| Abbreviation | UUSC |
|---|---|
| Formation | May 1940 |
| Type | Non-profithuman rights organization |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Website | www.uusc.org |
TheUnitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is anon-profit,nonsectarian associate member organization of theUnitarian Universalist Association that works to providedisaster relief and promotehuman rights andsocial justice around the world.
UUSC was founded in May 1940 as theUnitarian Service Committee with the intended purpose of assisting European refugees endangered by Nazi persecution.[1] The founding director wasRobert Dexter, who had served in a diplomatic role for theAmerican Unitarian Association for more than a decade and had been moved, in particular, by the plight of refugees in Czechoslovakia,a country with a large Unitarian congregation.[2] The organization established an office in Lisbon and the first American Unitarians to be posted there wereRev. Waitstill Hastings Sharp, a minister of the Unitarian Church in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and his wifeMartha. Later, Rev. Charles Joy,Elisabeth Anthony Dexter andNoel Field were recruited to work in the organization's Lisbon and Marseille offices and they, along with many refugee volunteers, expanded the relief and emigration programs. The Sharps were posthumously honored by Israel in 2006 as the second and third Americans to be added to the list ofRighteous Among the Nations.[3]
The organization’s first board of directors was chaired byWilliam Emerson, the former dean of theMIT School of Architecture. Other board members includedHarold Hitz Burton, mayor ofCleveland, Ohio and a futureSupreme Court justice;Percival Brundage, senior partner in thePrice Waterhouse and future budget director for PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower; Louise Wright, chairwoman of the voters department of government and foreign policy for theLeague of Women Voters.[4]
Today, UUSC is involved in coordinating humanitarian efforts and documenting human rights abuses worldwide. Its programs focus on Migrant Justice, Climate/Disaster Justice, and International Justice and Accountability. In recent years, the organization has been active in addressing a range of issues, including U.S. immigration policies, climate change andenvironmental justice for Indigenous communities, supporting civil society organizations in Haiti, providing aid to communities affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and advocating for accountability for human rights abuses and war crimes committed by the Burmese military against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya population.
The bulk of this collection documents the activities of the New York office of the Unitarian Service Committee. The records cover 1944–1949. Includes digital images
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