KEENY SPURGEON M. SENIOR B 1893

Reminiscences of Spurgeon M. Keeny on relief work in Russia after World War I and in Italy after World War II for UNRRA. Also his time as Asian regional director of UNICEF. The reminiscences were gathered in a project by the Oral History Research Office, Columbia University.

Spurgeon M. Keeny Senior 1893 - c 1982

Spurgeon Keeny was born in Southern Pennsylvania in the United States and educated at Gettysbury College. He obtained a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford but in 1918 went to Siberia with the YMCA to work with troops in Russia. Whilst there he set up butchers and bakers businesses and oversaw the welfare of troops. In 1919 he went to Oxford but in 1920 he returned to the Russian border to oversee the transfer of prisoners. He returned to Oxford but finally gave up the rest of his Rhodes scholarship and returned to Russia in 1921 with the YMCA to take part in an anti typhus campaign. In 1927 he returned to the United States and became a member of the national staff of the YMCA taking over the running of the publishing side.

In 1943 he began working for the United States government on plans for the care of civilians captured in continental Europe. He moved to Italy as part of UNRRA and put into practice his plans for relieving poverty and dealing with displaced persons.

In 1963 he was asked to become the regional director for Asia of UNICEF, retiring in 1976.His publications include:

• Half the World's Children: the Diary of UNICEF at Work in Asia (1957)
• Nuclear Power Issues and Choices: Report of the Nuclear Energy Policy Study Group (1977)

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