The Peace Collection was established in the early 1930s when progressive social reformer Jane Addams donated her books and papers, as well as her Nobel Peace Prize (shown here) to Swarthmore College. 

The Peace Collection holds over 2,100 buttons, pins, and ribbons that date from the late 1800s to today, and that cover topics such as peace, civil rights, women's rights, the anti-nuclear movement, education, and many more social justice topics.

Artwork ”A Swimming Pool" by 8-year-old Nobuko Ishiguro of Tokyo, Japan; from Art for World Friendship Records (1946-1969)

Plaque "Jsar-Loge (J.O.O.F.) Der Kinderhilfsmission der Quker, Munchen, Mai 1920" re: Quaker children's relief mission in Germany during the famine there.

There are over 30 letters from Gandhi to British and American peace activists located in the Peace Collections, including this letter to Nobel Laureate Jane Addams. Written by Gandhi in 1931 while he was imprisoned at Yeravda Central Prison, it reads: "Dear Sister, My inner being tells me that spiritual unity can only be attained by resisting with our whole soul the modern false life. Yours sinc’ly, MK GANDHI. Y.C.P."

This logo from Another Mother for Peace, an organization which protested the Vietnam War, is one of the most enduring images of the Vietnam anti-war movement. The AMP records are held by the Peace Collection.

Songs of Free Men [sound recording] [1943]

March Against the Death Penalty, May 12, 1979, in Atlanta. Marchers proceed down Auburn Avenue from the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center toward the State Capitol. This image, by Mike Jendrzejczyk, is included in the records of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest religious peace group in the US.

Seal “At Olympiads and International Sport Meetings Speak Esperanto!” by Pacifist Esperanto League, circa 1920s-1930s.