Roswell Dunlop McClelland

From Nancy Pleas: "Boarding schools in Switz, Duke, Became Quaker, joined Quaker Foreign Service, left Quakers and transferred to US Foreign Service, became Ambassador to Niger."

From https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn80304: Roswell Dunlop McClelland was born on January 25, 1914 to Ross St. John McClelland and Alys M. Mitchell. He graduated with a BA from Duke University in 1936 and an MA from Columbia University in 1940. On November 19, 1938, he married Marjorie Helen Miles, who was born on August 17, 1913 to Dr. Walter Miles and Elizabeth Kirk Miles. Marjorie graduated from Stanford and did graduate work at the University of Cincinnati and Yale University, training in child psychology. After his graduation from Columbia, Roswell applied for and received a scholarship from the Quakers to study an archival collection related to Voltaire in Geneva, Switzerland, but due to the outbreak of war in Europe he was not able to use the scholarship. However, Marjorie was a Quaker and was friends with a number of members of the American Friends Service Committee, who were looking for aid workers to send overseas. Due to Roswell’s capacity with languages, the couple was recruited to go overseas for the AFSC. In August 1940, the couple went to Europe, spending a month in Lisbon before traveling to Rome to set up a refugee aid office. In August 1941, the office closed and the couple moved to Marseilles, where they joined an extant AFSC office. During their year in Marseilles, among other activities, Roswell worked with relief for the Les Milles concentration camp and Marjorie worked with the selection of children for the USCOM children’s transport to the United States in the summer of 1942. In the late summer of 1942, the couple moved to Geneva and headed the AFSC offices in Switzerland. After the War Refugee Board was created, Roswell was selected to be the Board’s representative in Switzerland beginning in April 1944. He commuted to Bern four days a week, while Marjorie ran the AFSC offices in Geneva. After the end of the war, Roswell became a United States Foreign Service officer. Marjorie McClelland passed away on June 12, 1978. Roswell McClelland passed away on May 6, 1995.

See also: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1002803