Browse Items (49 total)

This is one of the donation cards that were distributed by the Society of Friends. It is titled “Spain’s Children Are Hungry: Help Us Feed Them.” The card is folded into three, each section conveying a different message from the other. The first part…

This anti-war poster calls attention to the obscene sums of money spent on war preparations, and simultaneously suggests that military stockpiling inhibits God’s kingdom from flourishing. It calls to mind the Quaker peace testimony, which states…

This poster printed for the Peace Committee of the Society of Friends in 1936 incorporates an image of Jesus riding a donkey with a child in hand. This poster fosters a sense of humanity and condemns the types of atrocities that were induced and…

During the twentieth century, Quakers were active in publicizing peace-related concepts and striving against remilitarization. This poster, calling for a coordinated international effort in peace-building in place of force to deter war, sheds light…

This Quaker poster criticizes conscription, the compulsory enrollment of persons for military service, and denounces war altogether. By claiming that, through conscription, the state has control of the collective human consciousness, which is…

The Society of Friends attempted to remain neutral during the Spanish Civil War, and conducted relief work for both the Republicans and the Nationalists. In Quaker Service in Modern War, Howard Kershner writes, “I maintain that when one undertakes…

Sylvester Jones’ journal records his experiences travelling through Spain and his participation in relief work during the Spanish Civil War. Sent by the American Friends Service Committee in order to decide their level of involvement in the relief…

The Spanish Civil War marked a new period of modern warfare, as we can see through observing the pamphlets that were used to spread awareness of the war and the actions the Quakers were taking to aid those suffering. This pamphlet, written by Dr.…

The Friends’ Service Council (FSC), a Quaker relief organization in Great Britain, published and distributed this pamphlet in 1939 after Nationalist forces had overthrown Republican Spain. Despite the change in government, the FSC, in conjunction…

This bulletin, released days before the end of the war on April 1, describes the desperate situations in both Republican and Nationalist Spain and pleads for money to transfer surplus wheat to Spain. It includes the warning that “if the remainder of…

By proclaiming that “peace and righteousness are inseparable,” and that if a “conflict should arise between the claims of Christ’s service and that of the State, it is to Him that our supreme loyalty should be given whatever the consequence,” the…

In his capacity as public relations director and relief administrator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), John F. Rich traveled to Spain in 1939 to wind down the AFSC’s refugee and child feeding relief facilities. During the trip, Rich…

During the Spanish Civil War and for several years after, international relief efforts were coordinated between various Quaker and non-Quaker organizations, in the hope that the refugees and displaced peoples from the conflict could receive direct…

In this compilation of selections from letters, Esther Farquhar Kamp, a social worker and Quaker relief worker with the American Friends Service Committee, discusses the physical, mental, and emotional stresses on the Spanish children and the ways in…

This painting from Estampas de la Revolución Española promotes a false sense of heroism established by society, a sense of heroism that traps humanity in a closed cycle of victims. It depicts a stern-faced man; clad in rolled pant legs and a polo…

The artistic depiction of a helpless figure being persecuted is ubiquitous in times of Spanish agony. This is evident in both the Offices of Propaganda of the National Confederation of Workers’ “Estampas de la Revolución de Española” and Goya’s…

“Cuando el arte se trueca en intérprete de la emoción popular, el arte se sublima… Se hace a un tiempo carne y espíritu.”
“When art becomes the interpreter of some great national sentiment, it is sublime… [It is] a mingling of the flesh with the…

Republican Spain published many propaganda items during the Spanish Civil War in order to promote their cause. This piece, “Clenched Fists Held High,” is part of a book of stamps published by the anarchist Office of Propaganda. This image represents…

The letter written by J. Passmore Elkinton, the chairman of the AFSC Spain Committee, is addressed to L. Hollingworth Wood, an active member of the Spanish Child Welfare Association (SCWA) in New York. In discussing the benefits of Quaker aid in…

The bombings during the Spanish Civil War not only destroyed buildings and land, but they destroyed families. Children of all ages were victims of fascist attacks, and because of the numerous children who were left orphaned and who were in harms way…

This article, published in the weekly New York Times Magazine on April 3rd, 1938, demonstrates how journalism brought the Spanish refugee crisis into the eyes and minds of American society. The focus of this article is the mass migrations of…

This journal entry from January 1st, 1937 is found in a Quaker weekly journal from 1937 where it informed other Friends how the Friends Service Council (the British corollary to the American Friends Service Committee), together with the Save the…

The Spanish Civil War was a product of the clash between the opposing ideologies of the left-wing Republic and fascist Nationalists. In 1938, photographer Robert Capa captured scenes of the International Brigades, volunteer fighters for the Republic,…

The American Friends Service Committee sent representatives to Civil War-ridden Spain to evaluate the situation. One such representative was Patrick Murphy Malin. His report illustrates Spain, especially rural Spain, as claustrophobic, dirty, and…

The victims of the Spanish Civil War were mainly civilians, as both sides engaged in total war against one another. Sylvester Jones was a Quaker sent to Spain by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) from late 1936 through early 1937. He was…

This quote, attributed to T. Edmund Harvey, alludes to the idea that society will reap what it sows, and that violence will never lead to peace, but only to more violence. Read on another register, images of Spanish peasants and workers forming…

The topic of the poster refers to the relentless bombing of Madrid by Franco's forces, which began in November 1936, targeting civilians. The journalist Louis Delaprée writes of the bombardments, “But night falls. The great butchery, the horror, the…

Pacifists often find solidarity in helping children. In his remarks, William Allen White addresses a tea of presumably wealthy New Yorkers to convince them to provide some form of contribution to his relief organization, The Spanish Child Welfare…

John F. Rich, a Haverford graduate (class of 1924) and a prominent Quaker, was an influential figure during the Quaker relief efforts of the Spanish Civil War. In his capacity as Public Relations Director and Relief Administrator for the American…

On this pamphlet the suffering of the Spanish population is reflected in the expressions of their children. As propaganda both directly, for monetary support of Quaker relief work in Spain, and indirectly, against the war which necessitates such…

During the Spanish Civil War, Quakers from Britain and United States sent reports back to the Friends Service Council and the American Friends Service Committee from Spain exploring the conditions of the people and the gruesome effects of war. This…

Can peace ever be stable when injustice exists, and is just violence even possible? This poster, created by the London Quaker Friends in 1938, propels us to the heart of such questions by instantly equating peace and justice. Yet the Quakers were not…

This letter is a part of series between Herman F. Ressig, the executive secretary of the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign, and Daniel & Elizabeth Jensen, American Friends who worked to assist Spanish Civil War refugees in Mexico. These letters are…

According to Religious Society of Friends literature, we should live in a way that reflects the conviction that “love is at the heart of existence and all human beings are equal in the eyes of God.” The challenge arises in the process of transforming…

This photograph, taken by the Spanish Civil War photographer, Robert Capa, in August 1948, shows the artist Pablo Picasso at the beach with Françoise Gilot, one woman in a long series of lovers. Picasso looked to the women in his life for artistic…

Quakers from the United States and Britain assisted the relief work for children during the Spanish Civil War. This pamphlet, published in London in 1938 by the Friends Service Council, is one of the fund-raising propaganda leaflets sent to British…

The Nationalist aerial bombings during the Spanish Civil War displaced thousands of innocent civilians, creating a massive influx of refugees into the cities, resulting in severe food shortages for residents and refugees. This pamphlet, Winter in…

Both the Friendship Project pamphlet and The American Friend article, “Out of the Mouths of Babes,” explore the role of children as peacebuilders during the Spanish Civil War. In these two artifacts, young people are recognized as uniquely powerful…

While its authenticity has been debated since it was shot in September 1936, Robert Capa’s photograph, famously known as “Falling Soldier,” among other titles, is nonetheless an iconic pacifist image. Allegations that this photograph was staged far…

Quaker peace testimonies resounded throughout Britain in reaction to the devastating violence and atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, in contrast to those who wanted to take up arms against the fascists responsible for those atrocities. Though the…

Sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Helen Keller, and other prominent figures of the time, The American Rescue Ship Mission letter circulated in 1940 makes an appeal for donations to help Spanish Republican…

In an effort to provide aid to the war torn countryside of Spain, the Friends Service Council (FSC) made and distributed pamphlets about the war to Friends in England to collect funds and donations to help bring a measure of peace to Spain. To the…

This pamphlet, titled Give for Spain’s Refugees, is one of a series that were distributed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to ask for help for the children refugees who were victims of the Spanish Civil War. This pamphlet shows that…

“They Still Draw Pictures” is a collection of 60 original drawings created by the children who had first-hand experience with the violence of the Spanish Civil War. Its significance stems from the fact that the drawings allowed a child--whose…

During the Spanish Civil War and well into Francisco Franco’s regime the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) played an active role supporting peace efforts. With the fall of the Republic in 1939, attention turned to refugees leaving Spain. The…

This poster, printed in 1939, expresses the connection between pacifism and the Quaker religion by stating that war disagrees with God. It can be read both as a Spanish Civil War poster and as a caution against the looming Second World War. It is a…

This poster, produced by Great Britain’s Northern Friends Peace Board in 1938, appeals to the ethics of family and maternity. It could be read as a response both to the Spanish Civil War and as a protest of the impending Second World War. In Three…

Can peace ever be stable when injustice exists, and is just violence even possible? This poster, created by the London Quaker Friends in 1938, propels us to the heart of such questions by instantly equating peace and justice. Yet the Quakers were not…

Quaker peace testimonies resounded throughout Britain in reaction to the devastating violence and atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, in contrast to those who wanted to take up arms against the fascists responsible for those atrocities. Though the…