Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Fradkin, Elvira Kush, 1891-1972 |
| Title: | Elvira Kush Fradkin Papers |
| Dates: | 1932-1972 |
| Quantity: | 0.2 cubic feet (1 box) |
| Abstract: | The collection consists of drafts of several of United Nations representative and political activist Elvira Kush Fradkin's writings on disarmament, including a draft of the book To Bomb or Not to Bomb?. Also included are a photograph, newspaper clippings, two letters, biographical data on Fradkin, and a pamphlet on the disarmament conference. |
Biographical Note
Elvira Kush Fradkin (1891-1972), a resident of Montclair, N.J. for many years, attended the Ethical Culture School in New York City and graduated from Vassar College in 1913. A year later, she received her Master's degree from Columbia, where she studied economics and psychology. She was married to Dr. Leon H. Fradkin, a dentist. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, Mrs. Fradkin was active in organizations for peace, disarmament, and women's rights. She was the author of Chemical Warfare: Its Possibilities and Probabilities, published in 1929 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as The Air Menace and the Answer (1934).
Following World War II, Mrs. Fradkin committed herself to supporting the United Nations. From 1947 to 1970, she represented the International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom at the United Nations and she was a leader of the New Jersey branch of the American Association for the United Nations. In 1950, she published A World Airlift, in which she advocated for an international air police patrol under the United Nations. Mrs. Fradkin's support for a controversial causes was unswerving, even after she was the target of a Ku Klux Klan cross burning in 1937. She died in 1972.
TopScope and Content Note
The collection consists of drafts of several of Fradkin's writings on disarmament, including a draft of the book To Bomb or Not to Bomb?. Also included are a photograph, newspaper clippings, two letters, biographical data on Fradkin, and a pamphlet on the disarmament conference.
TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Related Material
- Separated Material: Elvira K. Fradkin's Vassar College diploma was separated from the collection and added to the Vassar College Realia Collection.
- Separated Material: A book of class songs from 1913 was separated from the collection and added to the Class of 1913 box.
Subject Headings
Organizations:
- Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments (1932-1934 : Geneva, Switzerland)
- United Nations
Subjects:
- Disarmament
- Women and peace
- Women and politics
- Women's rights
Document Types:
- Clippings
- Ephemera
- Photographs
VCL Categories:
- Politics
- Women's History
Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, February 2007. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, June 2023.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Elvira Kush Fradkin Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, June 2023.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Rosalind (Fradkin) Altemus (VC 1940), 1973.
Container List
| Folder 1 | Article: Fradkin, Elvira, "Behind the Scenes at the First World Disarmament Conference," draft, undated |
| Folder 2 | Article: Fradkin, Elvira, "The Women's Contribution to Disarmament Conference," draft, undated |
| Folder 3 | Article: Fradkin, Elvira, "To Bomb or Not to Bomb?," draft, undated |
| Folder 4 | Biographical Data, circa 1973 |
| Folders 5-15 | Book: Fradkin, Elvira, To Bomb or Not to Bomb?: A United Nations Air Police Patrol, draft, undated |
| Folder 16 | Clippings, 1932-1972 |
| Folder 17 | Photograph of Fradkin with others in front of General Clay's plane, 1951 Oct |
| Folder 18 | Letter: "A Christmas Letter from Mrs. Elvira K. Fradkin, your United Nations Seminar Director and UN Non-Governmental Representative for the American Unitarian Association and the American Universalist Association", 1960 Dec |
| Folder 19 | Letter from L. I. Vladimirov to Elvira K. Fradkin, 1970 Mar 10 |
| Folder 20 | Pamphlet: "The Story of the Disarmament Declaration", undated |
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
The collection consists of drafts of several of United Nations representative and political activist Elvira Kush Fradkin's writings on disarmament, including a draft of the book . Also included are a photograph, newspaper clippings, two letters, biographical data on Fradkin, and a pamphlet on the disarmament conference.
