Collection contains personal files and records, notes and reports, correspondence, indexed photographs, negatives, and slides, contemporary military-issued maps, a diary from 1948, and a 200,000-word manuscript pertaining to Charles Maxton Schermerhorn's experiences in Greece as a social worker and author. 1924-2019

The American Charles Maxton Schermerhorn (1901-1986) attended Princeton Theological Seminary in the early 1920s followed by his work as a social worker during the 1930s in San Francisco, where he worked at an orphanage and as a juvenile probation officer. In 1946, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) sent him to Greece, but he was shortly thereafter employed by the Near East Foundation in Thessaloniki and by UNICEF, where he was the only civilian (native Greek or foreigner) running humanitarian food distribution campaigns throughout 170 war-torn northern Greek towns and villages between 1948-1951, during and after the Greek Civil War. His interactions included associations with the renowned photographer David Seymour and important journalists such as George Polk, Dana Adams Schmidt, Maynard Owen Williams, and Mark Gayn. Upon returning to the US after 1951, Schermerhorn was reportedly blacklisted, which prevented his employment with the US State Department. Subsequently, he pursued gainful employment as a social worker in California starting in East Los Angeles's Plaza Community Center, then Bakersfield as a coordinator for the Job Corps, and finally at Friends Outside, a support organization for people imprisoned in Tehachapi and their families, until his eventual death in 1986.

5 Linear Feet (4 Record Cartons)

Copyright is protected by the copyright law, Chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. Requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce from collections must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Department of the Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections & University Archives. Permission for publication is given on the behalf of the Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections & University Archives Department, California State University, Sacramento as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Collection is open for research. Some restrictions may apply.