Guy Serge Metraux papers

The papers of Guy Serge Metraux relate primarily to his service as a delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Delegation to the United States of America, 1944-1946. During this time Metraux visited 190 prisoner of war camps in the Mid-West, South and West and reported on conditions for the Red Cross. A general report of his activities and observations is found in folder 14, "Rapport General et Observations sur les Camps de Prisonniers de Guerre et sur la Delegation aux Etats-Unis, Septembre 1944-Juin 1946," Washington, D.C., June 12, 1946. Series II of the papers includes instructions and memos of the Red Cross, minutes of meetings and Metraux's correspondence and reports. Series III, the largest part of the papers, consists of materials prepared and collected at individual camps arranged alphabetically by the name of the camp.

In addition to the papers relating to American prisoner of war camps, there is a group of papers itn Series I relating to Mr. Metraux's proposed doctoral dissertation of James G. Huneker. Of the seventy-two letters to and from Metraux covering the period 1943 January through 1944 May, there are seventeen letters from H.L. Mencken. Some other correspondents include Edward Ziegler, Guy Pene de Bois, Diana Huneker Lagen, Clayton Hamilton and Benjamin de Casseres. After working for the Red Cross, Mr. Metraux selected another subject for his dissertation in American Studies at Yale University. In 1949, he submitted a dissertation entitled, "Social Aspects of Swiss Immigration into the United States in the 19th Century," and received the Ph.D. degree from Yale. Before entering the Yale graduate school, Mr. Metraux received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Michigan. At present, he is working for UNESCO in Paris as Secretary General of the International Commission for a Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind.

Mr. Metraux donated these four boxes of his papers to the Yale University Library in 1946 and 1947.