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Register of the Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records
XX333
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Title: Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records
Dates: 1914-1923
Collection Number: XX333
Creator: Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee (London, England)
Collection Size:
2 manuscript boxes
(0.8 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Reports, correspondence, descriptive accounts, and meeting minutes relating to work conducted by the Friends' War Victims'
Relief Committee during World War I and in its aftermath. Includes documentation of Quaker relief and rebuilding efforts
in France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Hungary, and Poland.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
English
Collection is open for research.
Access to audiovisual materials requires at least two weeks advance notice. Audiovisual materials include sound recordings,
video recordings, and motion picture film. Hoover staff will determine whether use copies of the materials requested can be
made available. Some materials may not be accessible even with advance notice. Please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
for further information.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records, [Box number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
The Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee was originally established by the London Yearly Meeting in 1870 to assist civilian
towns damaged by the Franco-Prussian War. This Quaker relief effort is particularly notable because it established a policy
of no discrimination between the sides in war. Prior to World War I, War Victims' Relief Committees were revived in Eastern
Europe (1876) and in the Balkans (1912). As World War I broke out, the War Victims' Relief Committee was reestablished to
undertake relief work and post-war reconstruction. The work began in the Marne district of France and expanded to include
the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Poland. Following America's entry into the war, the American Friends Service
Committee became involved with the War Victims' Relief Committee as well. The relief work of the Friends War Victims' Relief
Committee was cited by Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, as he gave the presentation speech for the 1947 Nobel
Peace Prize to the Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee.
Reports, correspondence, descriptive accounts, and meeting minutes relating to work conducted by the Friends' War Victims'
Relief Committee during World War I and in its aftermath. Includes documentation of Quaker relief and rebuilding efforts
in France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Hungary, and Poland.
The Society of Friends War Victims Relief Committee worked throughout World War I to reduce the impact of the fighting on
the civilian population, and helped both the Allied and the Central powers recover after the war was over. The Committee's
work included providing food and clothing, establishing orphanages and hospitals, combating typhus and tuberculosis, encouraging
agriculture and manufacturing, improving prison conditions, and rebuilding destroyed homes. The collection is arranged alphabetically
by country receiving aid.
The collection is organized into 5 series: Austria-Hungary, 1919-1921; France, 1914-1920; Germany, 1919-1923; Holland, 1915-1918;
and Poland, 1916-1923. The original arrangement by country was maintained, reflecting the local nature of work done by the
War Victims' Relief Committee. The files describing work done in Holland were separated from those describing Austria-Hungary,
since the aid provided was different in each country. Within each series, folder titles and arrangement were imposed during
processing due to the absence of a useable original order.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Society of Friends.
Friends' Emergency and War Victims' Relief Committee (London, England).
War victims.
International relief.
World War, 1914-1918.
World War, 1914-1918--Civilian relief.
World War, 1914-1918--Austria.
World War, 1914-1918--France.
World War, 1914-1918--Germany.
World War, 1914-1918--Hungary.
World War, 1914-1918--Netherlands.
World War, 1914-1918--Poland.
Emergency and War Victims Relief Committee publications, Hoover Institution Library