Ellen Starr Brinton (March, 16, 1886 - July 2, 1954)[1][2][3] was an American pacifist, human rights activist and archivist. She represented the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) both locally and internationally and was known for her lectures about her working travels abroad and on the subject of peace. Brinton was the first curator of the Jane Addams Peace Collection which later became the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC).[2] Brinton was a Quaker and a feminist.[2]
Career
editBrinton was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She was involved in the distributions of war rations in Pennsylvania during World War I.[4] She did publicity work for the Food Administration in Philadelphia.[2] She also wrote for a local paper.[2]
Brinton served as the field secretary for Pennsylvania's branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)[5][6] in the 1920s and early 1930s.[2] In this capacity, she represented WILPF internationally.[7][8][9] She urged WILPF to resist violence in Cuba and for the United States to stop interfering in Cuban affairs.[10] Brinton began an inter-American project to collect the names of Latin American peace activists in 1934, eventually gaining a list of 170 names from 21 different countries.[11] She lectured about her many travels and correspondences with international peace activists,[12][13][14] and was considered a noted lecturer by The Philadelphia Inquirer.[15]
Brinton started the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC) in 1935.[2] She was first the acting curator of the collection, which contained documents belonging to Jane Addams and other sources that were around 300 years old.[16] Brinton doubled the size of the collection, by taking relevant sources back from the Library of Congress to include in her archive for SCPC.[17] She also found other documents belonging to Addams in 1951, which had been boxed up and placed in the Addams' barn.[18] The special collections of peace seals and stamps were started by Brinton.[2] Brinton retired from the library in 1951.[2]
Brinton helped found the interracial Media Fellowship House and a wing of the house was built using money from her memorial fund.[19][20]
After her death, United Nations delegates and others held a concert in her memory.[21]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Cross, Jesse Calvin (1961). The Jackson family : a history of Ephraim Jackson, first ancestor to come to America and his descendants, 1684-1960. p. 220.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ellen Starr Brinton Papers (DG 051)". Swarthmore College Peace Collection. 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
- ^ "Ellen Starr Brinton". Women In Peace. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
- ^ McCain, George Nox (1920). War Rations for Pennsylvanians. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co. p. 149.
- ^ "Miss Brinton to Speak at Y.W.C.A. Monday". The Evening News. 16 November 1933. Retrieved 22 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "L.V. Congress of Women's Clubs Holds Meeting in Catasauqua". The Morning Call. 25 April 1934. Retrieved 23 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Ellen Brinton, Peace Worker, Find Turkey Most Interesting Country in Europe". Our Town. 18 (44): 1,6. 12 August 1932. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ "To Attend Mexican Peace Conference". Our Town. Vol. 16, no. 37. 27 June 1930. p. 12. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ "Narberth Woman to Attend League Conference Abroad". Our Town. Vol. 18, no. 30. 6 May 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ Gronbeck-Tedesco, John A. (2015). Cuba, the United States, and Cultures of the Transnational Left, 1930–1975. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 243. ISBN 9781107083080.
- ^ Threlkeld 2014, p. 176.
- ^ "Speaker Traces Peace Moves". Altoona Tribune (Newspapers.com ed.). 22 November 1932. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
- ^ Threlkeld 2014, p. 1.
- ^ "Peace League Officer Lectures on Mexico". Star-Gazette. 5 April 1932. Retrieved 22 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Samuel L. Brinton". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 19 July 1921. Retrieved 29 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Establishing Peace Library". Swarthmorean. 8 December 1939. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Skidmore, Arden (25 April 1964). "Former Librarians Had White Beards". Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved 22 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Bryan, Mary Lynn McCree; Bair, Barbara; De Angury, Maree, eds. (2003). The Selected Papers of Jane Addams: Preparing to Lead, 1860-81. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. p. 60. ISBN 0252027299.
- ^ Plastas 2011, p. 159.
- ^ Grasberger, Sara M. (26 November 1964). "Racial Incident Spawns Unique Institution". Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved 22 August 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Philadelphia Organist In Concert Sunday". Swarthmorean. 28 October 1955. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
Sources
edit- Plastas, Melinda (2011). A Band of Noble Women: Racial Politics in the Women's Peace Movement. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815651444 – via Project MUSE.
- Threlkeld, Megan (2014). Pan American Women: U.S. Internationalists and Revolutionary Mexico. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812290028.
External links
edit- Ellen Starr Brinton Papers, 1895-1980 Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine