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Spanish Refugee Aid Records, Bulk, 1953-1983, 1941-2006, (Bulk 1953-1983)

Title: Spanish Refugee Aid Records Bulk, 1953-1983 1941-2006, (Bulk 1953-1983)

Spanish Refugee Aid (SRA) was founded in 1953 to assist refugees of the Spanish Civil War who were then residing in France. Nancy Macdonald (1910-1996) was the leading figure in the founding of Spanish Refugee Aid and remained at the organization's helm until her retirement in 1983. SRA maintained an office in New York City and coordinated aid efforts in France from Paris, Toulouse and Montauban. Between 1953 and 2006 when SRA, by then a program of the International Rescue Committee, was dissolved, over 5,500 refugees received aid from SRA. The collection includes case files, photographs, and office records consisting of correspondence, administrative files, financial records and clippings. The case files of the Spanish refugees are a rich source of demographic data. Many of the case files also have corresponding photographs. The voluminous correspondence files for both the New York and Toulouse offices highlight the concern of those working in SRA for the needs of the individual refugees, and reveal the contacts and working relationships SRA developed with other aid organizations, political groups and individuals to assist the refugees. Records documenting aid distribution are also extensive. Although the needs of the Spanish refugees were always paramount, the correspondence in the SRA records also reflects the political allegiances of those involved with SRA (as staff, as contacts and as recipients of aid) and of Nancy Macdonald in particular. The SRA records, therefore, provide extensive information not only on Spanish refugees residing in France following the Spanish Civil War, but also on left-wing politics in the United States and Europe from the World War II era through the 1980s.

ArchivalResource: 119.5 linear feet; (197 boxes)

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