Betty Drury collection regarding the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars

Betty Drury collection regarding the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars 

Betty Drury (1907-1986) was born in New York City to Margaret Elizabeth Drury. She married Marvin H. Clapp in 1934. She served as Executive Secretary of the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars from 1937-1944 and co-authored the 1948 book The Rescue Of Science And Learning: The Story Of The Emergency Committee In Aid Of Displaced Foreign Scholars with the Committee’s founder, Stephen Duggan. She died in Englewood, NJ. The Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars was formed in New York City in 1933 for the purpose of employing refugee German scholars in American institutions. Many of the refugee scholars were Jews displaced by the National Socialist government. The Committee came into existence through the efforts of a small group of academics and philanthropists in New York City. In May of 1933, Alfred E. Cohn, Bernard Flexner, and Fred M. Stein contacted Stephen Duggan, the director of the Institute of International Education, to discuss the possibility of creating an organization to assist German scholars fleeing to the United States. These four men formed the organizing committee that became the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars. The Committee operated for twelve years, raising funds on behalf of refugee scholars. Relief was made indirectly to scholars through a program of grants-in-aid to colleges, universities, and other institutions and later through fellowships that served mainly artists and writers. These funds were provided mainly through foundations, although many individuals did make significant contributions. In 1938, as Nazi aggression spread throughout Europe, the Committee broadened the scope of its mission to include refugee scholars from all countries overrun by the Nazi armies. The Committee changed its name to the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, in order to reflect this new mission. Over the course of twelve years, the Committee provided grants for 335 scholars and assisted many others through references to other assistance organizations. The Committee disbanded in 1945. Source: Duggan, Stephen and Betty Drury. The Rescue of Science and Learning. New York : The Macmillan Company, 1948. 

Betty Drury collection regarding the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars