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Records of the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action, 1958-1977
Collection: DG 017
Contact Information
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399
U.S.A.
Telephone: 610-328-8557 (curator)
Fax: 610-690-5728
Email: wchmiel@swarthmore.edu (curator)
URL: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/
Descriptive Summary
Repository
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Creator
New England Committee for Nonviolent Action
Title
Records of the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action
Inclusive Dates
Dates of papers/records 1958-1977
Call Number
DG 017
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
22.08 linear feet [papers only]
Abstract
CNVA was one of the first American peace groups to focus on nonviolentdirect action including civil disobedience. Its purpose of organizing imaginative and dramatic protest demonstrations on both land and sea attracted radical pacifists and called the attention of the American public to the atrocities of nuclear warfare. CNVA's first protest action was a vigil held outside the atomic weapons test grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1957. In the second half of its existence CNVA efforts began to focus on Vietnam. The organization allied its resources with other American peace groups. As other American peace groups adopted CNVA's methods of dramatic and nonviolent demonstrations, its own numbers and support waned. In the fall of 1967, CNVA voted to merge with the War Resisters League, which became reality in Januaryuary l968. The New England CNVA was based in Connecticut and there is some times little distinction between its work and the "national" CNVA.
Administrative Information
Restrictions to Access
None
Usage Restrictions
None
Alternate Form of Material
None
Acquisitions Information
Gift of Committee for Nonviolent Action and Charles Matthei, date/s [acc. 01A-056]
Processing Information
Temporarily processed by SCPC staff, 2001-2002
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Records of the Committee for Nonviolent Action (DG 017), Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online library/archival catalogs.
See tripod record
Related Collections
Committee for Nonviolent Action [national office]
War Resisters League
A.J. Muste
Historical Background
"Because of the grave dangers to the future of mankind in the nuclear testing policies of the three leading nations of the world, we call upon men everywhere to consider non-violent direct action against the evil of nuclear tests." These were the opening words of the call to Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, an ad hoc committee organized in May l957 by Quaker pacifist Lawrence Scott, to protest against nuclear tests in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Septemberember l958, this ad hoc committee reorganized as a permanent committee, the Committee for Nonviolent Action, sponsored at first by the Fellowship for Reconciliation, Friends Peace Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, War Resisters League, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Early leaders of both NVAANW and CNVA, besides Scott, included A.J. Muste, George Willoughby, Lyle Tatum, Bayard Rustin, Ralph diGia, Theodore Olson, and Albert Bigelow. Headquartered at first in Philadelphia, CNVA soon moved to New York City.
CNVA was one of the first American peace groups to focus on nonviolentdirect action including civil disobedience. Its purpose of organizing imaginative and dramatic protest demonstrations on both land and sea attracted radical pacifists and called the attention of the American public to the atrocities of nuclear warfare. CNVA was not a membership organization but rather requested those interested to participate in its demonstrations and to commit themselves to the discipline of nonviolence.
The Committee itself had approximately 65 members. Decemberisions were made by its Executive Committee. Regional offices soon sprang up elsewhere in the United States, the most prominent being New England CNVA in Voluntown, Connecticut, under the leadership of Marjorie and Robert Swann . NECNVA protested against the missile-carrying Polaris submarine being constructed in New London, CT. In each and indeed almost every CNVA demonstration, its people were arrested and jailed, submitting peacefully to the indignities and attacks from irate police and public. These events made news headlines everywhere, focusing national attention on them. Most of the NECNVA efforts were focused on Connecticut and Massachusetts, including demonstrations agains the Vietnam war. NECNVA remained somewhat separate from the War Resisters league throught 1970s, long after the "national" CNVA had merged with that group..
Collection Overview