Call Number:

DG.044

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

11.25 linear ft. (11.25 linear ft.)

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], in the Women's Peace Union Records (DG 044), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Date:

1921-1940 (inclusive)

Creator:

Babcock, Caroline L. (Caroline Lexow), 1882-, Black, Elizabeth, Byrns, Elinor, Frazier, Lynn J. (Lynn Joseph), 1874-1947, Hertzka, Yella, 1873-1948, Heymann, Lida Gustava, 1868-1943, Hughan, Jessie Wallace, 1875-1955, Lazarus, Frieda Langer, Lloyd, Lola Maverick, 1875-1944, Mygatt, Tracy D. (Tracy Dickinson), 1885-1973, Schwimmer, Rosika, 1877-1948, Wentworth, Lydia G., 1858-, Winsor, Mary, 1869-1956, Witherspoon, Frances, 1886-1973, and Women's Peace Union. U.S. Branch

Abstract:

The Women's Peace Union was founded in August 1921 to encourage the formation of a peace group to encompass all the women of the western hemisphere, to work for complete disarmament and the abolition of all constitutional and legal sanctions for war. Records in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection are those of the United States branch.

The Women's Peace Union was founded in 1921 at a meeting of American and Canadian women in Niagara Falls. The Women's Peace Union for the Western Hemisphere that resulted from this conference had branches in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other Latin American countries. Each group worked for complete disarmament and for the abolition of legal sanction for war. The Women's Peace Union ascribed to a pledge that advocated noncooperation with any war effort. To this end, in 1926, the members of the U.S. section of the WPU drafted an amendment that would make the waging of war unconstitutional. The WPU gained the support of Senator Lynn J. Frazier of North Dakota, who introduced the amendment in every session of Congress from 1927 until 1940. Of the many women who worked in the WPU Caroline Lexow Babcock was especially active in the early Congressional lobbying campaigns. Tracy D. Mygatt, another absolute pacifist, worked with the WPU from its inception and was instrumental in representing the organizations work against conscription from 1939 to 1940.

The records of the Women's Peace Union in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection are those of the U.S. Branch. Correspondence makes up a large part of the collection. There are also minutes from meetings, reports, form letters, WPU literature, information on the history of the Women's Peace Union, petitions, and material on the Frazier amendment. Correspondents and others in the collection include Jane Addams, Caroline Lexow Babcock, Elizabeth Black, Katherine Devereux Blake, Elinor Byrns, Lynn J. Frazier, Yella Hertzka, Lida Gustava Heymann, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Frieda L. Lazarus, Lola Maverick Lloyd, Tracy D. Mygatt, Rosika Schwimmer, Lydia G. Wentworth, Mary E. Winsor, and Frances M. Witherspoon.