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Alice L. Hageman Papers

 Collection
Call Number: RG 272

Scope and Contents

This collection documents Hageman's lifelong involvement in social justice and ecumenical work, including her participation in international ministry through Frontier Internship in Mission, her founding of the Committee of Returned Volunteers and the Cuba Resource Center during the Cold War, her extensive involvement with the World Student Christian Federation. Her work and personal life are closely intertwined with other ecumenical women of the era, including Margaret Flory, for whom she organized a number of events. The collection provides valuable primary source documentation of the activities of the Committee of Returned Volunteers and other organizations during the late 1960s and early 1970s, including protests against the Vietnam war, U.S. engagement in Latin America, and other social justice issues. A complementary collection of Alice L. Hageman papers is held by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Dates

  • 1957 - 2014

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Alice L. Hageman, 2016

Arrangement

Arrangement

  1. Series I. Writings
  2. Series II. Sermons / Talks / Worship Materials
  3. Series III. Educational and Legal Work
  4. Series IV. Organizations Served
  5. Series V. Personal and Collected Material

Extent

5.5 Linear Feet (14 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.272

Abstract

Correspondence, writings, pamphlets, notes, and other records document the activities of Alice Hageman, a social activist, attorney, and Presbyterian minister.

Biographical / Historical

Chronology of Alice L. Hageman

1937 June 12
Alice Hageman born to Lillian Mac Little Hageman and Maurice Herman Hageman in Hightstown, New Jersey
1954-1958
Attended College of Wooster. Spent a semester in Washington, D.C.
1958
After graduation from college, spent summer traveling Europe and participated in a month-long World Council of Churches (WCC) work camp in Battersea, London, beginning her ecumenical career
1958
Enrolled in Union Theological Seminary’s Master of Religious Education program (Manhattan, NY). Did field education in East Harlem Protestant Parish
1959-1960
With Presbyterian Work and Study fellowship spent a year in Geneva gaining exposure to the world church. Studied at the University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland) and the Ecumenical Institute (Bossey, Switzerland.)
1959 December
Ecumenical Student Conference on Christian World Mission took place in Athens, Ohio, planting the seed of the Frontier Internship in Mission (FIM) program
1960
CIMADE (Comite Intermouvement Aupres Des Evacues) Internships in Coudekerque and Marseilles, France
1960 June
First FIM intern appointed.
1960
July: Helped organize the World Student Christian Federation's (WSCF) international teaching conference on the Life and Mission of the Church and attended as a steward. (Strasbourg, France)
September: returned to Union Theological Seminary, this time as a Bachelor of Divinity student.
1961
First FIM class of interns appointed.
1962
Graduated with B.D. (M.Div) from Union Theological Seminary
1962-1965
Participated in Frontier Internship in Mission program orchestrated by Margaret Flory and assigned the frontier of the “emerging international community” Served as WSCF representative at UNESCO (Paris, France)
1963 January
Attended WSCF meeting in Brighton, England with Milan Opocensky
1963 summer
Attended a consultation in Geneva between International Union of Students and WSCF, a rare exchange of ideas between Western Europe and those behind the Iron Curtain. Met future friends and colleagues from Cuba
1964 July
Attended Christian Peace Conference as WSCF representative. Met future Cuban contacts. (Prague, Czech Republic)
1965
Returned to U.S.
1966
Moved back to Manhattan and began project under the auspices of the Ecumenical Foundation for Higher Education in Metropolitan New York. Began working with Aubrey Brown to organize former/returned Peace Corps volunteers to make known their experiences in third-world countries and to protest the Vietnam War
1966 December
Committee of Returned Volunteers (CRV) convened formally for the first time and chose its name. As part of CRV, Alice participated in protests, rallies, and demonstrations, and helped write position papers on Southeast Asia and Latin America.
1967
CRV published position paper on Vietnam, sparking development of other CRV chapters around the country.
1968 Spring
Participated with CRV graduate student members in protest/”occupation” at Columbia University.
1968 August
Attended the Democratic Convention as a demonstrator/protester and was tear-gassed by police. (Chicago, IL)
1969 June
Together with three colleagues, terminated from their campus ministry positions with the Ecumenical Foundation for outspokenness against the Vietnam War. As a CRV delegate, Hageman used her remaining EF travel budget to travel to Cuba, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. In Cuba, she toured the island, tended banana plants, and worked at a coffee plantation. She cultivated an interest in gender issues. She returned to the U.S. on a fishmeal/sugar freighter bound for Canada.
1969-1971
Co-founded and served as a director of the Cuba Resource Center (CRC) to facilitate the exchange of resources between U.S. and Cuba. As CRC staff, she produced publications, started a newsletter, and organized three ecumenical trips to Cuba. . Edited book (Religion in Cuba Today: New Church in a New Society.)
1970
Helped secure Campaigns for United Ministries in Higher Education funds for a campus ministry women’s caucus (forerunner of the WSCF Women’s Project in North America).
1971
Moved to Boston, MA for a one-year Danforth campus ministries grant. (Jamaica Plain, Boston)
1972
Lentz Lecturer on women and ministry, Harvard Divinity School. Edited book (Sexist Religion and Women in the Church).
1972-1986
Participated in team ministry at Church of the Covenant. (Back Bay, Boston, MA)
1974-1977
Attended Northeastern University Law School.
1975
Ordained as Presbyterian minister.
1977-1989
Graduated with a J.D. from Northeastern University Law School. Joined a community law practice and practiced law for 12 years
1979
CRC ceased operations
1980
Filed a Freedom of Information Act request and received a heavily redacted FBI file documenting her activities since her time in Cuba
1989-2001
Served as assistant bar counsel of the Board of Bar Overseers of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts prosecuting lawyers for professional misconduct.
2005
Married CRV colleague Aubrey N. Brown III (who died in 2015.)
2016
As of 2016 was serving as a U.S. Trustee of WSCF responsible for follow-up with Senior Friends and fundraising in the organization's second century.
Title
Guide to the Alice L. Hageman Papers
Author
Martha Lund Smalley
Date
2017
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

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