Contents
Descriptive Summary
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTE
SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE RECORDS
SELECTED SEARCH TERMS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS
Series 1 Correspondence
Series 2 Miscellaneous
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Finding aid for Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall Refugee Papers, 1938-1945Finding Aid Prepared by FHL staff2007
| | | | | Creator | Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall, 1897-1975 | | Title | Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall Refugee Papers | | Dates: | 1938-1945 | | Abstract: | Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall and her husband, D. Robert Yarnall,
were Quakers, active in the American Friends Service Committee relief efforts. They
worked with the Quaker center in Vienna, Austria, during the summer of 1938 to help
in the emigration of German and Austrian Jews. The collection contains
correspondence concerning their work with refugees and letters from refugees asking
for assistance, especially the musician and composers Karl Weigl and his wife,
Vally, who emigrated in October 1938. Also several essays by Elizabeth Yarnall on
her Vienna experience and letters from Dorothy Canfield Fisher in her efforts to
create an American children's relief organization for German children. The material
conveys the difficulties in Jewish emigration in the years just preceding the Second
World War. | | Extent: | 1 box ; .5 linear feet | | Identification: | RG5/256 | | Location: | For current information on the location of materials, please
consult the Library's online catalog. | | Location: | |
Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall (1897-1975) was a graduate of Westtown School and Bryn Mawr
College and taught at the Oakwood School. In 1923 she married fellow Quaker, David
Robert Yarnall, the son of Edward Smedley and Sidney Garrett Yarnall. and they had
three children, D. Robert, Jr., James, and Nancy. D. Robert Yarnall (1878-1967) was
a mechanical engineer and member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. He
served the Society of Friends in many capacities, including Clerk of Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting (Orthodox), Chairman of the Board of Pendle Hill, and Chairman of the
American Friends Service Committee Child Relief Mission to Germany after WWI and
Refugee Committee before WWII. In the years preceding WWII, he sought to convince
the German government to modify its stance against minorities and to expedite the
emigration of Jews from Germany and Austria. He, along with George Walton and Rufus
Jones, represented the AFSC in a meeting with the Gestapo in Berlin in December 1938
to discuss Quaker relief work. Elizabeth Yarnall was a founding member of Chestnut Hill Meeting and a member of the
AFSC Mission Committee which was active in feeding starving children in Germany
after World War I. During the summer of 1938, she accompanied her husband to work at
Friends Center in Vienna, Austria, aiding German and Austrian refugees. Return to the Table of Contents
The collection contains materials concerning the Yarnalls' work with German and
Austrian refugees after the March 1938 Anschluss. Primarily correspondence, it
includes letters concerning refugee projects and letters from refugees asking for
help, especially the musician Karl Weigl and his wife, Vally, who emigrated in
October 1938. There are some family letters from Elizabeth Yarnall sent from Europe
in the summer of 1938 and letters from Dorothy Canfield Fisher in her effort to
create an American children's relief organization for German children. Also several
essays by Elizabeth Yarnall on her Vienna experience and notes for a talk. The
material conveys the difficulties involved in Jewish emigration in the years just
preceding the war. Organized into two series: Organization:CorrespondenceMiscellaneousReturn to the Table of Contents
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Friends
Historical Library (TRIPOD). Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings: Return to the Table of Contents
Series 1 Correspondence
Box |
|
| | 1 |
| Letters from Elizabeth Yarnall to daughter Nancy, from Zurich and
Vienna
June-August 1938 1 folder |
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| Letters from Elizabeth Yarnall to Becky
June-July 1938 1 folder |
|
| From AFSC Center in Vienna
August 1938 1 folder |
|
| Letters from AFSC center is Vienna
Sept..1938, 1940 1 folder |
|
| Carbon copy of letter to Jules
Sept. 1938 1 folder Asking him to assume leadership
in Vienna center [from the Yarnalls?].
|
|
| Correspondence from Karl and Vally Weigl
1938-1945 1 folder |
|
| Correspondence from refugees and others
1938-1941 1 folder |
|
| Helen Harness Flanders, Springfield, VT, letters to Elizabeth
Yarnall
1938 1 folder |
|
| Hertha Kraus, A.F.S.C. consultant in Philadelphia
1938 1 folder Concerning
refugee matters, particularly coordination of committees.
|
|
| Cornelia Stabler to Elizabeth Yarnall
Jan. 1939 1 folder Asking for help in editing
mss.
|
|
| Dorothy Canfield Fisher to Elizabeth Yarnall
1939-1940 1 folder Children's relief
for refugee children and related concerns.
|
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| Karl and Ilse Ehrenstein correspondence
1939-1940 1 folder |
|
| Charlotte Edith Taskier
1939 1 folder |
|
| Letter from WILPF to Elizabeth Yarnall
1940 1 folder Asking her to serve as
chair of National Refugee Committee [she declined]
|
|
| Letter to Edith from Elizabeth Yarnall and miscellaneous family
correspondence
1940, n.d. 1 folder |
Series 2 Miscellaneous
Box |
|
| | 1 |
| Elizabeth Yarnall speeches on refugee issue, related
correspondence 1 folder |
|
| Handwritten mss (for a speech?) on Vienna experience, Elizabeth
Yarnall 1 folder |
|
| Draft of essay on life in Vienna after the March 1938 Anschluss
(typed carbon)
Dec. 1938 1 folder |
|
| Draft of essay on life of waiting in Vienna by Elizabeth Yarnall
(typed carbon) 1 folder |
|
| Summer camp in Vermont for children from Germany and Austria, DAR
sponsored program, typed carbon describing
n.d. 1 folder |
|
| Minutes, AFSC Refugee Committee, chaired by Robert Yarnall
1939 1 folder |
|
| Carbon copy of report to Foreign Service Executive Committee,
Caroline Norment
1943 1 folder |
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| Music programs, flyers, particularly concerning Karl Weigl 1 folder |
|
| AFSC and Scattergood School brochures on placement of refugees in
the U.S. 1 folder |
|
| Publications from Germany and Austria concerning refugee problem
1938-1939 1 folder |
|
| Zeitshrift fur Kindershutz (Viennese journal on child welfare)
1928 1 folder |
|
| Miscellaneous, unidentified photographs 1 folder |
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