George Graff Papers, 1931-1947

Immigration History Research Center
University of Minnesota

Abstract | Provenance/Processing | Biographical Sketch | Preliminary Container List

Graff, George,
Papers, 1931-1947
ca. 0.4 linear feet and 1 cassette tape
Preliminary Inventory

Abstract

Graff, an educational administrator, was associated with the Service Bureau for Intercultural Education. Papers comprise correspondence, minutes, newspaper clippings, reports, newsletters, and miscellany pertaining to the Service Bureau and to intercultural education. The tape contains an interview with Graff. Correspondents include Rachel Davis DuBois, Margaret Mead, E. C. Lindemann, Mordecai Soltes, and Stewart G. Cole. Newspaper clippings pertain to Blacks and to treatment of Jews in the 1930s. Also included are papers by DuBois, the Interracial Newsletter, issues of Intercultural Education News, and materials on the radio program "Americans All--Immigrants All" and the American Institute of Intercultural Arts. In English. Inventory available. Related collection: Rachel Davis DuBois.

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Provenance/Processing

Nicholas Montalto acquired this collection in December 1974 from George Graff of Rockville, Connecticut. A preliminary inventory was later prepared.

This is just a preliminary inventory as the collection has not been fully arranged. This preliminary inventory was prepared for the Internet by Assistant Curator Heather Muir in 2001.

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Biographical Sketch

Graff, an educational administrator, was associated with the Service Bureau for Intercultural Education. In January, 1934, Dr. Rachel DuBois, with the sponsorship of a number of Columbia University faculty members, founded the Service Bureau for Education in Human Relations, a “clearing house” agency designed to help teachers and school administrators in setting up programs in intercultural education. This agency sponsored intercultural programs in fifteen schools in the New York metropolitan area (1934-1935). In January of 1937, the Service Bureau was invited to become the “Commission on Intercultural Education” of the Progressive Education Association. This arrangement ended in September 1938, however, and the original organization was revived and renamed the Service Bureau for Intercultural Education.

During 1939-1940, the General Education Board, before deciding to make a commitment for financial support to the Bureau, conducted an evaluation of the activities of the Service Bureau. The report of the G.E.B. was critical of an approach to intergroup relations which emphasized the contributions of individual groups. The philosophic and programmatic differences which emerged at this time led to the resignation of Dr. DuBois and other members of the Board of Directors (1939-1941), and the dismissal of others not in agreement with the dominant point of view.

The Bureau for Intercultural Education (BIE) emerged out of a reorganization of the original Service Bureau accomplished during the period 1939-1941. During the next ten years, the Bureau for Intercultural Education assumed leadership over a number of influential programs in the field of intercultural education, including workshop training for teachers, scientific research in the emerging field of human relations and the establishment of field centers in such cities as Detroit, Gary, and Battle Creek. The Bureau’s major financial backers were the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai B’rith, and the Julius Rosenwalk Fund. The first director of the vamped Bureau was Stewart Cole, who served from 1940 to 1944. He was succeeded by H.H. Giles from 1944-1948, under whose direction made a major expansion of Bureau operations was carried out. From 1948 to 1954, a number of men assumed supervision of the organization, but a combination of factors led to a gradual reduction of the number and scope of Bureau activities. The decision to “suspend operations” was taken at the final meeting of the Bureau’s Executive Committee on June 9, 1954.

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Preliminary Container List

Box	Contents
1	Service Bureau for Intercultural Education
	Correspondence, unpublished papers, research note cards
	Workshop for Cultural Democracy - materials
	Miscellenous writings and other material dealing with "intercultural education"
	Cassette tape: 10 minute interview with George Graff
	Intercultural Education News; first 8 issues, plus duplicates (1939-1941)
	American Institute of Intercultural Arts - mission

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Last Updated: May 4, 2001
Comments: ihrc@tc.umn.edu