A photograph album compiled by Geraldine Liniger of Medford, Oregon to document her 1950 trip to a Brethren youth work camp in Kassel, Germany, where she helped build homes for refugees displaced by World War II. The album begins with a series of photographs showing Liniger and other young women sightseeing in Italy, Paris, and the Netherlands and attending a Brethren Service Committee conference in Germany. The remainder of the album dates from Liniger's time in at the Kassel work camp in the summer of 1950. This section of the album includes a handwritten list of the names of campers, which included 12 Americans, 23 Germans, and six campers of other nationalities, all tasked with helping to rebuild a city that was "90 percent destroyed by war," according to a caption by Liniger. The album includes images of campers working to dig basements, along with photographs of campers sightseeing in Germany or socializing with each other. There are also several images that show refugees socializing with or working alongside the campers. A detailed nine page typescript tipped into the album provides further details of Liniger's time sightseeing and working at the camp, describing social events held together with refugees, an incident in which a young woman was almost crushed by falling bricks, and the primitive conditions of the camp: "we worked with pick and shovel digging basements for homes to be built for the refugees[...] we lived in the old mess hall part of the camp. This part was quite badly destroyed and had not been repaired as nicely as other buildings. When it rained we slept under our raincoats[...] The shower was cold and what little hot water we had was all heated in a big kettle on the kitchen stove[...] The only heat we had was the cook stove." Laid into the back of the album are four mimeographed newsletters printed by Brethren service groups in Europe: a 1958 Heifer Project, Inc. newsletter describing efforts to revitalize the heifer cow population in Germany, a 1957 issue of Brethren Service Commission News Briefs, and two 1956 issues of Handclasp: Volunteers In Europe Report.

0.88 Linear Feet 1 box

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Advance notice required for access.