Loading...
Creator
Lazarus, Frieda Langer
Call number
MssCol 1703
Physical description
2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Frieda Langer Lazarus Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Frieda Langer Lazarus (1896-1968) was an antiwar activist and a vigorous advocate for conscientious objectors. She was a founder of the Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors, and a member of the Women's Peace Union and the War Resisters League. The collection consists of correspondence and printed matter related to Lazarus's antiwar work and her activities on behalf of conscientious objectors. Also included is correspondence on efforts to have the 1948 Nobel Peace Prize, and the World Peace Prize, awarded to her friend and colleague Rosika Schwimmer.

Biographical/historical information

Frieda Langer Lazarus, born in New York to Polish parents in 1896, was an antiwar activist and advocate for conscientious objectors. In the early 1940s she was a founder of the Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors, which aimed to advise and assist conscientious objectors (COs) with their draft and alternate Civilian Public Service (CPS) difficulties. Lazarus herself aided numerous COs, and regularly corresponded with CPS camp officials, imprisoned objectors, and their families. She contacted camp administrators, legal counsel, and government officials in her attempts to secure pardons and ensure fair treatment at the camps. Following the war, Lazarus attempted to draw attention to, and curtail extended unpaid CPS service for objectors, arguing this posed undue hardship on their families.

Lazarus was also a member of the War Resisters League's Conscientious Objector Problems Committee, for which she served as chairperson. Other conscientious objector defense organizations with which she was associated were the Big Flats Defense Committee, the Committee for Amnesty, and the Committee to End Slave Labor in America (CESLA). Lazarus's interests extended beyond defense of conscientious objectors, as she was a member of the board of the Worker's Defense League, and on the Executive Committee of the Brooklyn branch of the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. She was also an active member of the Women's Peace Union.

Through her pacifist activities, Lazarus encountered and befriended the Hungarian emigre activist Rosika Schwimmer, her sister Franciska, and Schwimmer's secretary and coworker Edith Wynner. As a result of this friendship, Lazarus occasionally assisted the Schwimmers with their legal problems pertaining to New York City housing and landlord conflicts. She also assisted Wynner in her attempts to nominate Rosika Schwimmer for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948, and to organize the World Peace Prize for Madame Schwimmer when the Nobel nomination was unsuccessful.

Frieda Langer Lazarus's personal life included a marriage to Alfred Lazarus at the age of 23. They settled in Brooklyn, New York, and together raised three children: Richard, Arthur Jr., and Margy (the latter of whom is represented in this collection by a college essay she wrote in 1942 on the subject of conscientious objectors). Alfred and Frieda were later divorced. She passed away in 1968.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of correspondence and printed matter related to Lazarus's antiwar work, and materials pertaining to several organizations with which she was active. Organized in two series, Correspondence and Professional papers, the collection documents her activities on behalf of conscientious objectors and offers a glimpse into several individual CO cases, life in Civilian Public Service camps, and several camp work strikes following the end of World War II.

Lazarus's correspondence is divided into general letters and letters related to her friend and colleague Rosika Schwimmer. Incoming and outgoing letters are interfiled and arranged chronologically. Prominent correspondents include Katherine Devereux Blake, William Floyd, Abraham Kaufman, Lola Maverick Lloyd, Rosika Schwimmer, and Edith Wynner.

Professional papers are divided into three subseries: Camps and organizations, Individual case files, and Reference and printed matter.

Camps and organizations materials are Lazarus's working files on various Civilian Public Service camps and projects, strikes, and organizations dedicated to the cause of the conscientious objector. The files contain correspondence, reports, a phone log, lists of parolees and pardons, and a small amount of Lazarus's writings.

Individual case files consist primarily of correspondence with the COs in question, as well as correspondence with government and camp officials regarding their cases. There is occasional family correspondence included. The individual files often contain biographies of the COs, as well as related printed matter. Readers interested in a list of the COs in this series are directed to see the box and folder listing.

Reference and printed matter files are primarily journals and newsletters dedicated to the support of conscientious objectors. There is also a small amount of newspaper clippings. Also included are files on other topics of interest to Frieda Langer Lazarus, including the Women's Peace Union and world government.

The Frieda Langer Lazarus papers are arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Custodial history

Frieda Langer Lazarus's papers were donated to the New York Public Library and processed as part of Series Q of the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection. In 2006 they were reprocessed, and now constitute a separate collection, although they remain under the aegis of the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection.

Source of acquisition

Donated by Frieda Langer Lazarus as part of the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection.

Processing information

Processed by Laura Ruttum; machine readable finding aid created by FAKER.

Related Material

Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Swarthmore College. Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors Records, 1940-1980 (DG 060). Swarthmore College. Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection. Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328