The
first AFSC work camp trained young leaders
while
aiding a community.
Ditch
and in background excavating for homestead.
1934.
One of the most important
and popular of the AFSC's programs was the summer
work camps, established in 1934. While the AFSC
did not initiate the work camp concept, it influenced
its development in Europe. Following World War
I, a Swiss scientist and pacifist, Pierre Ceresole,
impressed by the reconstruction efforts of Quakers
in France, was looking for a form of alternative
military service for pacifists. With backing
from the International Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Friends, and other pacifists, he organized a
group of young men from Germany and France to
help rebuild devastated areas of France. The
idea spread throughout Europe and especially
took root in Germany, where thousands of young
people enrolled
in voluntary camps.
Sunday
evening supper, July 1934.
Ray Newton of the AFSC's Peace
Section suggested adopting the European work camp
scheme in 1933. The United States was going through
the Great Depression, and some young people were
losing hope in the future. It was felt that participating
in some kind of summer activity that would contribute
to positive solutions-no matter how small-would
help them regain a positive outlook. Also appealing
was the idea of including participants from privileged
backgrounds to help those young people acquire
better understandings of the economic and social
problems facing the country.
Clarence Pickett helped the process in several
ways. First, he spoke to an AFSC supporter who
helped finance the program with a $30,000 contribution,
and so the AFSC had enough money to plan three
years of work camp activities. Second, Pickett
was a consultant in federal government work in
subsistence homesteading and was familiar with
the project in western Pennsylvania called Norvelt.
It was decided that an AFSC work camp could help
the Norvelt project with construction of a reservoir
and ditch to hold a water main for the community.
First AFSC
workcamp, Westmoreland, PA.
In the summer of 1934, fifty-five young people contributed
10,000 hours at Norvelt by digging a ditch one-and-a-half
miles long and constructing a 260,000-gallon reservoir.
They spent evenings discussing economic and social
problems that had contributed to the depression.
The directors of this work camp were Mildred and
Wilmer Young, who later devoted their lives to several
experiments with cooperative enterprises in Mississippi
and South Carolina. Another one of the first group
of work campers was David Richie, who later developed
weekend work camps so students could participate
at one location for an extended period of time.
Documents from the thin folder of material pertaining
to Norvelt in the AFSC Archives reveal a variety
of impressions about the work camp's effectiveness.
For example, here is an excerpt from one camper's
letter: " I found it stimulating beyond
measure. I feel that I have learned a great deal
that will be valuable to me sometime." A note
attached to his letter presents another view: " spoiled,
and left early without adequate reason. Am glad
he felt it worthwhile."
However, Homer Morris, who worked with the federal
government at the time of the Norvelt work camp
but was connected with the AFSC during other periods,
stated a positive impression: "This work camp
was the most successful type of educational procedure
that I have ever seen. I think probably this camp
more nearly duplicated the experience which the
Service Committee workers had in reconstruction
work in Europe, than anything the Service Committee
has been able to do since."