“I, being a member of the Junior Red Cross, gladly offered my services”: Transnational practices of citizenship by the international Junior Red Cross youth

Abstract

The International School Correspondence Program (ISCP) was one of just a few Junior Red Cross (JRC) programs that were designed to bring pupils from different parts of the globe together outside of the work of war relief. A valuable, primary source publication that documented the activities of the ISCP is entitled Our Book Our Very Own Book (1937). This collection of schoolwork and memories is examined here as a means to explore an expanded notion of social service activities performed by youth during the inter-war period. The article is divided into two interrelated sections that outline the establishment of the JRC ISCP as a transnational organization for youth and then explores their recollections of citizenship and service. The article begins with the historical context and purpose of the JRC, first in North America, then internationally. Active citizenship was an important component for JRC programs and the addition of the ISPC provided a means to transmit a JRC understanding of active citizenship in...