EXCELLENT Research on LHO & Ruth Hyde Paine [and family] - Linda Minor

[Peter Lemkin]

Funny how Ruth Paine is described in the early 60's as a "Quaker" even though the Congregational Church (to which her family apparently belonged) is more of a Puritan thing than a Quaker thing. [The two do share a similar style of church governance, in that each church governs its own affairs.] Wikipedia says she went to a Unitarian college (Antioch) and became a Quaker...?

It's also said that she meets Michael Paine thru her "love of song and dance," but Quakers aren't big on singing or dancing, IIRC.

I wonder who, and why, decided to portray Ruth Pane as a "Quaker?"

Quakers and Unitarians share some overlap at times [if one were to do a mathematical type diagram there would be some slight overlap], but are really quite a bit different on the whole. As an aside, my sister also went to Antioch and I think her [my sister's] first year there was Ruth's last. They never met that my sister knows. But, as a result, I know a lot about Antioch. At that time it was known as just about the most 'experimental' university of quality in the country. It had few rules, many political, artistic, societal rebels or alternative thinkers; students were free to construct their own curricula and were encouraged to do community projects - either in the area or anywhere in the world as an integral part of their coursework. Professors were similarly off-beat. At the time it was a hotbed of the 'Beats' which proceeded the '60's' activists and/or anti-establishmenters. At that time, going to Antioch was a statement of being anti-establishment. I'm not aware that Antioch had any real religious affiliation by the 50's. It was started by a strange and little-known Christian sect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Connection, but I'm sure by the 50's this was considered a totally religiously non-affiliated school, at least as far as the students were concerned. My sister was an atheist who came from a Jewish heritage, for example. It could have been a target for paranoid intelligence people in the late 50's to watch the anti-establishment students going there - or it could just have been Ruth's pick for some other reason. It was considered very offbeat, but a very good education non the less. For many students the attractions were the co-ed dorms, a laissez-faire attitude toward sex, drugs, dress, coursework; and the chance to begin some work/travel/experience for credit elsewhere in the country or world while still at college. Political/social activism (such as it was in the 50's) had a major nexus there. It was in some ways equivalent to Berkeley in the 60s. If Ruth was already in intelligence, or just reporting to them, that could be why she was there. Perhaps it was before she was recruited - as she SURELY was not long afterwards. She might have been recruited for having that liberal college background, which could be used for assignment/legend purposes.

Antioch College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852; politician and education reformer Horace Mann became its first president. It was the founding, constituent college of Antioch University. Although there are several other federally recognized work colleges in which all students are required to work, Antioch is the only liberal arts institution in the nation to require a cooperative education work program for all its students. Democracy and shared governance, especially as a means to activism and social justice, are at the heart of the college. Since 1921 Antioch's educational approach has blended practical work experience with classroom learning, and participatory community governance. Students receive narrative evaluations and academic letter grades.