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Civil Defense Protest Committee Collected Records

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Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore 19081-1399

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Original name: Provisional Defense Committee, 1955-1959; changed name to Civil Defense Protest Committee, 1960; began operation ca. 1955; headquartered in New York, N.Y.; consisted of pacifists who refused to obey civil defense alerts, arguing that civil defense "created the illusion that the nation can devote its major resources to preparation for war and at the same time shield people from war's effects"; many members were arrested in demonstrations; members/defendants included: Judith Malina Beck, Dorothy Day, Ralph DiGia, Ammon Hennacy, A.J. Muste, James Peck, Orlie Pell, and Bayard Rustin.

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is not the official repository for the records of the Civil Defense Protest Committee or the Provisional Defense Committee.

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research without restrictions.

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