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Emergency Peace Campaign Records

 Collection
Identifier: SCPC-DG-012

Scope and Contents

The complete, official records of the Emergency Peace Campaign were given in January 1940. Forty-two file drawers of material, plus additional books and files of enrollment cards, were accessioned at that time.

The material includes meeting minutes, reports of field workers and peace caravans, correspondence, material of local peace councils set up under EPC auspices, financial records, pledges of abstinence from war, publications, newsclippings, and files of five of the Campaign's twenty area offices (Kansas City, New York, St. Louis, Chicago, Michigan).

A supplementary accession of EPC records was received in June 1947 from John Musgrave, Archivist of the American Friends Service Committee. John Musgrave did not know whose files the material had come from but felt that it should be with the other EPC material in the SCPC. The names of Ray Newton, Kirby Page, and E. Raymond Wilson all appear on material in these four boxes (Boxes 217-220).

The EPC records were prepared for microfilming in the summer of 1979. The correspondence files were left in the order in which they were found, with more recent material filed in front. Certain other files (meeting minutes, releases, etc.) have been arranged in chronological order.

Some material from this collection sustained damage after its arrival at the SCPC and was unsalvageable. What could be saved was re-foldered and re-boxed in June 2000. In 2010, newsclippings from several scrapbooks (#19-21) were photocopied or scanned and the originals discarded.

Dates

  • 1936-1937

Creator

Language of Material

Materials are in English.

Limitations on Accessing the Collection

The collection is open for research use.

Physical Access Note

All or part of this collection is stored off-site. Contact Swarthmore College Peace Collection staff at peacecollection@swarthmore.edu at least two weeks in advance of visit to request boxes.

Copyright and Rights Information

None.

Historical Note

The Emergency Peace Campaign, "a nation-wide program to keep the United States out of war and to promote world peace," was initiated in late 1935 by the American Friends Service Committee and other liberal pacifists, including Devere Allen, Frederick J. Libby, Ray Newton, Kirby Page, John Nevin Sayre, and E. Raymond Wilson. The aim was to promote a vigorous, nation-wide campaign for two years which would enlist the cooperation of leaders from various peace organizations, religious bodies of all faiths, trade unions and labor groups, liberal organizations, student and youth groups, African-American groups, and other agencies interested in keeping the United States out of war and in improving the serious international situation.

The idea of such a campaign was initially proposed by Ray Newton. In December 1935, a three-day conference of over 100 pacifists was held at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, to consider ways and means of launching a campaign for peace activity and education.

Ray Newton, Secretary of the Peace Section of the American Friends Service Committee, became Executive Director of the Emergency Peace Campaign. The AFSC served as treasurer of the campaign and made office space available at 20 S. Twelfth Street, Philadelphia, for the EPC headquarters. The office of the EPC opened on February 1, 1936.

The purpose of the Emergency Peace Campaign was stated as follows: "To promote a co-operative nation-wide campaign to keep the United States from going to war and to achieve world peace by:

1. Strengthening pacific alternatives to armed conflict; 2. Bringing about such political and economic changes as are essential to a just and peaceable world order;

3. Recruiting and uniting in a dynamic movement all organizations and individuals who are determined not to approve of or participate in war."

After the EPC joined the National Peace Conference in March, 1936, the following statement was added:

4. "Acquainting peace-minded people with the program and policies of the member organizations of the National Peace Conference and other peace groups." The EPC was officially launched on April 21, 1936, over a national radio broadcast. Mrs. Eleanor D. Roosevelt and George Lansbury, former leader of the British Labor Party, were the speakers.

A major effort of the Emergency Peace Campaign was to arrange public meetings and conferences in cities throughout the country. These were arranged by the EPC Speakers Bureau, headed by Kirby Page and Fred Atkins Moore, with the cooperation of local peace committees. Some of the meetings featured well-known speakers, including several British peace leaders (George Lansbury and Alfred Salter in the spring of 1936 and Maude Royden in early 1937). Other meetings utilized the speaking talents of ministers, educators, and peace leaders from across the country.

The two major cycles of the Emergency Peace Campaign in 1937 were the Neutrality Campaign from January through March and the No-Foreign-War Crusade beginning April 6. Charles P. Taft, II, served as Honorary Chairman of the Neutrality Campaign, which focused on the need for neutrality legislation and the costs of neutrality in the event of a major war abroad. The No-Foreign-War Crusade was designed to increase and make articulate the determination of the American people not to be drawn into a war in Europe or Asia. Admiral Richard E. Byrd served as the Honorary Chairman of this crusade, which called for the restriction of naval and military policy to the defense of the United States, rather than to the protection of investments, commerce and other interests abroad.

The national staff of the EPC was greatly expanded in 1937 and area offices were established in twenty cities. These area offices functioned from January through June 1937. A few succeeded in raising sufficient funds to continue their activities through the summer of 1937.

Several other elements of the Emergency Peace Campaign program should be mentioned. The Youth Section was under the direction of Harold Chance. Youth volunteers were enlisted to promote the Campaign on college campuses and to serve as Peace Volunteers in rural areas during the summers of 1936 and 1937. This work was continued in 1938 as the Student Peace Service, under the sponsorship of the AFSC.

Another element of the EPC was a nation-wide poll of personal attitudes on war and peace conducted during the first cycle of public meetings, and a National Peace Enrollment which continued through the entire campaign. Over 23,000 names of pacifists and near-pacifists were collected and made available to other peace organizations.

The EPC also worked to promote peace education through churches, synagogues, labor and farm groups, and encouraged vigorous legislative measures which would make it difficult for the U.S. to become involved in another war.

The Emergency Peace Campaign was originally planned as a two-year campaign to keep the U.S. out of war and to bring about a more coordinated and united effort within the American peace movement. The movement toward a coalition of peace agencies accelerated in 1937. Joint meetings of the EPC Council and the National Peace Conference were held in the spring of 1937, when it was agreed that the NPC should be given stronger administrative and coordinative functions so that it could formulate and promote a definite peace program. The Campaign for World Economic Cooperation was undertaken by the National Peace Conference. It was expanded to a 15-month program under the direction of Clark Eichelberger.

The EPC was disbanded at the end of 1937.

Extent

88.75 Linear Feet (88.75 linear ft.)

Abstract

Initiated in late 1935 by the American Friends Service Committee and other pacifists; originally planned as a two-year campaign to rally peace, religious, labor, African-American and student groups; aim was to organize a national campaign to promote peace principles in the face of preparation for war in Europe, and to keep the United States out of war; may have been preceded by the Emergency Peace Committee (1931-1933), though this has not been documented. The first EPC office opened in February 1, 1936. Ray Newton served as Executive Director; other staff members were Baruch Braunstein, Harold Chance, and Kirby Page. The EPC disbanded at the end of 1937, its work continued by the National Peace Conference.

Custodial History

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these records.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Peace Section of the American Friends Service Committee, 1940, and John Musgrave, Archivist, American Friends Service Committee, 1947.

Existence and Location of Originals

A number of documents were discarded due to excessive damage. This includes materials in Series C: Philadelphia Area Office and Philadelphia Peace Council (Boxes 12-13), Series D: Files of Dr. Baruch Braunstein (Box 14), and Series G: Correspondence (Boxes 24-26). Some materials from Boxes 24-26 were salvaged and reboxed into boxes 221-222. All material that was discarded is available on microfilm.

Existence and Location of Copies

This collection, excluding card files and some scrapbooks, is available on microfilm (reels 72.1-72.190) and was microfilmed by Alpha Systems in September 1979 with funding from NEH Grant #27706-77-739. Microfilm is available on-site by appointment and through interlibrary loan from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Related Materials

For related materials, search the library's online catalog.

Separated Materials

See also: Graphics in Subject File: Art in War and Peace -- Graphics in Archival Collections.

Bibliographic References

Guide to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 2nd ed., p. 25.

Legal Status

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Processing Information

Processed; checklist revised June 2000 and May 2005; updated by Eleanor A. Fulvio, July 2009.

Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2018: The file list was standardized in Summer 2017 by Mary Olesnavich in preparation for importing into ArchivesSpace. Tessa Chambers added the notes in Fall 2017. Wendy E. Chmielewski updated this finding aid, January 2019.

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting reproductions from Swarthmore College Peace Collection Library

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