Selected records of the Unitarian Service Committee and the Universalist Service Committee

Copyright Holder: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee The Unitarian Service Committee was formed as a standing committee of the American Unitarian Association in May 1940. Its purpose was to be a committee to investigate opportunities both in America and abroad for humanitarian service. In mid 1945, the Universalist Service Committee was formed. The Unitarian Service Committee (USC) separated from the American Unitarian Association (AUA), and USC Canada became a separate entity in December 1948. In 1961, the American Unitarian Association (AUA) united with the Universalist Church of America to establish the Unitarian Universalist Association. The official establishment of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) occurred in 1963, when the Unitarian Service Committee and the Universalist Service Committee merged into one. During and after World War II, The Unitarian Service Committee aided hundreds of displaced persons in occupied countries, allowing many of them to find passage to the United States. The present-day Unitarian Universalist Service Committee continues to endeavor to advance human rights and social justice throughout the world. Contains selected records of the Unitarian Service Committee and Universalist Service Committee relating to relief efforts and assistance to Jewish and non-Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution before, during and after World War II in a number of countries throughout the world, including France, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, England, Switzerland, and Portugal. The collection includes mainly correspondence, reports, case files, photographs, scrapbooks and memorabilia, posters, and clippings related to the humanitarian work of the Unitarian and Universalist Service Committees, also includes poems, writings and drawings by refugees, including some drawings by children, circa 1940. Includes correspondence of Robert Dexter, executive director, 1941-1944; Charles Joy, executive director, 1944-1946; and Raymond Bragg, executive director, 1947-1952; Edward A. Cahill, associate director, 1944-1947; Howard L. Brooks, associate director, 1943-1953; and other people associated with the Service Committee, such as Martha and Waitstill Sharp, Noel Field, Seth Gano, Helen Fogg, and Elisabeth Dexter, and others; correspondence of various organizations that were active in assisting people displaced by World War II, such as the American Christian Committee for Refugees, the American Friends Service Committee, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, the Refugee Relief Trustees, the Congregational Christian Service Committee, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; correspondence with people who were attempting to get their relatives and friends out of Europe; reports on the work of the Unitarian Service Committee in countries such as France, England, Switzerland, and Portugal, and reports on the work of the Unitarian Home Service Committee in the United States. Includes photographs documenting humanitarian work in many European countries, photographs of some of the children rescued by Martha Sharp; the Diamant sisters, 1942; Mercedes Brown, 1940; and the Theis sisters, 1940, and photographs documenting medical missions in Europe, Israel and Iran, as well as some photographs of key USC members. Main topics include: relief work in Czechoslovakia, an early efforts on behalf of several agencies to aid the victims of war-torn Europe; case files on individuals the Service Committee tried to assist, including children and several well-known artists and writers; assistance to displaced persons from World War II; medical projects in European countries and Israel; International Refugee Organization projects, International Youth Projects, activities of the new York office of the UUSC for the refugee project; collaborations with the United Nations service efforts; fund-raising programs; youth volunteer projects; and information about Helen Fogg, who was a leading figure in the Service Committee's activities during and after World War II; work of the Committee in children's homes and work camps in Europe after World War II; and assistance to people in finding shelter and employment in the United States. Harvard Divinity School has made the collection available online: https://library.hds.harvard.edu/collections/digital/holocaust-rescue-and-relief