Despite the fact that the Spanish Civil War followed the Great Depression and World War I, many individual Americans chose to get involved in the cause. Although this happened throughout the United States, there was an especially large group of interested people in Florida. This letter from Isabel de Palencia to María Cruz Martínez about a delivery of clothing for Spanish children shows how some Americans participated in the war effort. Isabel de Palencia was part of a small delegation sent by the Spanish government to raise support for the Republic in the United States and Canada. She came to the American Federation of Labor Convention in Tampa in November 1936, hoping to address the delegates, but her request was not granted.

Source: de Palencia, Isabel. Isabel de Palencia to María Cruz Martínez, 1936. Spanish Civil War Oral History Project. University of South Florida Libraries. http://www.lib.usf.edu/ldsu/digitalcollections/S39/images/a015.jpg.

 

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Translation: First paragraph: “ … ropas para nuestros niños de España …” (clothes for our Spanish children) from Florida.