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87-M111

Committee on the Cause and Cure of War. Records, 1923-1948: A Finding Aid

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

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Radcliffe College
November 1990

© 1990 Radcliffe College

Descriptive Summary

Call No.: 87-M111
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: Committee on the Cause and Cure of War
Title: Records, 1923-1948
Quantity: 21 cartons, 1 file box
Abstract: Correspondence, minutes, financial records, etc., of the Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, a peace and disarmament organization.

Processing Information:

Preliminary inventory: November 1990
By: Jessica Gill

Acquisition Information:

Accession number: 87-M111
The records of the Committee on the Cause and Cure of War were given to the Schlesinger Library by Esther Hymer in August 1987.

Preferred citation for publication:

Committee on the Cause and Cure of War Records, 1923-1948; item description, dates. 87-M111, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

HISTORY

In 1924 Carrie Chapman Catt convinced nine of the leading national U.S. women's oganizations of the need for a conference on the cause and cure of war. The Committee on the Cause and Cure of War was founded at a meeting in Washington in 1925. CCC served as chair until 1932, and as honorary chair thereafter.
The CCCW was composed of organizations of educated women who attempted to understand the causes of war, rather than protest against it. They wrote letters to members of Congress, gave lectures, and organized petitions and study groups known as "Round Tables." In 1940, the CCCW changed its name to the Women's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace, which after World War II became the Committee on Education for Lasting Peace. Its "General Information" sheet stated that the "problem of the peace movement is less to overcome outspoken and convinced opposition than to arouse inert masses of people to a sense of responsibility for the elimination of war."
The original CCCW was composed of the following women's organizations: American Association of University Women, Council of Women for Home Missions, Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions, General Federation of Women's Clubs, National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association, National Council of Jewish Women, National League of Women Voters, National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the National Women's Trade Union League. In 1940 the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and the National Women's Conference of the American Ethical Union became members.
Upon the dissolution of the CCCW, CCC put its records in the care of Esther Hymer, the youngest member. EH kept the records in storage until she moved to a large house in Shrewsbury, N.J., where she kept them until she gave them to the Schlesinger Library.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection consists of speeches, correspondence, conference minutes and notes, reports, endorsements, resolutions, bulletins, pamphlets, financial reports, press releases, book lists, notes on "Marathon Round Tables," and clippings on war, peace, disarmament, and public opinion and propaganda relating to these themes.
Folders are listed more or less in the order in which they were removed from files at the donor's house by Schlesinger Library staff. Many folder tabs had broken off; headings supplied by the processor for these folders are in brackets. The meaning of the word "transfer," which appears in many folder headings, is unclear.

CONTAINER LIST

Please refer to the Inventory.

INVENTORY

Additional catalog entries

American Association of University Women
Carter, Alice Draper, 1883-1970
Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947
Council of Women for Home Missions
Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions of North America
Foreign Missions Conference of North America. Committee on Women's Work
General Federation of Women's Clubs
Hymer, Esther
International Refugee Organization
League of Nations
National Committee of Church Women
National Council of Jewish Women
National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs
National League of Women Voters (U.S.)
National Women's Trade Union League of America
Permanent Court of International Justice
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Women's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace, Inc.
Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A.
Monroe doctrine
Peace movements-United States
United States--Foreign relations-20th century
Women and peace
World War, 1939-1945-Women

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