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International Peace Bureau 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

The International Peace Bureau (IPB) evolved from proposals for an international clearinghouse put forth at the Third International Peace Congress, held in Rome in 1891. The organization had its first headquarters in Bern, but later moved to Geneva, Switzerland. Elie Ducommon, Henri La Fontaine and Albert Gobat, all winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, served as officers of the IPB during its formative years. An affiliate office was established in 1894 in Washington, D.C., where Belva Lockwood was active as one of the early members of its international governing board. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the IPB in 1910 for its efforts in promoting the establishment of the League of Nations and for spreading the message of peace to the general public. Among its many distinguished leaders over the years was the Irish Nobel Laureate Sean MacBride. Through the years, the IPB has served as a record office, library, and agenda committee for major world peace congresses, among its other work. In 1963, it was taken over by the International Liaison Committee of Organizations for Peace, the operative agency for the World Union of Peace Organisations, though it still retained the name of International Peace Bureau.

Today the IPB is the "world's oldest and most comprehensive peace network. With 18 international and 150 national / local member organizations (and 20 individuals) in 49 countries, it brings together people working for peace in many different sectors: not only pacifists but also women's, youth, labor, religious, political and professional bodies. Its role is that of supporting peace and disarmament initiatives taken by the United Nations, launching collective projects, and informing and servicing grassroots peace campaigns. It has had United Nations Consultative Status as an NGO since 1977, and has been active in the Special NGO Committee for Disarmament since 1972."

The IPB is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

For more information, see the IPB's website at http://ipb.org/i/index.html.

Much of this collection consists of material from the international peace conferences that the IPB has held, beginning in 1889, as well as other conferences. Included also is general material that documents the organization's peace efforts over the past century and more.

Guide to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 2nd ed., p. 35.

Gift of various donors and through mailings.

Checklist prepared by Anne Yoder, June 1998; added to March 2008 and March 2011.

Photos from the 25th and 26th Universal Peace Congresses were removed to the Photograph Collection. Serials were removed to the Periodical Collection ["Correspondance bi-mensuelle," Sept. 1896, Jan. 1897 - Dec. 1911; "Le Mouvement Pacifiste," Jan. 1912 - Jan./Feb. 1940; "The Peace Movement," 1912-1914; "Peace Information Bulletin," April 1963 - Oct. 1964].

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.
Box 1
Program work / material, 1892-1929.
Box 1
Program work / material, 1930-1939.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

includes annual reports (in French)

General Assembly of Peace Societies, Lucerne, Switzerland, September 1938.
Box 2
Program work / material, 1940-1949.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

includes annual reports for 1943-1944 (in French)

2nd International Congress of Peace Workers, Geneva, Switzerland, September 1-9, 1949.
Box 2
Program work / material, 1952-1954.
Box 2
Program work / material, 1963-1964.
Box 2
General Assembly, Sormarka, Norway, August 28, 1964.
Box 2
Program work / material, 1965-1969.
Box 2
International Conference "Requirements for a World at Peace," Jogny-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, August 30 - September 3, 1965.
Box 2
Program work / material, 1970-1974, 1978, 1981.
Box 2
Program work / material [includes annual reports for 1993-1994], 1990-1999.
Box 3
Booklet "Peace Is Possible" re: International Peace Conference at the Hague, May 1999.
Box 3
Program work / material, 2000-2009.
Box 3
Booklet "Farewell to Bombs: Disarmament Briefings", June 2004.
Box 3
Booklet "Ware or Welfare: Disarmament for Development in the 21st Century", 2006.
Box 3
Program work / material, 2010-2019.
Box 3
Program work / material, 2020-current.
Box 3
"Opportunity Costs: Military Spending and the U.N.'s Development Agenda", November 2012.
Box 4
Paper by Tamara Lorincz "Demilitarization for Deep Decarbination...", undated.
Box 4
Centenary Exhibition, 1992.
Box 4
Program work / material, undated.
Box 4
1st Universal Peace Congress, Paris, France [includes "Bulletin du 1er Congres Universel de la Paix"], June 23-27, 1889.
Box 4
2nd Universal Peace Congress, London, England, July 14-19, 1890.
Box 4
3rd Universal Peace Congress, Rome, Italy, November 11-16, 1891.
Box 4
4th Universal Peace Congress, Berne, Switzerland, August 22-27, 1892.
Box 4
5th Universal Peace Congress, Chicago, Illinois, USA, August 14-20, 1893.
Box 4
6th Universal Peace Congress, Antwerp, Belgium [includes "Bulletin du VIme Congres de la Paix"], August 29 - September 01, 1894.
Box 4
7th Universal Peace Congress, Budapest, Hungary, September 17-22, 1896.
Box 5
8th Universal Peace Congress, Hamburg, Germany, August 12-16, 1897.
Box 5
9th Universal Peace Congress, Paris, France, September 30 - October 5, 1900.
Box 5
10th Universal Peace Congress, Glasgow, Scotland, September 10-13, 1901.
Box 5
11th Universal Peace Congress, Monaco [includes "Bulletin du XIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], April 2-6, 1902.
Box 6
12th Universal Peace Congress, Rouen, France [includes "Bulletin du XIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 22-27, 1903.
Box 6
13th Universal Peace Congress, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [see book collection for congress report], October 3-7, 1904.
Box 6
14th Universal Peace Congress, Lucerne, Switzerland [includes "Bulletin du XIVe Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 19-23, 1905.
Box 6
15th Universal Peace Congress, Milan, Italy [includes "Bulletin du XVme Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 15-22, 1906.
Box 6
16th Universel Peace Congress, Munich, Germany [includes "Bulletin du XIVe Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 9-14, 1907.
Box 6
17th Universal Peace Congress, London, England [See book collection for congress report], July 27 - August 1, 1908.
Box 6
18th Universal Peace Congress, Stockholm, Sweden [See box 7 for congress report], August 1-5, 1910.
Box 6
18th Universal Congress ("XVIIIe Congres Universel de la Paix") Report and "19th Universal Congress Report", 1910, 1912.
Box 7
19th Universal Peace Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, September 22-28, 1912.
Box 7
20th Universal Peace Congress, The Hague, Netherlands [includes congress report "XXieme Congres Universel de la Paix"], August 18-23, 1913.
Box 7
21st Universal Peace Congress, Luxembourg, Belgium [includes "Bulletin Officiel du XXIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], August 10-13, 1921.
Box 7
22nd Universal Peace Congress, London, England, July 25-29, 1922.
Box 7
23rd Universal Peace Congress, Berlin, Germany [includes "Bulletin Officiel du XXIIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], October 2-8, 1924.
Box 7
24th Universal Peace Congress, Paris, France [includes congress report Le "XXIVe Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 1-6, 1925.
Box 7
25th Universal Peace Congress, Geneva, Switzerland [includes "Bulletin Officiel du XXVe Congres Universel de la Paix"], August 28 - September 3, 1926.
Box 8
26th Universal Peace Congress, Warsaw, Poland [includes "Bulletin Officiel du XXVIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], June 25-29, 1928.
Box 8
27th Universal Peace Congress, Athens, Greece [includes congress report "XVIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], October 6-10, 1929.
Box 8
28th Universal Peace Congress, Brussels, Belgium [includes congress report "XXVIIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], July 5-10, 1931.
Box 8
29th Universal Peace Congress, Vienna, Austria, September 4-9, 1932.
Box 8
30th Universal Peace Congress, Locarno, Switzerland [includes congress report "XXXe Congres Universel de la Paix"], September 1-6, 1934.
Box 8
31st Universal Peace Congress, Cardiff, Wales, June 13-19, 1936.
Box 9
32nd Universal Peace Congress, Paris, France includes congress report "XXXIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], August 24-29, 1937.
Box 9
33rd Universal Peace Congress, Zurich, Switzerland [includes congress report "XXXIIIe Congres Universel de la Paix"], August 21-27, 1939.
Box 9
Yearbooks, 1910, 1913, 1924.
Box 9
Newsletter "Geneva Monitor Disarmament", 1987-1988.
Box 9
Scope and Contents

2 issues

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