World Student Christian Federation Geneva office records

Records of the World Student Christian Federation, including reports and publications, correspondence, administrative records, and materials relating to affiliated national student Christian movements and collaborating secular and ecumenical organizations.

The Reports series includes all annual and programmatic reports of the Federation. It also includes a number of reports and statements on particular topics, such as disarmament, Christianity in the university environment, ecumenism, race, and Christianity in particular national contexts.

The Publications include published copies and production files for nearly all Federation publications, especially Student World, Federation News, and WSCF Dossier. These include early works by biblical scholars and theologians including Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Suzanne de Dietrich, and Willem A. Visser ‘t Hooft. The series also includes production files for the WSCF’s ecumenical prayer book, Venite Adoremus, and ecumenical hymnal, Cantate Domino.

The Conferences, committees, and commissions series includes preparatory materials, programs, papers, and reports from meetings arranged and/or attended by WSCF members. These include the General Committee/General Assembly of the Federation, which is the primary governing body for the entire organization, and meetings of the Executive Committee. As Ruth Rouse wrote in her history of the Federation, “Conferences are the warp and woof of Federation growth. The history of the Federation is to no small extent the history of the conferences and its general committee meetings. [Each] marks an ascent, an advance into some new area of the world or into some new region of thought; or the initiation of some new phase of policy or activity.” Indeed, the WSCF was unique among interdenominational Christian organizations in holding its plenary conference outside Europe early on – Tokyo in 1907, Istanbul in 1911, Beijing in 1922, and others. Included in the records of the General Committee/General Assembly are not only papers of individuals who assumed life-long leadership roles in the ecumenical movement, but also documentation of the growth of organizational and communications models which, with some adaptation, have survived two world wars, decolonization, and the student revolution of the 1960s. This series also includes records from topical commissions and from conferences convened by other organizations and attended by WSCF delegations. Of these, the files of the WSCF Political Commission are particularly interesting, recording how WSCF members grappled with global issues such as race, Christian political involvement, decolonization, economic power, the Chinese revolution, decolonization, nuclear weaponry, communism, the Vietnam war, and pacifism.

The Projects and programs series includes records of regular and special projects and programs organized by the Federation and its regional and national branches. Some are focused on strengthening Christian faith and understanding, such as the Universal Day of Prayer for Students (which WSCF has organized annually since 1898) and Bible study materials. Others are focused on financial support, especially the European Student Relief Fund and the Ecumenical Assistance Program. Still others focus on developing the membership of the Federation itself, including programs for students studying abroad, secondary school students, women, and general leadership training programs. This series also includes general photograph files.

The Secretaries and correspondence series includes files from staff members of the WSCF, particularly travelling secretaries and Executive Committee members, as well as internal and external correspondence. These include extensive personal working files of such influential WSCF leaders as Suzanne Bidgrain, John Coleman, Rena Datta, Suzanne de Dietrich, Valdo Galland, Marie-Jeanne de Haller, Henry-Louis Henriod, Conrad Hoffmann, T.Z. Koo, Walter Kotschnig, Risto Lehtonen, Robert Mackie, Pierre Maury, Philippe Maury, Francis Miller, Ruth Rouse, Hermann Rutgers, Tissington Tatlow, Kyaw Than, M.M. Thomas, Willem Visser ‘t Hooft, and others. Of these files, the travel reports are particularly interesting, recording specific activities of the WSCF and affiliated movements globally and containing rather candid accounts of the lives of students in each country. The breadth and depth of these reports offer plentiful opportunities for comparisons of how life for young people changed over the course of the twentieth century. This series also includes photographs of individuals.

The National movements series includes files about student Christian activities in particular countries, whether officially affiliated or not with the WSCF. It also includes records from WSCF’s six regional offices established after restructuring in 1972. These files are especially useful for understanding the state of Christian communities in particular country contexts, and how those communities changed over time. For example, records from Turkey are robust in the early 1900s, but disappear after the second world war; South Africa is nearly the only African country represented until the 1960s, when many African countries began declaring independence from European colonial powers.

The Administrative and financial records include internal files from the Geneva office, such as general office files, information about staff and interns, and fundraising and financial records. The series also includes information about the WSCF archives, both in New Haven (RG 46) and Geneva, as well as materials from the centennial history project.

The Collaborations series includes correspondence, reports, and other materials relating to WSCF’s work with other NGOs, student organizations, ecumenical and denominational organizations, and other groups. Particularly well-represented are the International Union of Students, the United Nations and UNESCO, Pax Romana, YMCA and YWCA, and the World Council of Churches.