Inventory   [ + ]

Guide to the Seattle Draft Counseling Center Records
1934-1982

Image from Fellowship of Reconciliation pamphlet against the reinstatement of draft registration by the Carter Administration, 1980. Special Collections, UW Libraries, UW22337z

Historical Note

The Seattle Draft Counseling Center was founded in 1969 to provide draft, military, and alternate service counseling. It continued until at least 1982. Reverend George Poor (of the Quaker faith) and Gretchen Parker were influential in the operations and success of the SDCC. The SDCC was a non-profit agency dedicated to providing information and counseling to any civilian with questions or problems concerning the Selective Service System, or any military personnel having problems with the military. They also encouraged draft education in the Seattle school system and gave workshops on draft counseling throughout Western Washington.

Irwin Hogenauer was a passionate activist against war and the draft. He was a conscientious objector during World War II and spent two years in a conscientious objector camp. After serving ten months of a two-year sentence for resistance to conscription, he was discharged early as a "non-cooperator." Beginning in 1947, Hogenauer was a war tax refuser and counselor, and he conducted workshops for training in nonviolence for the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the American Friends Service Committee. Hogenauer cared deeply about the individuals he was representing through his activism. He served as a resource, advocate, and pen pal for many drafted soldiers who were against war. Hogenauer wrote to the parents of soldiers to give them information about their sons, as well as to military officials to inquire about court decisions. Not only did he correspond with draftees and resisters, he also established relationships with other activists and nonviolent organizations, including the Chicago Nonviolent Training and Action Center.

Throughout his many years of activism, Hogenauer remained committed to nonviolence. In 1971, inspired by the nonviolent action occurring around the nation, he founded the Northwest Nonviolent Training and Action Center. Though NWNVTAC was declared defunct in 1972, Hogenauer continued to teach workshops in nonviolent action by request.

Scope and Content

The bulk of this accession documents the Center's activities during the Vietnam War era. Most of the SDCC's material is ephemera used in its counseling centers, including religious pamphlets against the draft. The SDCC also collected court papers dealing with draft resisters and conscientious objectors. The accession also includes records of another organization, the Northwest Nonviolent Training and Action Center, and personal papers of Irwin Hogenauer, both of which document Hogenauer's draft resistance and nonviolent training activities.

One explicit connection between Hogenauer and the SDCC was discovered in the collection. In a 1982 letter to the Port Angeles Peace Coalition of Port Angeles, Washington, Hogenauer wrote of a conversation he had with George Poor of the still functioning SDCC. He informed the Peace Coalition that the SDCC could not spare either of its two skilled draft counselors to visit and train the group. The group was invited to send someone from Port Angeles to attend the evening training classes held at the University Friends Meeting House in Seattle.

Acquisition Info

The records were donated by Abraham Keller on May 17, 1988, and by Rosemary Brodie on November 30, 2001.

Processing Info

This a merger of two accessions and was processed in 2003.

Related Material

Also available in the repository are the Irwin R. Hogenauer Papers, Accession no. 3697-3.

Inventory