Document Group: CDGA
Provenance: Unknown
Size: 18 inches
Restrictions: None
Microfilm: None
Finding Aid: Checklist revised by Anne Yoder, December 1997
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Historical Introduction
In the spring of 1924, representatives of nine national women's organizations -- of varying goals, religious beliefs and methodologies -- met at the request of Carrie Chapman Catt. Their purpose was to consider whether they could work together to produce more effective results and less duplication of effort than was possible on their own. It was decided that they could unite on at least two things: to lobby for the United States to join the World Court, and to hold a conference together. They chose Carrie Chapman Catt to be their leader, and they called their coalition the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (NCCCW).
The first Conference on the Cause and Cure of War took place in Washington, D.C. in January 1925. It was so successful that conferences thereafter were held annually until 1941, when the 16th was canceled due to lack of funds.
The National Committee itself was appointed as a "continuing committee" after the first conference, and was composed of Catt as chair, the presidents of the member organizations, and the chairs of their committees on peace or international relations. Later, other officers, elected by delegates at the conferences, were added. Though none of the member organizations was pacifist, they were all interested in promoting peace and international cooperation. In time, the Committee was composed of eleven organizations and claimed to represent five million American women. The NCCCW was supported financially by grants from its member organizations and individual contributions.
The NCCCW emphasized education. Besides its annual conferences, probably its most significant program was its "Marathon Round Tables," which represented a network of guided local study groups. Its stated goals were 1) "to learn how to discuss"; 2) "to find the best way for public opinion to function"; and 3) "to search for a bolder and faster moving program for the abolition of war." Each year a new set of questions on peace and international relations was posited and information for study on the questions was provided. The program was active from 1927 to 1939.
The member organizations of the NCCCW were: the American Association of University Women, Council of Women for Home Missions, Federation of Woman's Boards for Foreign Missions of North America, General Federation of Women's Clubs, National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations, National Council of Jewish Women, National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, National League of Women Voters, National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, National Women's Trade Union League, and the National Women's Conference of American Ethical Union. The national office of the NCCCW was located at 1116 Grand Central Terminal Building, 100 East 45th Street, New York, New York.
Enthusiasm for the NCCCW waned during the second world war and it essentially became defunct; in 1943 it was resurrected into the Women's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace (which name later became the Committee on Education for Lasting Peace).
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The NCCCW Collection consists of general information about and by the Committee; correspondence (including a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt); material from the 1925-1940 annual conferences and the Marathon Round Tables program; papers of Dr. Emily Hickman; and the serial publication "The Bulletin." It also includes biographical information about Carrie Chapman Catt, and a small amount of her writings.
See also the Laura Puffer Morgan Collection (CDGA), the Women's Action Committee [for Victory and Lasting Peace] Collection (CDGA), the Committee on Education for Lasting Peace Collection (CDGA), and the Hannah Clothier Hull Collection (DG 16).
Box 1 |
Checklist |
General information |
Biographical information on Carrie Chapman Catt |
Writings by Carrie Chapman Catt; includes: |
o Forward to The Horror of It: Camera Records of War's Gruesome Glories by Frederick A. Barber (Historical Foundations, New York, NY), 1932 |
o Speech "Who Can Answer" given at 44th Congress of American Industry,12/08/1939 (published) |
o Speech "Then...And Now" given at the celebration of her 80th birthday, 01/09/1939 (published) |
Periodical The Woman Citizen 5:40 (03/05/1921); includes article "The Carrie Chapman Catt Citizenship Course: Inside Stories About the Federal Department" by Mary Anderson |
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1927-1936, 1938; includes letter from Eleanor Roosevelt, 01/20/1938 |
Correspondence of Laura Puffer Morgan, 1936-1938 |
First Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/18-24/1925 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
o Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??) |
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 12/05-10/1926 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Box 2 |
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 12/05-10/1926 (cont.) |
o Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??) |
Third Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/15-19/1928 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
o Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??) |
Fourth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/14-17/1929 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Fifth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/14-17/1930 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Sixth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/19-22/1931 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Seventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/18-21/1932 |
o General information |
Box 3 |
Seventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/18-21/1932 (cont.) |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Eighth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/17-20/1933 |
o General information |
o Final Report |
o Newsclippings |
Ninth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/16-19/1934 |
o General information and newsclippings |
Tenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/22-25/1935 |
o General information |
Eleventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/21-24/1936 |
o General information and newsclippings; includes notes by Hannah Clothier Hull |
Twelfth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/26-29/1937 |
o General information and newsclippings |
Thirteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/18-21/1938 |
o General information and newsclippings |
Fourteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/21-25/1939 |
o General information and newsclippings |
Fifteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 01/22-25/1940 |
o General information and newsclippings |
Sixteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War, 1941 [canceled] |
o Newsclipping "Cause and Cure of War Meeting Canceled Through Lack of Funds," New York Times (11/10/1940) |
Conference material, n.d. |
Conferences of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1928-1937 |
Box 4 (1/2 box) |
Marathon Round Tables program, 1927-1939, n.d. |
Periodical The Bulletin 1:1-3 (December 1931-December 1932) |
Papers of Dr. Emily Hickman on history of NCCCW and survey re: NCCCW |
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
For more information, contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator, at wchmiel1@ swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8557.
For other resources, see the college's online library catalog (Tripod).