiography Thus Far On My Journey followed. Wilson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Haverford College in 1958, and a Doctor of Human Letters degree by Swarthmore College in 1975. He was married to Miriam Davidson, whose papers are also part of this collection.

Collection Overview
Parts of this collection of papers are stored off-site, as noted below. Please contact the Curator at least two weeks in advance of a visit to the Peace Collection to see any of the off-site material.

Wilson visited Japan in 1926-1927 and brought back many postcards, photographs, and lantern slides. The lantern slides have been digitized and may be viewed online. One album of postcards with the same or similar views was collected by Wilson (stored in Oversized Items Collection: Scrapbooks). Wilson gathered many posters in the USSR in the 1930s, which are located in the Poster Collection. Because of their fragility, they have been digitized and are available for viewing online. His collection of World War I posters is also located in the Poster Collection. A scrapbook re: New York City (1923-1926) was removed to the Oversized Items Collection: Scrapbooks. Many audiocassettes and slides, made or collected by Wilson, are available in the Audiovisual Collection. A large number of family photographs were returned to Wilson's grandchildren in 2010. Album #26, made up primarily of tourist postcards, was dismantled in January 2011 and the postcards were given away; the small number of photos of Wilson & others were removed to the Photograph Collection.

Detailed Description of the Collection -- INDEX

Series A,1: Personal & Family Correspondence / Personal & Historical Material
Boxes 1-11 off-site

Series A,2: General Correspondence
Boxes 1-5 off-site

Series A,3: Correspondence Between E. Raymond Wilson & Miriam Davidson Wilson, 1922-1965
Boxes 1-4 off-site

Series B: Books, Journals, Occasional Papers & Manuscripts
Boxes 1-3; bound volumes (11) of material by/about ERW off-site

Series B,1: Books, Journals, Occasional Papers & Manuscripts -- Uphill For Peace
Boxes 1-5, 8-10 [boxes 6-7 missing as of Feb. 1990] off-site

Series B,2: Books, Journals, Occasional Papers & Manuscripts -- Thus Far On My Journey
Boxes 1-3 off-site

Series C: Notes On Trips
Boxes 1, 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 4, 4a, 5 off-site

Series D: Conferences, Meetings & Itineraries
Box 1 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1926-1949
- 1926-1931
- 1932-1933
- 1934-1937
- 1938-1940
- 1941-1943
- 1944-1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948 (January-September)
- 1948 (October-November)
- 1948 (November cont. - December)
- 1949 (January-June)
- 1949 (July-December)

Box 2 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1950-1955
- 1950 (January-August)
- 1950 (August cont. - December)
- 1951
- 1952 (January-September)
- 1952 (September cont. - December)
- 1953 (January-October)
- 1953 (November-December)
- 1954
- 1955 (January-May)
- 1955 (June-December)

Box 3 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1956-1958

Box 4 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1959-1962
- 1959 (January-October)
- 1959 (October cont. - December)
- 1960 (January-October)
- 1960 (October cont. - December)
- 1961 (January-May)
- 1961 (June-December)
- 1962 (January-March)
- 1962 (March cont. - June)
- 1962 (July-December)

Box 5 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1963-1967
- 1963
- 20th Anniversary (FCNL)
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966 (January-April)
- 1966 (May-December)
- 1967

Box 6 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1968-1974
- 1968
- 1969 (January-March)
- 1969 (April-December)
- 1970
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1974

Box 7 off-site
Speaking engagements and/or attendance at events, 1975-1986, undated
- 1975
- 1976
- 1977
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984-1986
- date uncertain

Box 8 off-site
Calendars, 1943, 1945-1955, 1957-1959, 1961-1970, 1973 (September [all unfoldered]

Box 9 off-site
Scrapbook re: personal speaking engagements, etc., 1926-1933
Scrapbook re: conferences & meetings, 1931-1939 [incomplete]
Scrapbook re: conferences & meetings, 1940 - 1943 (June)
Scrapbook re: conferences & meetings, 1943 (July) - 1946

Series E: Subject File
Boxes 1-4 off-site

Series F: Memorabilia, Albums, Pictures, Slides [mostly dismantled & removed to Memorabilia, Oversized Items, Photograph, or Audiovisual Collections]
Box 1 (paige box) off-site
College Memory Book #1, 1914, 1926

Box 2 (paige box) off-site
College Memory Book #2; College Memory Book #3, 1920-1927

Box 3 off-site
Photographs & Postcards re: Japan, 1926-1927
*Rambles in Hokkaido & Saghalien (album 12)
* Intimate Glimpses of Japanese Life #1 (album #14)
* Intimate Glimpses of Japanese Life #2 (album #15)
* Intimate Glimpses of Japanese Life #3 (album #16)
* Agricultural Scenes in Japan (album #17)
* Pines & Ships (album 18)
* Scenes: Imperial University; YMCA Dormitory; Imperial funeral; girl tying Obi; trip/s to the countryside; etc. (album #19)
* Life in Japan [includes some photos by ERW] (album #21)

Box 4 off-site
Photographs & Postcards re: Formosa, 1927
* Trip to Formosa: Hokkaido & Saghalien, 1927 (album #1)
* Trip to Formosa: Hokkaido & Saghalien, 1927 (album #2)
* Trip around Formosa (album #3)
* Here and there (album #4)
* Mostly agricultural scenes (album #5)
* Taiyal Tribe (album #6)
* Aborigines (album #7)
* Paiwan Tribe; Chinese temples; rambles in Hokkaida & Saghalien (album #8)

Box 5 off-site
Photographs of American Seminar in Europe, 1938 (album #25)
Photographs of Family: ERW, Miriam Davidson Wilson, Lee Wilson (album #31)
Photographs of Family: ERW & Miriam Davidson Wilson, 1957; Photographs & postcards of Japan, 1956 (July 15) - 1957 (May-10) (album #32)

Box 6 off-site
Photographs & Postcards re: England, 1930; Photographs & Postcards re: USSR, 1930 (album #23)
Photographs & Postcards re: Austria & Switzerland, 1932 (album)

Box 7 (card file box) off-site
Postcards [from dismantled albums] re: Europe, Japan, Formosa, Taiwan, & U.S. (arranged by subject)
* Europe, 1930
* Europe: Oberammergau & passion plays
* Europe: Germany
* Europe: Poland
* Europe: Switzerland
* Formosa
* Japan: Y Series (numbered)
* Japan: the arts
* Japan: bridges
* Japan: Castle of the Oaks
* Japan: cemeteries; memorial stones
* Japan: cities; universities; misc. buildings
* Japan: flowers; flower arrangements; fruit
* Japan: funeral of Emperor
* Japan: harbors & lakes (with & without boats)
* Japan: industry; agriculture; fishing
* Japan: mountains; mountain climbing
* Japan: public baths
* Japan: scenery (general)
* Japan: temples; gates
* Japan: tribes / villagers
* Japan: villages
* Taiwan
* USA: Cathedral of St. John the Divine (NYC); NYC scenes
* USA: Grand Canyon; western scenes

Box 8 [no longer in existence as of February 2011]
Personal & Family Photographs, 1932-1940 [dismantled; photos removed to Photograph Collection; digitized: Album #1 / Album #2 / Album #3]
Photographs re: YMCA student conferences, 1919-1923 [dismantled; photos removed to Photograph Collection; digitized: Album #30]

Box 9 [no longer in existence as of February 2011]
Postcards re: Japan (album) [album removed to Oversized Items Collection: Scrapbooks; see also Japanese lantern slides]
Photographs & Postcards re: England, 1930; Photographs & Postcards re: USSR, 1938 [dismantled; photos removed to Photograph Collection (except many tourist photos were removed & given away); remaining photos digitized: Album #26]

Series G: Miriam Davidson Wilson
Boxes 1-6 off-site

Series H: Friends of E. Raymond Wilson & Miriam Davidson Wilson
Boxes 1-4 off-site

Series I: Additional Material
Box 1 off-site
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., 1930s
Involvement with Committee on Peace Terms, Philadelphia (PA), 1939 (November) - 1940 (June) [includes delegation to/from England: Francis Pollard, Karlin-Capper Johnson, Errol Elliott & ERW]
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., 1940s
Letters (& reports) to/from FCNL staff, 1948-1974
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., 1950s
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1954-1962
Correspondence re: Japanese war crimes prisoners, 1955-1956
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., 1960s
Correspondence leading up to & following the 3rd Assembly of the World Council of Churches, 1960 (December) - 1962 (September)
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1963
Involvement with (and/or attendance at) Turn Toward Peace conference "Voluntary Organizations and a World Without War," December 13-15, 1963
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1964
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1965
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1965: drafts of the "Proposed Statement on Vietnam"

Box 2 off-site
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1966
Involvement with the National Council of Churches, 1967-1969
Involvement with the Ad Hoc Committee on the Martin Luther King Resolution of the World Council of Churches, 1969
Involvement with Turn Toward Peace, 1960s
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., 1970s-1980
Involvements / writings / correspondence / etc., undated
Bibliography on post-war problems: notes, sources, etc. [by ERW?]
Postcards sent to/from family members

Box 3 (half box) on-site
Photocopies/scans of photograph albums sent off-site
Re-file material