Varian Fry papers, 1940-1967

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#0461
Bib ID:
4078792 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Fry, Varian, 1907-1967
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
9 linear feet (20 boxes)
Language(s):
English .
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located on-site.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Summary

The collection includes the original manuscript of "Surrender on Demand", Mr. Fry's account of his wartime experiences, which was later rewritten for young readers as "Assignment Rescue" (New York, Four Winds Press, 1968). Among the correspondents represented in the collection are Marc Chagall, Jacques Lipchitz, Roger Baldwin, Norman Thomas, J. Edgar Hoover, and Herman Wouk. In addition to the material relating to the Emergency Relief Committee (later known as the International Rescue Committee), the collection includes correspondence and papers concerning Fry's work as a writer on foreign affairs as well as copies of his books.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 9 series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located on-site.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Varian Fry papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Archival Materials

Fry's letters to Daniel Benedite, 1941-1955, are in the: Friedrich Ebert Foundation: Address--5300 Bonn 2, Godesberger Allee 149, Germany.

Walter Samuel Lentschner papers, 1923-1986 https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4079919

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Existence and Location of Copies

Boxes 1-12 are on microfilm.

Ownership and Custodial History

Gift of Annette Riley Fry, 1969, 1974, 2004, and 2005.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Fry, Mrs. Varian. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1969. Accession number--M-69.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 06/--/89. Processed by Bernard Crystal 6/92. 2004 addition processed by Bridget T. Lerette 11/2005. 2005 addition processed by Bridget T. Lerette 12/2005.

Revision Description

2010-01-28 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

2023-11-10 Extended photo description added. kws

Biographical / Historical

Fry, a 32 year old Harvard-educated classicist and editor from New York City, helped save thousands of endangered refugees who were caught in the Vichy French area during World War II. His efforts saved prominent persons: Max Ernst; Marc Chagall; Hannah Arendt; Andre Breton; Marcel Duchamp; Franz Werfel; Jacques Lipchitz; Lion Feuchtwanger; Heinrich Mann; Hans Sahl; Wilfredo Lam; Walter Mehring; Otto Meyerhoff; and Alma Mahler. In total, Fry and his collaborators helped to save around 4,000 people. In 1991, 24 years after his death (1967) in obscurity, Fry received his first official recognition from a United States agency, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. In 1996, Varian Mackey Fry was named as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heros and Martyrs Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. He was the first American recipient of Israel's highest honor for rescuers during the Holocaust. After the war, Fry wrote a memoir of his days in marseilles"Assignment Rescue". The FBI kept a file on him throughout his life, viewing his activities with some suspicion.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Articles CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Audiotapes CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Bibliographies CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Lists (document genres) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Manuscripts (documents) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Maps (documents) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Notes (documents) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Passports CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Photographs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Receipts (financial records) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Reports CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Reviews (documents) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tax returns CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Visas CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
negatives (photographs) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Name
Baldwin, Roger N (Roger Nash), 1884-1981 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Chagall, Marc, 1887-1985 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Emergency Rescue Committee CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Gide, André, 1869-1951 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
International Rescue Committee CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kinsey, Alfred C (Alfred Charles), 1894-1956 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Komroff, Manuel, 1890-1974 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Lipchitz, Jacques, 1891-1973 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Macdonald, Dwight CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Malraux, André, 1901-1976 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Miró, Joan, 1893-1983 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Winter, Ella, 1898-1980 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Wouk, Herman, 1915-2019 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Place
France -- History -- German occupation, 1940-1945 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Authors CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Editors CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Foreign agents CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Refugees -- France CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Songs CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
World War, 1939-1945 -- France CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
World War, 1939-1945 -- War work CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID