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National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War 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

Call Number:
CDG-A.National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War
Repository:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Extent:
2.08 linear ft. (25 linear in.)
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item], in the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War Collected Records (CDG-A), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.
Date:
1924-1943 (inclusive)
Creator:
National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (U.S.) and Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947
Abstract:
Representatives of nine national women's organizations united to accomplish two goals: to lobby for the United States to join the World Court, and to hold a conference together. They chose Carrie Chapman Catt to be their leader.

Representatives of nine national women's organizations united to accomplish two goals: to lobby for the United States to join the World Court, and to hold a conference together. They chose Carrie Chapman Catt to be their leader, and they called their coalition the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (NCCCW).

The first Conference on the Cause and Cure of War took place in Washington, D.C. in January 1925. It was so successful that conferences thereafter were held annually until 1941, when the 16th was canceled due to lack of funds.

The National Committee itself was appointed as a "continuing committee" after the first conference, and was composed of Catt as chair, the presidents of the member organizations, and the chairs of their committees on peace or international relations. Later, other officers, elected by delegates at the conferences, were added. Though none of the member organizations was pacifist, they were all interested in promoting peace and international cooperation. In time, the Committee was composed of eleven organizations and claimed to represent five million American women. The NCCCW was supported financially by grants from its member organizations and individual contributions.

The NCCCW emphasized education. Besides its annual conferences, probably its most significant program was its "Marathon Round Tables," which represented a network of guided local study groups. Its stated goals were 1) "to learn how to discuss"; 2) "to find the best way for public opinion to function"; and 3) "to search for a bolder and faster moving program for the abolition of war." Each year a new set of questions on peace and international relations was posited and information for study on the questions was provided. The program was active from 1927 to 1939.

The member organizations of the NCCCW were: the American Association of University Women, Council of Women for Home Missions, Federation of Woman's Boards for Foreign Missions of North America, General Federation of Women's Clubs, National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations, National Council of Jewish Women, National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, National League of Women Voters, National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, National Women's Trade Union League, and the National Women's Conference of American Ethical Union. The national office of the NCCCW was located at 1116 Grand Central Terminal Building, 100 East 45th Street, New York, New York.

Enthusiasm for the NCCCW waned during the second world war and it essentially became defunct; in 1943 it was resurrected into the Women's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace (which name later became the Committee on Education for Lasting Peace).

The NCCCW Collection consists of general information about and by the Committee; correspondence (including a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt); material from the 1925-1940 annual conferences and the Marathon Round Tables program; papers of Dr. Emily Hickman; and the serial publication "The Bulletin." It also includes biographical information about Carrie Chapman Catt, and a small amount of her writings.

See also the Laura Puffer Morgan Collection (CDG-A), the Women's Action Committee [for Victory and Lasting Peace] Collection (CDG-A), the Committee on Education for Lasting Peace Collection (CDG-A), and the Hannah Clothier Hull Collection (DG 016).

The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is not the official repository for this collection of records.

Unknown until acc. 2012-021 and acc. 2014-061.

For the catalog record for this collection, and to find materials on similar topics, search the library's online catalog

Processed by SCPC staff. Checklist revised by Anne M. Yoder, Archivist, December 1997.

Delegate ribbons removed to the Button/Pin/Ribbon Collection; photo of the New Jersey State Conference on the NCCCW, 1928 removed to the Oversize Photograph Collection

People
Organization
Subject

Publisher
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Access Restrictions

None.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Use Restrictions

None.

Collection Inventory

General information.
Box 1
Biographical information on Carrie Chapman Catt.
Box 1
Forward to "The Horror of It: Camera Records of War's Gruesome Glories" by Frederick A. Barber (Historical Foundations, New York, NY), 1932.
Box 1
Speech "Who Can Answer" given at 44th Congress of American Industry, 1939 (December 8).
Box 1
Speech "Then...And Now" given at the celebration of her 80th birthday, 1939 (January 9).
Box 1
Periodical "The Woman Citizen" 5:40, 1921 (March 5).
Box 1
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1927-1936, 1938.
Box 1
Correspondence of Laura Puffer Morgan, 1936-1938.
Box 1
First Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General Information, 1925 (January 18-24).
Box 1
First Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1925 (January 18-24).
Box 1
First Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1925 (January 18-24).
Box 1
First Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??), 1925 (January 18-24).
Box 1
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1926 (December 5-10).
Box 1
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1926 (December 5-10).
Box 1
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1926 (December 5-10).
Box 1
Second Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??), 1926 (December 5-10).
Box 2
Third Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1928 (January 15-19).
Box 2
Third Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1928 (January 15-19).
Box 2
Third Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1928 (January 15-19).
Box 2
Third Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Scrapbook of notes re: sessions and newsclippings (by ??), 1928 (January 15-19).
Box 2
Fourth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1929 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Fourth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1929 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Fourth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1929 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Fifth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1930 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Fifth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1930 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Fifth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1930 (January 14-17).
Box 2
Sixth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1931 (January 19-22).
Box 2
Sixth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1931 (January 19-22).
Box 2
Sixth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1931 (January 19-22).
Box 2
Seventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1932 (January 18-21).
Box 2
Seventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1932 (January 18-21).
Box 3
Seventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1932 (January 18-21).
Box 3
Eighth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1933 (January 17-20).
Box 3
Eighth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Final Report, 1933 (January 17-20).
Box 3
Eighth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclippings, 1933 (January 17-20).
Box 3
Ninth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings, 1934 (January 16-19).
Box 3
Tenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information, 1935 (January 22-25).
Box 3
Eleventh Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings; includes notes by Hannah Clothier Hull, 1936 (January 21-24).
Box 3
Twelfth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings, 1937 (January 26-29).
Box 3
Thirteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings, 1938 (January 18-21).
Box 3
Fourteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings, 1939 (January 21-25).
Box 3
Fifteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: General information and newsclippings, 1940 (January 22-25).
Box 3
Sixteenth Conference on the Cause and Cure of War: Newsclipping "Cause and Cure of War Meeting Canceled Through Lack of Funds," New York Times, 1941 [canceled], November 10, 1940.
Box 3
Conference material, undated.
Box 3
Conferences of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1928-1937.
Box 3
Marathon Round Tables program, 1927-1939, undated.
Box 4
Periodical "The Bulletin" 1:1-3, 1931 (December) - 1932 (December).
Box 4
Papers of Dr. Emily Hickman on history of NCCCW and survey re: NCCCW.
Box 4

Chicago, Illinois chapter of the NCCCW, 1934-1937.
Box 4

Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1933-1936.
Box 5
Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1937.
Box 5
Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1938.
Box 5
Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1939.
Box 5
Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1940.
Box 5
Meeting minutes, finance reports, etc., 1941-1943.
Box 5
National Defense Study Commission: Correspondence, 1936-1940.
Box 5
National Defense Study Commission: Study outlines, etc., circa 1936-1940.
Box 5

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