Olive and the AFSC in America
- Chandler Museum
Accession # 2011.4.136
Gift of Eula Weaver
When Olive Goodykoontz was working for the American Friends Service Committee, she divided her time between Europe and the U.S. When she was overseas she was helping with the post-WWII construction of Germany (mainly) and other countries. In the U.S., however, Olive's work was more focused on education.
Before the war, Olive began working for the AFSC by spending summers at a work camp in the south where they did things like refurbish the local school building.
After the war, Olive spent several tours of duty working in Europe but in-between those assignments she was always sent back to the U.S. During the first return she traveled to the Pacific Northwest and toured around schools lecturing about International Relations, endorsing the exchange program, and encouraging schools to become "sister schools" to their German counterparts.
The second time she returned, Olive was offered a job with the AFSC head office in Philadelphia where she would stay for a few years.
After these first two assignments, Olive would remain based in Philadelphia but would continue the traveling and lecturing she started in the Pacific Northwest. She traveled around the entire country by planes, trains, and automobiles, giving interviews and lectures. While on this circuit, Olive was working under the banner of the "School Affiliation Services" (S.A.S.), a project within the AFSC. It was her job to check in with the exchange students at various schools and the progress of the "sister schools" affiliations between the U.S. schools and German schools she visited while overseas.