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Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records
XX333
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Title: Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records
Date (inclusive): 1914-1923
Collection Number: XX333
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes
(0.8 Linear Feet)
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.
Creator:
Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee (London, England)
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives
[Identification of item], Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution
Library & Archives.
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.
Emergency and War Victims Relief Committee publications, Hoover Institution Library
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1914-1918 -- Poland
World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief
World War, 1914-1918 -- Austria
International relief
World War, 1914-1918 -- France
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hungary
Society of Friends