- SOUTHLAND INSTITUTE (ARKANSAS)
- SPANISH CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
SOUTHLAND INSTITUTE (ARKANSAS) (Box 73)
Background: Southland Institute was a school for blacks run by
the Five Years Meeting Home Mission Board at Southland (near Helena,
Arkansas). The school began during the Civil War, when the Governor
of Indiana asked Indiana Quakers if they would help with the large
numbers of refugee blacks following in the wake of Grant's campaign
through the Mississippi Valley. In 1923 the school faced a serious
financial crisis and Wood was appealed to for help in raising
money. Wood used his connections with the General Education Board
to secure a grant from them, which is later withdrawn. In 1925
Friends decide that the school is to be closed.
I. SOUTHLAND INSTITUTE (ARKANSAS) - Correspondence, 1923-1925.
[10 folders in Box 73]
Notes on contents: letters, minutes, reports, notes, pledge forms,
brochures, postcards of the school, typed draft essay of Gilbert
Bowles "Some thoughts on the closing of Southland Institute"
(1925), clipping.
Chiefly correspondence of Wood related to efforts of Five Years
Meeting of Friends Board of Home Missions to keep Southland Institute
open. Part of fund-raising plan is an appeal to Young Friends.
In addition to fund-raising concerns, letters also touch on what
Wood calls Friends' "spiritual default in this question of
race." Gilbert Bowles' essay discusses some things Friends
can do after close of Southland. Correspondents include Gilbert
Bowles, John R. Cary, Helen Esther Hawkins (Board of Young Friends
Activities of the Five Years Meeting), F. Raymond Jenkins, Ruthanna
M. Simms, Walter C. Woodward, Stanley R. Yarnall (1923, Richard
Humphreys Foundation).
- Correspondence, 1923 (May - October).
- Correspondence, 1923 (November - December).
- Correspondence, 1924 (January).
- Correspondence, 1924 (February - March).
- Correspondence, 1924 (April).
- Correspondence, 1924 (May).
- Correspondence, 1924 (June - July).
- Correspondence, 1924 (August - October).
- Correspondence, 1924 (November - December).
- Correspondence, 1925.
SPANISH CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (Box 74)
Background: the Spanish Child Welfare Association was begun in
1937 by Irene Lewisohn and Paul D. Cravath. Its purpose was to
raise funds for Quaker relief on both sides of the war in Spain.
The money raised was administered by the American Friends Service
Committee. Wood was acting-chairman in 1938 and in a 1940 letter,
he states that he acted as a liaison between the Quakers, represented
by AFSC, and Lewisohn's committee. The Association brought Spanish
children's drawings to the U.S., where they were exhibited and
published in 1938 as "They Still Draw Pictures," illustrating
the emotional effects of war on children. In 1939, the Association
withdrew from fund-raising, turning over its files of names to
the "Committee for Impartial Relief in Spain," formed
by President Roosevelt and headed by George MacDonald.
I. SPANISH CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION - "Miscellaneous
correspondence," 1938-1940. [3 folders in Box 74]
Notes on contents: letters, booklet "War Relief in Spain"
(1938), clippings, brochures, minutes, newspaper "Catholic
Worker" (Oct. 1938), press release, "Summary: Activities
of the Spanish Child Welfare Association of America for the American
Friends Service Committee" (1939, 12 pp. typed).
Topics include fund raising appeals, relationship with AFSC,
SCWA's wish to reorganize under auspices of AFSC and become national
committee sponsoring work of Quakers in Spain, Clarence Pickett
to see President Roosevelt about committee to raise money for
Spain, rumors that SCWA is "kidnapping" and putting
up for adoption Spanish children, wrap-up of SCWA's work. Correspondents
include J. Passmore Elkinton, Mary Carter Jones, Rufus Jones,
Irene Lewisohn, Clarence Pickett, John F. Reich (AFSC) and others.
- Misc. correspondence, 1938 (January - June).
- Misc. correspondence, 1938 (July - December).
- Misc. correspondence, 1939-1940.
II. SPANISH CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION - "Minutes,"
1938-1939. [1 folder in Box 74]
Notes on contents: copies of typed minutes [incomplete]; also
a report of Steering Committee.
III. SPANISH CHILD WELFARE ASSOCIATION - Committee for Impartial
Civilian Relief in Spain - correspondence, 1939. [1 folder in
Box 74]
Notes on contents: letters, memorandum, list, bulletin (AFSC),
clippings, affidavit.
Letters discuss new committee, tax status of committee, reply
to charges of SCWA's alleged involvement in adopting Spanish children.
Includes letters of J. Passmore Elkinton, Agnes Leach (Mrs. Henry
Goddard Leach), Irene Lewisohn, John F. Reich and others. [Wood's
title "MacDonald's committee"].
