David McKelvy White Papers
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Abstract
David McKelvy White (1901-1945) was the son of a prominent Ohio politician. After graduating from Princeton University, White taught English literature and composition at Brooklyn College and City College in New York City. In March 1937, White went to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War, serving as a company clerk and machine gunner. He returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1937 and headed the activities of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (F.A.L.B.), a group formed to aid American volunteers still in Spain. A committed political activist, White wrote and lectured widely about the Spanish Civil War. He died in 1945 at the age of 44.
Historical/Biographical Note
David McKelvy White was born in 1901 into a prominent Ohio political family. His father, George White, was an oil entrepreneur who later became governor of Ohio and chairman of the National Democratic Party. David White graduated from Princeton University in 1925 and taught English literature and composition at City College and Brooklyn College in New York City. Reports of the civil war in Spain and sympathy for the anti-fascist cause impelled White into action. He sailed to France in March of 1937 and crossed the Pyrenees into Spain on foot to join in the fight against the fascists.
While serving as company clerk, machine gunner, and stretcher-bearer in the Fourth Machine Gun Company of the George Washington Battalion under lieutenant Walter Garland, White encountered several of his former students, including Hy Roseman, Harry Hakam and Leonard Lamb, who became White's machine gun instructor. In July, 1937 White fought in the Battle of Brunete. Before leaving Spain, he wrote a journal about his experiences.
White returned to the U.S. in the fall of 1937 and took over as executive secretary (and later national chairman) of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades (F.A.L.B.). F.A.L.B. worked to hasten the release of Americans from Spanish prisons; to assure medical care for wounded volunteers; to deal with the problem of foreign-born Americans being detained at Ellis Island; to expedite shipments of cigarettes, chocolate and other provisions to volunteers still fighting; and to raise funds on behalf of the Spanish Republican cause. In 1939 White became a long distance foster parent to a Spanish Civil War orphan, who sent him letters and drawings. White also wrote and lectured widely about the situation in Spain. His writings include the pamphlets From These Honored Dead, co-authored by James Hawthorne, and Franco Spain…America's Enemy. F.A.L.B. officially disbanded in December 1939; the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade assumed responsibility for all outstanding F.A.L.B. activities.
In 1940 the Rapp-Coudert Legislative Committee interrogated White as part of their investigation into communistic activities in the New York State school system. White declined immunity and refused to testify. He went on to direct the Detroit Labor School from 1942-1944.
White died in 1945 from a heart attack at the age of 44.
Arrangement
The files are arranged in alphabetical order.
The files are grouped into 1 series:
Missing Title
- Series I.
Scope and Content Note
The David McKelvy White Papers are in part comprised of documents created in 1937 when White was a volunteer in Spain. Included is White's "Sketch for a Journal" describing his experiences from his arrival in Spain through his participation in the Battle of Brunete and Orders of the Day for the George Washington Battalion, the Fourth Machine Gun Company, and the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, including the July 1937 Order to Merge the Abraham Lincoln and George Washington Battalions.
White's personal correspondence dates from 1938 and onward, after he had returned to the U.S. Included are letters from the mother of Philip Detro, a volunteer who died in Spain; letters from volunteers still in Spain, including Harry Hakam and Carl Geiser, who had been White's political commissar in the Fourth Machine Company; and letters from White's long distance Spanish foster son. Other papers include a small number of White's published and unpublished writings, including "We Who Pledge!" and "Spain and July 4th," about the politics of the Spanish Civil War, as well as flyers and programs promoting White's lectures.
F.A.L.B. documents include letters to Phil Bard, White's predecessor, from volunteers in Spain (with a photograph of a group of Lincoln and Garibaldi Battalion members after battle); Bard's communication with volunteers' families; and a typescript report of a contentious meeting with the Confederated Spanish Societies.
Other materials in the collection include letters from American volunteers in Spain to Ben Lederman, editor of the "Beehive Review," forwarded by volunteer Joe Stone, including a letter from Ed Lending regarding Robert Steck, a volunteer imprisoned in Spain; and a poem by volunteer Leo Grachow.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Use Restrictions
The Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Copyrights held by original creators of individual items in the collection are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. For more information, please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The David McKelvy White Papers came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections. The collection was formerly housed at Brandeis University under the name the Abraham Lincoln Battalion Records. The original provenance of the collection is not known, but it is presumed that the donor intended it to remain a cohesive collection.
