Title: John Thompson Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1936-1958

Creator:

• Thompson, John, 1907-1974

Call Number: Mss 737; Tape 1188A

Quantity: 4.2 c.f. (12 archives boxes) and 3 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of John B. Thompson, a Presbyterian minister and social activist who was prominently involved with a large number of civil rights, civil liberties, and peace groups. Included are correspondence and minutes, newsletters, and other publications for organizations in which Thompson was an officer or a founder such as the Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination, the National Committee to Repeal the McCarran Act, the Committee for Peaceful Alternatives, and the American Peace Mobilization, which opposed United States involvement in World War II. Subject files also containing smaller amounts of correspondence and publications document his interest in other groups. Also included are files on various conferences which he attended or at which he spoke, speeches and notes, writings, and a few recorded sermons.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00737

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John B. Thompson, a Presbyterian religious ethicist well known for his opposition to racial and religious discrimination and economic injustice, was born in Tennessee in 1907 and spent his early childhood in various southern states. He received a B.A. in 1926 after attending the University of Wisconsin and Beloit College. From 1926 to 1929 Thompson worked as a public utilities accountant. In 1935 he received a B.D. from the Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He also studied at the University of Edinburgh. While a seminarian, Thompson worked as director of religious education in a New York City church.

As a student of Reinhold Niebuhr at the seminary, Thompson began a long association with the Highlander Research and Education Center, and from 1932 to 1933 he was one of the school's first staff members. Thompson taught in the Religion Department at the College of Ozarks from 1935 to 1937, when he moved to Norman, Oklahoma to become a minister at the First Presbyterian Church and a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Oklahoma. It was at this time that he became active in the peace and civil rights movements, and in 1940 Thompson assumed the presidency of the American Peace Mobilization. From 1940 to 1942 he was also president of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, remaining on its board until 1948. From 1944 to 1950 he was on the board of the Southern Conference Educational Fund. During this period he was also very involved with many youth groups, particularly the YMCA and the YWCA, and the Oklahoma Youth Legislature. He also worked on numerous youth conferences and was a frequent public speaker. Throughout his career Thompson published occasional articles and reviews in the Christian Century and other journals.

From 1948 to 1958 Thomspon was dean of the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago and associate professor of Christian ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. While there he became involved in such organizations as the Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination and the Committee for Peaceful Alternatives and various civil rights organizations.

During the early 1950s Thompson experienced personal criticism for his many social involvements, particularly his work for racial and economic justice and his involvement in the American Peace Mobilization and other anti-war activities before, during, and after World War II. In his later years Thompson ministered to the Berkeley Community Church. He died in 1974.

The Thompson Papers are a collection representing, although not completely documenting, the career of Thompson as a humanitarian, a peace and civil rights activist, and a civil libertarian. The collection contains virtually no personal information about Thompson; instead it is useful for research on the organizations in which he was active. In many cases the records on these organizations are extremely rare. There are no records in the papers pertaining to these activities after the late 1950s, although the collection is very strong on his activities immediately before and after World War II. In addition, there is very little in the papers touching on his pastoral activities, his religious views (except for a few tape-recorded sermons), or the harassment to which he was subjected due to his political views. Thompson's early involvement with Highlander and his participation in the Southern Conference Educational Fund are entirely omitted. However, a large volume of tape recordings pertaining to Highlander which came into archival custody from Thomspon have been catalogued as part of the Historical Society's Highlander collection.

The collection consists primarily of correspondence, printed matter pertaining to the organizations with which he was involved, speeches and sermons, and subject files. The collection, when received by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, consisted of approximately sixteen cubic feet of records taken directly from Thompson's files. The records, which originally combined both reference and administrative functions, when received at the archives were organized in a highly systematized manner with extensive cross references between many of the related files. A large part of the collection originally consisted of files of clippings and articles on topics of interest to Thompson. Those of purely secondary informational content were weeded, and the publications transferred to the Society Library. The remaining files have been organized as general papers, organizational files, subject files, and conferences. The existing order was observed as closely as possible in the processing of the collection, and as a result the researcher will note that some files on apparently related topics are scattered within the collection. For example, information on the YMCA may be found both in the organizational files and in the conferences section of the collection.

The series designated GENERAL PAPERS consists of miscellaneous chronological correspondence, 1936-1958; speeches and sermons by Thompson and others; and a bibliography file. Although correspondence accompanies almost every file in the collection, the correspondence here came primarily from a miscellaneous file created by Thompson. Included in the speeches and writings section are speeches by Thompson as well as some by others active in the American Peace Mobilization. Also included are tapes of three sermons delivered by Thompson. Lastly, a file was created from various parts of the collection of bibliographies of recommended readings on peace, war, civil rights, etc.

Files on the various organizations with which Thompson was involved have been arranged according to the extent of his involvement rather than on the basis of the kinds of material included. In varying degrees, both the ORGANIZATIONAL FILES and the SUBJECT FILES contain correspondence, minutes, news releases, and other published material although both sections refer to groups in which Thompson had some interest.

The ORGANIZATIONAL FILE consists of information on those groups in which Thompson was active as a founder or officer and an additional file for groups in which he was active but for which the documentation is less extensive. Prominent among the first group, which is arranged alphabetically by key word, are records of the Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination, the National Committee to Repeal the McCarran Act, the American Peace Mobilization, and the Committee for Peaceful Alternatives. Also notable are the files on the Oklahoma Youth Legislature, an affiliate of APM, which came under attack for its liberal activities and the admission of Blacks as members.

The SUBJECT FILES are arranged into the categories in Thompson's original files (peace, civil liberties, civil rights, and religious activities) and then filed alphabetically by key word.

CONFERENCES files contain correspondence, speech notes, and brochures on various gatherings which Thompson attended as a delegate or which he helped to organize. Chief among these are his involvement with the YMCA-YWCA and various other student groups.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Susan Thompson, Berkeley, California, December 23, 1974. Accession Number: M74-511, M74-554

Processing Information

Processed by Kalleen Mortensen (Intern), 1987.

	Series: General Papers
Mss 737 Box   1 Folder   1-2	General correspondence, 1936-1958
	Speeches
Box   1 Folder   3	Miscellaneous speeches by JBT, 1936-1950
Box   2 Folder   1	American Peace Mobilization speeches by JBT and others, 1940-1941
Tape 1188A	Sermons
No.   1	“Faith of Our Fathers,” 1958
No.   2-3	Two unidentified sermons, circa 1959
Mss 737 Box   2 Folder   2	Bibliographies on civil liberties, peace, etc.
	Series: Organizational Files	⇧
	Organizations for which Thompson was an officer/founder
	American Peace Mobilization
Box   2 Folder   3-4	Correspondence, 1940-1941
Box   2 Folder   5	American People's meeting, 1941
Box   2 Folder   6	Committee reports, newsletters, publications
Box   2 Folder   7	Committee to Defend America by Keeping Out of War, 1940-1941
Box   3 Folder   1	Emergency Peace Mobilization
Box   3 Folder   2	Oklahoma Conference on Constitutional Rights, 1940
	Oklahoma Youth Legislature, 1938-1940
Box   3 Folder   3-4	Correspondence, 1938-1940
Box   3 Folder   5	Minutes, membership lists, etc., 1937-1941
	Publications
Box   3 Folder   6	Newsletters, 1940-1941
Box   3 Folder   7-8	News releases, pamphlets, etc.
Box   3 Folder   9	Religious Committee, 1940-1941
Box   4 Folder   1	Tulsa Council, 1940
Box   4 Folder   2	Working Conference for Peace, 1941
	Chicago Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination
Box   4 Folder   3	Correspondence, 1948-1951
Box   4 Folder   4-7	Minutes and newsletters, 1946-1951
	McCarran Act, National Committee to Repeal
Box   5 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1950-1955
Box   5 Folder   2-5	Newsletters and publications, 1951-1953
	Peaceful Alternatives, Committee for
Box   5 Folder   6-8	Correspondence, 1942-1953
Box   5 Folder   9	Mid-Century Conference for Peace, 1950
	Other organizations
Box   5 Folder   10	American-Soviet Friendship, National Council of, 1943-1955
Box   6 Folder   1	Arts, Sciences, and Professions, National Council of, 1949-1951
Box   6 Folder   2	Child Labor, National Committee, 1938-1946
Box   6 Folder   3	Christians and Jews, National Conference of, 1938-1951
Box   6 Folder   4	Foreign Born, American Committee for the Protection of, 1941-1952
Box   6 Folder   5	Intercollegiate Christian Council, National, 1938-1940
Box   6 Folder   6	New America, 1939
Box   6 Folder   7	Planned Parenthood, 1950-1956
Box   6 Folder   8	Religion and Labor Foundation, National, 1949-1950
Box   6 Folder   9	Student Christian Association, Southwest Council of, 1936-1944
Box   6 Folder   10	Youth Congress, American, 1940-1951
Box   6 Folder   11-13	Miscellaneous subject files, A-W
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
	Subseries: Peace committees and subject files
Box   7 Folder   1	Emergency Peace Campaign, 1937
Box   7 Folder   2	Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1935-1958
Box   7 Folder   3	Militarization, United States Committee Against, 1950-1951
Box   7 Folder   4	Peace, World Council of, 1952-1955
Box   8 Folder   1	Peoples for Peace, Congress of, 1952
Box   8 Folder   2	Promoting Enduring Peace Foundation, 1949-1952
Box   8 Folder   3	Sunday Evening Club (Chicago), 1940-1948
Box   8 Folder   4	Truman, Open letter to prevent war with Russia, 1951
Box   8 Folder   5	Universal Military Training, 1952-1955
Box   8 Folder   6	University of Chicago Campus Committee Against Conscription, 1949
Box   8 Folder   7	University of Chicago Faculty-Graduate Committee for Peace, 1950-1952
Box   8 Folder   8	World Fellowship, Inc., 1953-1958
Box   8 Folder   9-10	Miscellaneous files, A-Z
	Subseries: Civil liberties committees and subject files	⇧
Box   8 Folder   11	American Civil Liberties Union, 1940-1953
Box   8 Folder   12	Bill of Rights conference, 1949
Box   9 Folder   1	Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, 1940-1955
Box   9 Folder   2	Bridges (Harry), Citizens' Committee for, 1941-1952
Box   9 Folder   3	Citizens' Emergency Defense Conference, 1952-1959
Box   9 Folder   4	Civil Liberties Emergency Committee, 1952-1958
Box   9 Folder   5-6	Constitutional Liberties, National Federation for, 1940-1950
Box   9 Folder   7	Field (Jean) Committee, 1951-1952
Box   9 Folder   8	Labor Defense committee, International, 1941-1945
Box   9 Folder   9	Rosenberg Case, Committee to Secure Justice in the, 1952-1953
	Miscellaneous files
Box   9 Folder   10-12	A-S
Box   10 Folder   1	T-Z
	Subseries: Civil rights committees and subject files	⇧
Box   10 Folder   2	Chicago Medical Institutions, Committee to End Discrimination in, 1956
Box   10 Folder   3	Civil Rights Congress, 1946-1955
Box   10 Folder   4	Japanese relocation
Box   10 Folder   5	Lightfoot (Claude) Defense Committee, 1954-1956
Box   10 Folder   6	McGee (Willie) case, 1949-1950
Box   10 Folder   7	Military Segregation, League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against, 1948
Box   10 Folder   8	United Negro College Fund, 1954
	Subseries: Religious activities subject files	⇧
Box   10 Folder   9	Anti-semitism
Box   10 Folder   10	Applied Religion, People's Institute of, 1944-1948
Box   10 Folder   11	Religious activities
Box   10 Folder   12	Religious Freedom Committee, 1954-1956
Box   10 Folder   13	Wartime Service Program (Norman, OK), 1942-1946
	Series: Conferences	⇧
Box   10 Folder   14	American Association of University Women, 1941
Box   10 Folder   15	American Youth Congress, 1938-1940
Box   10 Folder   16	Gainesville (Florida) conference, 1939
Box   11 Folder   1	Hazen Conference on Student Guidance and Counseling, 1938-1940
Box   11 Folder   2	Methodist conferences, 1938-1957
Box   11 Folder   3	Miscellaneous conferences, 1936-1958
Box   11 Folder   4	National Christian Mission, 1940
Box   11 Folder   5	Oklahoma conferences, 1937-1944
Box   11 Folder   6	Presbyterian conferences, 1937-1948
Box   12 Folder   1	Student Christian Association conferences, 1937-1945
Box   12 Folder   2	Synod conferences, 1937-1944
Box   12 Folder   3	Texas tour, 1937
Box   12 Folder   4-5	University conferences, 1937-1958
Box   12 Folder   6	YMCA, 1947
	YWCA
Box   12 Folder   7	National Board correspondence and bulletins, 1947
Box   12 Folder   8-9	Conferences, 1937-1940
Box   12 Folder   10	National Student Council, 1937-1942
Box   12 Folder   11	World Conference of Christian Youth, 1939