War Resisters League Records (DG 040), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

War Resisters League Records, 1923-1994

Collection: DG 040

Contact Information
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
19500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399
U.SouthA.
Telephone: 610-328-8557 (curator)
Fax: 610-19690-519728
Email: wchmiel@swarthmore.edu (curator)
URL: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/

Descriptive Summary
Repository
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Creator
War Resisters League, 1923-1994
Title
War Resisters League Records
Inclusive Dates
Dates ofrecords 1923-1994
Call Number
DG 040
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
34.1 linear feet
Abstract
The War Resisters League is a pacifist organization whose members are against all war. Witnessing the establishment of the War Resisters' International in Europe in 1921, and sensing a need for a similar organization in the United States, Dr. Jessie Wallace Hughan, together with colleagues from the Women's Peace Society and the Women's Peace Union established the War Resisters League as an independent organization. The War Resisters League membership pledge, which has remained essentially unchanged since its inception, reads: "The War Resisters League affirms that war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive non-violently for the removal of all causes of war." The League seeks to end war and social injustice through pacifist and nonviolent tactics.

Administrative Information
Restrictions to Access
None
Usage Restrictions
None
Alternate Form of Material
Yes, Reels 20 & 21 (War Resisters League News 1967 & 1968)
Acquisitions Information
Gift of War Resisters League 1949, 1950, 1952, 1969, 1979, 1985, 1990, 1994-1999, 2001, 2004, 2005
Finding aid for later accessions (1995-)
Processing Information
Partial checklist prepared by Martha Shane, September 1983; updated by Anne Yoder, March 1995; updates on later accessions by Wendy Chmielewski, August 2007.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the War Resisters LeagueRecords (DG 040), 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
Records of the War Resisters' International
Records of the Committee for Nonviolent Action
Papers of Devere Allen
Papers of David McReynolds
Papers of A.J. Muste
Papers of Tracy Mygatt and Frances Witherspoon

Historical Background
Although the War Resisters League declares its official birthday year as 1923, its roots go back to 1915 when Jessie Wallace Hughan, Tracy D. Mygatt, and John Haynes Holmes founded the Anti-Enlistment League to solidify protest against U.South participation in World War I. Witnessing the establishment of the War Resisters' International in Europe in 1921, and sensing a need for an organization where war resisters of all persuasions, regardless of gender or religious convictions, could join together, Dr. Hughan formed the Committee for Enrollment Against War under the auspices of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. In 1923, that committee together with the Women's Peace Society and the Women's Peace Union established the War Resisters League as an independent organization.

The War Resisters League membership pledge, which has remained essentially unchanged since its inception, reads: "The War Resisters League affirms that war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive non-violently for the removal of all causes of war."

During World War II, War Resisters League especially supported absolutist conscientious objectors who protested any form of military support, including alternative service. In 1948, it helped found the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors to further aid all COs. It has continually lent its resources to the causes of war tax protest, draft resistance, and civil rights.

War Resisters League encouraged civil disobedience against civil defense drills in the early 1960s by sponsoring the Civil Defense Protest Committee. It encouraged tax resistance as the Indochinese conflict escalated, and formed War Tax Resistance in 1969 to protest all taxes that benefited the military. In the 1970s, War Resisters League supported Campaign Freedom and the United Campaign for Peace in Indochina, both efforts to help improve conditions and free political prisoners in Vietnam. It helped focus nationwide attention on nuclear protest and civil liberties by organizing the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice in 1976.

War Resisters League is affiliated with War Resisters' International and the International Peace Bureau. Throughout its existence, it has worked closely with many other peace organizations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the American Friends Service Committee, and the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1958, it helped start the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), which shared its headquarters and finally merged with War Resisters League in 1968.

The League has sought to promote pacifist and nonviolent tactics through various periodicals. In 1956, War Resisters League helped start Liberation, an independent monthly dealing with nuclear testing, civil rights, socialism, and nonviolent direct action. it was discontinued in 1977. WIN, a widely read peace periodical begun by the New York Workshop in Nonviolence, has received War Resisters League support. The League publishes its own bimonthly magazine, War Resisters League News. Its annual Peace Calendar reached annual sales of 20,000 in 1980.

War Resisters League is presently headquartered at 339 Lafayette Street in New York City with one regional office in Norwich, CT. There are or have been three branch offices, located in San Francisco, CA (War Resisters League-West), Austin, TX (War Resisters League South Central), and Chapel Hill, NC (War Resisters League Southeastern), with numerous local War Resisters League groups across the country.

A more complete history of War Resisters League, produced for its 1950th Anniversary, can by found in Series B, Subseries I, History.

Collection Overview
SCPC became the official repository for the War Resisters League in 1947. War Resisters League records in DG 40 included scattered minutes of the Executive Committee (1925- ), the National Committee (1974- ), and a small amount of scattered financial records. There is correspondence from 1926 forward. War Resisters League literature and releases (1931- ) include fund appeals, flyers, pamphlets, brochures, and memoranda. There are also annual Peace Calendars (1956- ). Numerous War Resisters League periodicals (1942- ), including War Resisters League News, can be found in the SCPC stacks. A list of these periodicals is available in Series B, Subseries III.

There are significant amounts of material documenting War Resisters League's work in publishing The Conscientious Objector, a newspaper produced from 1939 to 1946, the work of the Conscientious Objectors Problems Committee (1940-1946), preparation of the annual Peace Calendar, and the work of the Literature Committee (mostly 1960s) which created peace bibliographies. Records about War Resisters League's civilian defense protest project (1955-1963) and its efforts to help political prisoners in Vietnam following the Indochinese War, are significant parts of this collection.

The administrative files of Executive Secretaries Abe Kaufman, Roy Kepler, and Sidney Aberman span the years 1948 to 1953. Other administrative files are those of Executive Secretary Ralph DiGia (1955-1961), Field Secretary David McReynolds (1960-1977), Chairman Ed Gottlieb (1962-1967), staff member Wendy Schwartz (1970-1971), Special Project Secretary Grace Hedemann (1974-1978), and staff member Ed Hedemann.

War Resisters League correspondents include Sidney Aberman, Devere Allen, Allen H. Barr, R. Boland Brooks, H. Runham Brown, Julius Eichel, Harrop Freeman, Edward P. Gottlieb, Kenneth Greenawalt, George W. Hartmann, Alfred Hassler, Grace Hedemann, Ammon A. Hennacy, John Haynes Holmes, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Abraham Kaufman, Roy Kepler, Frieda Langer Lazarus, David McReynolds, Charles Macintosh, A.J. Muste, Tracy D. Mygatt, Frank Olmstead, Frances Rose Ransom, Bayard Rustin, Igal Roodenko, Winifred W. Schaum, Wendy Schwartz, Evan W. Thomas, Olivia Dunbar Torrence, Lydia G. Wentworth, and Frances Witherspoon.

Items removed:
Scrapbook: See Oversize Collection Photographs: See Photograph Collection (4x5, 5x7)
Buttons: See Button Collection
Bumperstickers: See Stamp Collection
Magazines/Newsletters: See Periodicals Collection

Arrangement of Collection
The War Resisters League records held by SCPC are divided into two series: 1) Series A (1923-1949) contains material processed in 1954. Similar records, such as minutes, correspondence, committee files, etc. were placed together, as found in the checklist; and 2) Series B (1948-1989) contains material processed in 1983 and 1995, as well as material that War Resisters League routinely mails to SCPC, its official depository. Most subseries are arranged similarly to those in Series A. The administrative files were left in the order in which they were received. Where a considerable amount of loose material was found, an imposed order was created.

Correspondence in Series A is sorted by individuals, groups, and subjects. In Series B, rather than being placed together, correspondence is left in original folders and is found mostly in the Administrative Files.

Two separate document groups were created from War Resisters League records received in the 1969 and 1979 accessions. One is DG 134, the papers of David McReynolds, Field Secretary for War Resisters League. While some of McReynolds' papers in DG 134 are of a personal nature, there is a significant amount of information pertaining to his work with War Resisters League There is a large file of McReynolds' material in DG 40 as well. The second document group created from the War Resisters League records, DG 135, contains the records of the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice whose principal sponsor was War Resisters League.

Unprocessed World Peace Brigade material mentioned in the 1981 SCPC Guide was moved to DG 1950 (A.J. Muste).

Archived web sites of the War Resisters League

These web sites were created by the national office of the War Resisters League. Beginning in 2001 the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archives (IA) cached War Resisters League's web site. Please check both URLs listed as there are some each may list different dates on which web sites were saved.

The links are provided here for the convenience of researchers interested in the history of War Resisters League's web presence. The Swarthmore College Peace Collection has no control over the web sites or how they are saved by IA.

Dates of web sites marked with an * indicate a change in that site from the last saved web site.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.warresisters.org/
http://wayback.archive-it.org/22March */http://www.warresisters.org/

Detailed Description of the Collection

SERIES A: 1923-1949
[see also Series B, Subseries VII for 1948-1949 Administrative files]

Subseries II. Minutes/Finance
Box 1 (cont.)
Executive Committee meetings, 1925-1937

Box 2
Executive Committee meetings, 1938-1949
Finances, 1929-1949

Subseries III. Releases/Literature/Mailings
Box 3
1925-1940

Box 4
1941-1949

Box 5
Undated
Articles
Literature lists
Book reviews

Box 6
The Conscientious Objector
Meeting minutes, 1942-1943
Correspondence, 1942-1946
Cooperating groups

Box 7
The Conscientious Objector
Manuscripts
Promotion
Finance

Box 8
Form letters, 1943-1945
Cartoons and posters
Miscellaneous

Subseries IV. Events
Box 8 (cont.)
Annual conferences, 1930-1949
Annual dinners, 1937, 1940
Anniversary dinners, 1938, 1949-1949

Subseries V. Branches
Boxes 9 & 10
Chicago (Illinois)
Los Angeles (California)
California East
Washington (D.C.)

Subseries VI. Correspondence
Box 11
With Individuals, 1929-1948
A-Bainton

Box 12
With Individuals, 1929-1948
Baldwin-Cram

Box 13
With Individuals, 1929-1948
D-F

Box 14
With Individuals, 1929-1948
G-Hoffman

Box 15
With Individuals, 1929-1948
Holmes-Land

Box 16
With Individuals, 1929-1948
Lanthrop-Mygatt

Box 17
With Individuals, 1929-1948
N-Paisley

Box 18
With Individuals, 1929-1948
Palmer-S, 1947

Box 19
With Individuals, 1929-1948
S, 1948 - Van Cleve

Box 20
With Individuals, 1929-1948
Verne-Z

Box 21
With groups
A-E

Box 22
With groups
F-M

Box 23
With groups
Na-NSBRO, 1941

Box 24
With groups
NSBRO, 1942 - T

Box 25
With groups
U-Z & miscellaneous

Box 26
By subject
A-Z

Box 27
War Resisters' International

Subseries VII. Committees
Box 28
A-O, 1928-1948

Box 29
P-Z, 1928-1948
C.O. Problems Committee

Box 30
Meeting minutes and reports, 1942-1946
Correspondence
C.O. and prison cases

Box 31
Prisons and C.P.S. camps
Briefs of appeal cases

Box 32
Clipsheets

Box 33
Isley and Price C.P.S. studies, 1942-1943

Box 34
Glendora Strikers Defense Committee, 1946

Subseries VIII. Projects/Field Work
Box 35
Projects, 1931-1948

Box 36
Field work, 1936-1947

SERIES B: 1950-1989

Subseries II. Meeting Minutes/Financial Records
Box 1 (cont.)
Executive Committee meetings, 1950-1959
Executive Committee meetings, 1960-1964
Executive Committee meetings, 1965-1969
Executive Committee meetings, 1970-1972
Executive Committee meetings, 1973
Executive Committee meetings, 1974-1976
Executive Committee meetings, 1950-1952

Box 2
Executive Committee meetings, 1977-1978
Executive Committee meetings, 1979-1980
Executive Committee meetings, 1981-1983
Executive Committee meetings, 1984-1985
Executive Committee meetings, 1986-1987
Executive Committee meetings, 1988

Box 2a
National Committee meetings, 1973-1980
National Committee meetings, 1981-1983
National Committee meetings, 1984-1986
National Committee meetings/ reports/mailings 1986-1988
Steering Committee meetings, 1983-1984
Working Committee meetings, 1984-1988
Miscellaneous meetings
Finances, 1950-1951, 1955, 1966-1988

Subseries III. Releases/Literature/Mailings
Box 3
Releases, 1951-1959
Releases, 1960-1964
Releases, 1965-1967
Releases, 1968-1969
Releases, 1970-1971
Releases, 1972
Releases, 1973

Box 4
Releases, 1974-1975
Releases, 1976
Releases, 1976
Releases, 1977
Releases, 1978-1979
Releases, 1980
Releases, 1981
Releases, 1982
Releases, 1983

Box 5
Releases, 1984
Releases, 1985
Releases, 1986
Releases, 1987
Releases, 1988
Releases, 1989
Releases, undated
Memoranda, 1962-1969
Memoranda, 1970-1976

Box 6
Memoranda, 1977-1981
Memoranda, 1982-1982
Memoranda, undated
List of periodicals by War Resisters League [see also Releases], 1970s
ROTC dismantling kit, 1985
S.P.E.W. newsletter, 1988-1989
Mailings to key list, 1983-1984
Mailings to key list, 1985-1986
Mailings to key list, 1987
Mailings to key list, 1988
Mailings to key list, 1989

Box 7
Peace calendars, 1956-1980

Box 7a
Peace calendars, 1981-1992

Subseries IV. Events
Box 8
Annual conferences
Annual dinners
50th anniversary, 1973
21st Annual Conference, 1950
26th Annual Dinner, 1950 (March 1)
War Resisters League South Central, 1972-1974
War Resisters League South Central, 1975-1977
War Resisters League Southeast, 1974-1976
War Resisters League Southeast, 1977
War Resisters League Southeast, 1978
War Resisters League Southeast, 1979
War Resisters League Southeast, 1980
War Resisters League Southeast, 1981
War Resisters League Southeast, 1982
War Resisters League Southeast, 1983
War Resisters League Southeast, 1984

Subseries V. Branches
Box 8 (cont.)
War Resisters League South Central (Austin, Texas), 1972-1977
War Resisters League Southeast (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), 1974-1984

Box 8a
War Resisters League Southeast, 1985
War Resisters League Southeast, 1986
War Resisters League Southeast, 1987-1988
War Resisters League West (California), 1965
War Resisters League West, 1966-1969
War Resisters League West, 1970-1973
War Resisters League West, 1974
War Resisters League West, 1975
War Resisters League West, 1976
War Resisters League West, 1977
War Resisters League West, 1978
War Resisters League West, 1979
War Resisters League West, 1980
War Resisters League West, 1981
War Resisters League West, 1982
War Resisters League West, 1983
Removal sheets

Box 8b
War Resisters League West, 1984
War Resisters League West, 1985
War Resisters League West, 1986
War Resisters League West, 1987
Finances
Mark Morris: correspondence, 1967-1970
Amnesty for draft resisters
B-1 Bomber Project
Bay Area (California): nonviolent groups
Berkeley (California): radical community

Box 8c
"A Call to Resist": signatories of petition against the draft, 1968 [see also East Bay Committee for Draft Resistance]
Coalition to Cut Military Spending, 1975-1977
Conscientious objection, 1968
Downtown Peace Coalition, 1970-1971
The draft, 1968
Draft boards, 1986
Draft counseling, 1970-1972
Draft, National Coalition to Repeal the..., 1971-1973
Draft Repeal Coalition, 1972-1973
Draft resister Robert Wray, 1969-1971
Draft, resolutions on the..., 1979-1980
East Bay Committee for Draft Resistance, 1968
War Resisters League West: Feminism & Nonviolence Program, 1978-1984
Fest for Truth and Love, 1973
Fresno Shanti Center, 1973

Box 8d
Honeywell Campaign, 1969-1971
Indo-China Peace Campaign, 1972
Institute Mountain West, 1972
Monterey Peace Center, 1971-1972
New England Committee for Nonviolent, 1965
Direct Action
Nine for Peace, 1968
Northern California Mid-East Peace Coalition, 1976
The NOSE, Monterey County WTR, 1975
The Peace Brigade, 1971
Peacebuilders, 1969-1971
Pentagon Papers Project, 1972
Peoples Blockade, 1973
Poor Peoples Campaign, Bay Area, 1967-1968
Port Chicago Vivil, 1968
Quaker Action Group, 1968-1971

Box 8e
Radical Education Project, 1968-1970
Resist, 1968-1969
Sacramento Peace Center, 1971-1976
San Francisco Resistance, 1967-1970
Selective Service, 1967-1970
Syracuse Peace Council
U.C. Nuclear Lab Weapons Conversion Project
Vietnam, 1969-1976
Vietnam Era Veteran National Resource Project, 1974
Vietnam Veterans' movement, 1974
Vietnam Veteran Bonus March, 1974

Box 8f
Provisional Defense Committee: "legal" Bayard Rustin, 1955
Provisional Defense Committee, 1955-1958
Civil Defense Protest Committee, 196_-1963
Meetings, 1960-1961
Releases, 1955-1959
Correspondence, 1956-1961
Court appeals, 1957-1961
Correspondence re: "Against Air Raid Drills," 1963

Box 9
Civilian defense: briefs, 1955-1960
Civilian Defense: statements & reports 1961
Civilian Defense: lists, 1956-1961
Newsclippings, 1961
Student Institute on Non-Violence and Social Change,1960
Scott Herrick/Montcivitano Project, 1978-1979

Subseries VIII. Local Organizing Efforts
Box 29
Organizing correspondence, 1976-1985
Local organizing packets, 1980s
Locals mailings, 1981-1983
Local organizing materials development, 1984
Local organizing questionnaire, 1984

Box 30
Responses to War Resisters League survey, 1977
Local groups: Albuquerque, New Mexico / Southwest region
Local groups: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Local groups: Arcata, California / Northcoast region
Local groups: Atlanta, Georgia
Local groups: Baltimore, Maryland

Box 31
Local groups: Birmingham, Alabama
Local groups: Boston, Massachusetts
Local groups: Boulder, Colorado
Local groups: Central Florida
Local groups: Chicago, Illiniois
Local groups: Columbia, Montana
Local groups: Dallas, Texas
Local groups: Detroit, Michigan
Local groups: Evansville, Indiana
Local groups: Ft. Wayne, Indiana / Citizens for Peace and Social Action, 1981-1983
Local groups: Green Mountain, Vermont, 1984-1985
Local groups: Hyde Park, Vermont / Lamoille Peace Coalition, 1980
Local groups: Isla Vista, California / Thomas Merton Unity Center, 1974

Box 32
Local groups: LaCrosse area
Local groups: Los Angeles, California
Local groups: Madison, Wisconsin
Local groups: Milwaukee, Wisconsin / Center for Peace and Education
Local groups: Monmouth County, New Jersey
Local groups: Morgantown, West Viginia
Local groups: New York, New York
Local groups: Norwich, Conneticut / Northeast region
Local groups: Oak Park, Illinois
Local groups: Plains states / Midwest region

Box 33
Local groups: Pocatello, Idaho
Local groups: Red River Alliance/Peace Network
Local groups: Redwoods, California
Local groups: San Bernardino, California/Inland Empire
Local groups: San Francisco, California/Oakland, California
Local groups: Seattle, Washington, 1973-1974
Local groups: Seattle, Washington, 1975
Local groups: Seattle, Washington, 1976-1979
Local groups: Seattle, Washington, 1980-1984
Local groups: St. Louis, Montana
Local groups: Staten Island, New York
Local groups: Washington, District of Colombia
Local groups: Westchester, New York

Subseries IX. FBI Files on War Resisters League, 1939-1976
Box 34
Air Force Office of Special Investigations, 1948-1980
Army Intelligence & Security Command, 1980
Defense Investigative Service, 1980
Department of Justice, 1980-1981
Immigration & Naturalization Service, 1980
Internal Revenue Service
Naval Investigative Service, 1980-1981
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1976-1981
Post Office Department, 1980
State Department, 1981
FBI investigation of "The Continental Walk for Disarmament & Social Justice", 1976-1978
Research findings of Susan Dion and Maris Cakars re: FBI investigation, 1981
FBI: New York City branch, 1965-1981
FBI-War Resisters League correspondence, 1977-1981
Internal Revenue Service, 1969-1980
FBI Records re: War Resisters League, 1941 (July) - 1942 (March)
Section #1, 1939 (May) - 1941

Box 35
Section #2, 1942 (April) - 1942 (August)
Section #2 cont., 1942 (August) - 1943 (February)
Section #3, 1943 (March) - 1944 (January)
Section #4, 1944 (August) - 1950 (July)
Section #5, 1950 (July) - 1953 (May)
Section #6, 1953 (April) - 1962 (January)
Section #7, 1962 (January) - 1965 (March)

Box 36
Section #7 cont., 1965 (April) - 1965 (May)
Section #8, 1965 (June)-1965 (August)
Section #8 cont., 1965 (September) - 1965 (October)
Section #9, 1965 (January) - 1966 (February)
Section #9 cont., 1966 (February) - 1966 (April)
Section #10, 1966 (April) - 1966 (July)
Section #10 cont., 1966 (July) - 1967 (January)
Section #11, 1968[?] - 1968 (February)

Box 37
Section #12, 1969 (January) - 1970 (February)
Section #13, 1970 (February) - 1971 (August)
Section #14, 1971 (September) - 1971 (January)
Section #14 cont., 1971 - 1972 (February)
Section #15, 1972 (February-May)
Section #16, 1972 (June) - 1973 (March)
Section #17, 1973 (March) - 1976 (October)
Section #18, 1973 (August) - 1976 (March)