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John McConnell Papers
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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
John McConnell was born in 1915, in Davis City, Iowa. He has been an minister, author, editor, advocate for the environment, and businessman. He organized Meals for Millions in 1962 in San Francisco to feed displaced Hong Kong refugees and organized the Minute for Peace radio broadcast in 1964. In 1968 McConnell designed the Earth Flag, depicting the planet as seen from space. McConnell proposed the idea of Earth Day in 1969 to celebrate a peaceful planet. He also proposed Sea Citizens in 1974, and Earth Trustees in 1995.
The collection contains correspondence and information about Earth Day, 1970-present; correspondence and information about the Earth Flag, 1970-present; correspondence and information about Earth Society Foundation, 1973-present; correspondence and information about Minute for Peace, 1963-1996; general correspondence, 1950-present; Star of Hope correspondence and information, 1957-1964; information about Sea Citizens, Earth Trustees, and World Equality; biographical information, journals, manuscripts, press releases, reference files; financial and tax records, card files.
This collection has not been processed and retains most of the original order imposed by the donor. The first, large, accession was sent to the Peace Collection, and includes boxes 1-58; and a card file. Later accessions are listed in order of acquisition. Audio visual items have been removed from the main body of the McConnell collection and stored in the Audio Visual Collection. Memorabilia has been removed and is stored in the Memorabilia Collection.
The Swarthmore College Peace Collection is the official repository for these papers.
Gift of John and Anna McConnell, 2002-2006 [Accessions: 02A-032; 05A-024; 05A-035; and 06A-010]; Anna McConnell, 2012 (Acc. 2012-071); 2014 (Acc. 2014-039); 2015 (Acc. 2015-034); 2016 (Acc. 2016-090).
Preliminary processing by Wendy E. Chmielewski and SCPC staff, 2002-2006.
Items removed: posters, photographs, seals and stamps.
People
Organization
- Earth Society Foundation
- Earth Trustees (Organization)
- Meals for Millions (Organization)
- Sea Citizens (Organization)
- Star of Hope (Organization)
- World Equality (Organization)
Subject
- Environmentalists -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Earth Day -- History -- Sources
- Environmental protection -- History -- Sources
- Environmental policy -- History -- Sources
- Conservation of natural resources -- History -- Sources
- Environmental protection -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Environmental policy -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Conservation of natural resources -- United States -- History -- Sources
- Human ecology -- History -- Sources
- Publisher
- Swarthmore College Peace Collection
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use. The original and signed Earth Day Proclamation, dated 1970, can only be loaned or copied following specific guidelines. Contact peacecollection@swarthmore.edu for more information.
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All or part of this collection is stored off-site. Contact Swarthmore College Peace Collection staff at peacecollection@swarthmore.edu at least two weeks in advance of visit to request boxes.
- Copyright to the resources created by John McConnell and Anna McConnell has been transferred to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Copyright to all other materials is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
- Use Restrictions
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None.
Collection Inventory
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On index cards.
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