Massachusetts Peace Society Records

There were two periods in which there was an existing Massachusetts Peace Society, and the records of both groups have been put together here to form one archival collection.

The Massachusetts Peace Society was the second [third?] such society to form in America and was organized on December 28, 1815. It was founded primarily by Noah Worcester (1758-1837), a Unitarian minister. The membership list of the new Society included an array of clergymen and Boston merchants, as well as prominent men at Harvard University and in local and state government. The organization accepted persons who did not hold to a full pacifist position, attempting to unite all those who believed that war as a method of resolving conflict was both unchristian and inhumane. By 1819 the MPS had over 850 members, with branches established throughout the state and beyond. Membership fees and the sale of publications were the chief sources of financial support for the MPS, and the organization's main work was to enlighten public opinion through tracts and articles. Worcester, the Corresponding Secretary, established a periodical in 1816, entitled Friend of Peace, which was published at irregular intervals; by 1828, fifty numbers had been issued. In addition, Worcester published numerous tracts, with as many as 27,500 being distributed in 1828 alone. These were sent both to Americans and to foreigners. Support for the MPS dwindled during the 1820s and the retirement of Worcester in 1828 bled it of much of its vitality. With the New York Peace Society and other local peace societies, the MPS merged, into the newly formed American Peace Society in May 1828.

A new Massachusetts Peace Society was reorganized on April 27, 1911, upon the departure from Boston of the American Peace Society's offices to Washington, D.C. Samuel B. Capen was elected President and James Tryon as Secretary. It was possibly a branch of the American Peace Society. The MPS held monthly meetings with addresses by prominent men. It raised $4,000 in 1910 and had a series of Sunday afternoon talks in Tremont Temple during 1914-1915. In 1916, it purchased a stereopticon, and Secretary Tryon gave illustrated lectures on peace in many cities and towns of New England. U.S. entry into World War I put an end to the activities of the MPS.

[sources: Pacifism in the United States by Peter Brock (1968) and The American Peace Society: A Centennial History by Edson L. Whitney (1928)]