Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 500 College
Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
|
Massachusetts Peace Society |
|
Records, 1816-1838, 1911-1917 |
Document Group: DG
020
Provenance: Parts donated by the
Massachusetts Peace Society and by Mabel Soule Call (American Peace Society)
Size: 5 linear
feet
Restrictions: None
Microfilm: Yes
Finding Aid: Prepared by Peace
Collection staff; revised by Anne Yoder, Aug. 2005
This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College
Peace Collection.
Historical Introduction
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 Dec. 28, 1815, 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. It 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, whose 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, he publishd many tracts, with as many as 27,500 being distributed in 1828. 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. The MPS merged, along with the New York Peace Society and others, with the newly formed American Peace Society in May 1828.
The Massachusetts Peace Society was reorganized on April 27, 1911, upon the departure of the American Peace SocietyÕs 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. 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)]
Arrangement
One scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1914-1917) about the MPS was removed to the Oversized Items Collection: Scrapbooks. This item was not included on the microfilm.
The boxes for this collection are stored off-site. The microfilm may be borrowed through inter-library loan (three reels at a time).
Scope & Content
Much of the
material in folder 1 of box 1 is duplicated in Noah Worcester's Friend of
Peace (available in the
SCPC Periodical Collection), and probably most other MPS items could be found
through a close reading of this periodical and early ones of the American Peace
Society.
Correspondence
of the 20th century MPS was donated by Mabel Call in Jan. 1947. Correspondents (besides those listed
below) include: Percy Bliss, Le Baron Russell Briggs, Marion L. Burton, J.
Augustus Cadwallader, Arthur Deerin Call, Crystal Eastman, Edward A. Filene,
Sidney L. Gulick, Lucia Ames Mead, George W. Nasmyth, Harry Clinton Phillips,
L.S. Rowe, William H. Short, Benjamin F. Trueblood, Lyra D. Trubeblood, James
L. Tryon, and L. Hollingsworth Wood.
Contents of the
Collection
Massachusetts
Peace Society [I]
Box 1
(Reel 77.1)
Circulars,
1816-1836
Literature: addresses, sermons, Massachusetts State
Legislature reports on the Congress of Nations, 1816-1838
Annual
Reports, 1818-1828 [incomplete set]
Reports of the
Executive Committee, 1832-1835
Constitution,
[1819]
Catalogues of
officers & members, 1819-1820
Advance, 1938 [3 copies; contains historical
information about MPS]
Massachusetts
Peace Society [II]
Box 2
[mf reel 77.1 cont.]
History;
by-laws; constitution
Meeting
minutes, 1915-1917
Correspondence:
A, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
A, 1915 (cont.) - 1916
Correspondence:
Ambercombie, Daniel W., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Alexander, Magnus N., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
American Peace Society, 1913-1914
Box 2
(cont.) [mf reel 77.2]
Correspondence:
American Peace Society, 1915
Correspondence:
Andrews, Fannie Fern, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Andrews, Mrs. Julius, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
B, 1911-1914
Box 3
[mf reel 77.2 cont.]
Correspondence:
B, 1915 (Oct.-Dec.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
B, 1915 (Sept.-Oct.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
B, 1915 Sept.
Correspondence:
B 1915 (Jan.-Aug.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
B 1916 [2 folders]
Box 3
(cont.) [mf reel 77.3]
Correspondence:
Balch, Emily Greene, 1915-1917
Correspondence:
Blakeslee, George H., 1911-1916
Correspondence:
Buffalo Peace and Arbitration Society
Correspondence:
Bushnell, Rev. Samuel, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
C, 1910-1914
Box 4
[mf reel 77.3 cont.]
Correspondence:
C, 1915 (Sept.-Dec.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
C, 1916
Box 4
(cont.) [mf reel 77.4]
Correspondence:
D, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
D, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Dole, Dr. Charles F., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Duncan, James, 1914-1915
Box 5
[mf reel 77.4 cont.]
Correspondence:
E, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
E, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Elder, Hon. Samuel J., 1914-1916
Correspondence:
Emergence Committee, [1915]
Correspondence:
Evans, Mrs. Glendower, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
F, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
F, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Fall River Peace Society, 1914
Correspondence:
Fish, Frederick P., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Fitzpatrick, Thomas B., 1914-1915
Box 5
(cont.) [mf reel 77.5]
Correspondence:
Forbes, Rose Dabney (Mrs. J. Malcolm), 1915-1916
Correspondence:
Frothingham, Rev. Paul Revere, 1913-1915
Box 6
[mf reel 77.5 cont.]
Correspondence:
G, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
G, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
H, 1911-1914
Correspondence:
H, 1915 (Sept.-Dec.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
H, 1915 (Jan.-Aug.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Box 6
(cont.) [mf reel 77.6]
Correspondence:
H, 1916 (Jan.-Aug.) [in reverse order on the microfilm]
Correspondence:
Hamlin, Hon. Charles S., 1912-1915
Correspondence:
Hemenway, Mrs. Augustus, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Heywood, Lucy B., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Hudson, Jay William Ð ÒThe New Internationalism,Ó [1915]
Box 7
[mf reel 77.6 cont.]
Correspondence:
I, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
J, 1914-1916
Correspondence:
K, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
L, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
L, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Lane, Maud Philbrick, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
League to Enforce Peace, 1915-1916
Box 7
(cont.) [mf reel 77.7]
Correspondence:
Legislature, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
local committees, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
Loring, Louisa, 1914-1915
Box 8
[mf reel 77.7 cont.]
Correspondence:
M, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
M, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Mead, Edwin D., 1911-1915
Correspondence:
Mowry, W.A., 1913-1915
Correspondence:
N, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
N, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Box 9
[mf reel 77.8]
Correspondence:
O, 1911-1916
Correspondence:
P, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
P, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Paine, Robert Treat, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
Peace Oratorical Contest, 1912-1915
Correspondence:
Peace Oratorical Contest, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Perry, Prof. Bliss, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
Phillips, H.B., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Preparedness (attitude of Peace Societies), 1916
Correspondence:
Press, 1915-1916
Box 10
[mf reel 77.9]
Correspondence:
R, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
R, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Raymond, Judge Rober T. (& Mrs.), 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Rice, Horace J., 1913-1915
Correspondence:
S, 1911-1914
Correspondence:
S, 1915
Correspondence:
S, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Box 11
[mf reel 77.10]
Correspondence:
Seabury, Miss(es), 1913-1915
Correspondence:
Seabury, Miss(es), 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
Smith, George S., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Snedden, David, 1911-1915
Correspondence:
Sprague, Dr. Homer B., 1913-1915
Correspondence:
suggested names, 1914
Correspondence:
T, 1913-1915
Correspondence:
T, 1915 (cont.) Ð 1916
Correspondence:
U, 1914-1916
Correspondence:
United States, 1914-1916
Correspondence:
V, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
W, 1911-1914
Correspondence:
W, 1915
Box 12
[mf reel 77.11]
Correspondence:
W, 1915-1916
Correspondence:
Weston, Stephen F., 1913-1915
Correspondence:
Wheelwright Jr., George W., 1914-1915
Correspondence:
Winslow, Erving,
1914-1915
Correspondence:
Worcester Organisation, 1914-1915
Correspondence:
X-Y-Z, 1915
Pamphlets
& leaflets
Misc.
Newsclippings
For more information, contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator,
at or call 610-328-8557.
For other resources, see the
college's online library catalog (Tripod).
This
page was last updated on Aug. 18, 2005