Call Number:

DG.224

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

15.6 linear ft. ((37 boxes))

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Charles Chatfield Papers (DG 224), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Date:

1958-2006 (bulk)

Creator:

Chatfield, Charles, 1934-2015, Abrams, Irwin, 1914-2010, DeBenedetti, Charles, Fierzová, Olga, 1900-1990, Goss-Mayr, Hildegard, Goss-Mayr, Jean, Heisler, Mary-Kaye, Ili︠u︡khina, R. M. (Ruzanna Mikhaĭlovna), Van den Dungen, Peter, and Wittner, Lawrence S.

Abstract:

Charles E. Chatfield was professor of history at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio), from 1961-1999. Chatfield was an authority on peace history and international affairs, and has written or edited numerous books and articles on peace and antiwar movements, including Peace/MIR a collaborative effort between U.S. and Soviet academics. Chatfield taught courses at Wittenberg that focused on historical methodology and on U.S. progressive, urban and diplomatic history. He also directed the institution's International Education program and organized and directed the "Global Issues and World Churches" study abroad program. Chatfield was a founder of the Peace History Society (formerly the Council on Peace Research in History), and has been especially influential in creating ties between U.S., European, and Soviet historians of peace and international relations. Charles Chatfield died on January 15, 2015.

Charles E. Chatfield was professor of history at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio), from 1961-1999. Chatfield was an authority on peace history and international affairs. He has written or edited numerous books and articles on peace and antiwar movements. Chatfield was one of the editors of the Garland Library of War and Peace, a monumental series of over 320 volumes of classic works of peace history. Chatfield taught courses at Wittenberg that focused on historical methodology and on U.S. progressive, urban and diplomatic history. He also directed the institution's International Education program, and organized and directed the "Global Issues and World Churches" study abroad program. Chatfield was a founder of the Peace History Society (formerly the Council on Peace Research in History) and has been especially influential in creating ties between U.S., European, and Soviet academics of peace and international relations. His book Peace/Mir: An Anthology of Historic Alternatives to War (co-edited with Ruzanna Ilukhina and also published in a Russian language edition) was a result of this dedication to international academic collaboration. Charles Chatfield died on January 15, 2015.

The Papers of Charles Chatfield contain his professional papers from a lifetime in academia. The collection includes correspondence with personal friends and professional colleagues in the United States, Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union. There is also a small amount of correspondence with peace activists of the second half of the twentieth century. In addition there are files from Chatfield's many writing and professional projects, such as the books and articles he wrote or edited, his research projects, or the conferences he organized or attended. This section of the collection includes a great deal of correspondence concerning these various projects. A third section of the collection contains material that Chatfield collected about peace topics primarily in the United States and Europe, and the writings by colleagues in the field of peace history. There is a small amount of correspondence in this series from peace historians asking for Chatfield's review or opinion of their work.

There is information on the following organizations in this collection: The World Without War Council's historian's project; the Conference on Peace Research in History and the Peace History Society; the American Historical Association; the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America; the Studies in Peace and Conflict History series from the Syracuse University Press; and the study of Transnational Social Movement Organizations.

Among the many correspondents included in this collection are: Irwin Abrams; Charles DeBenedetti; Olga Fierz; Jean and Hildegard Goss-Mayr; Mary-Kaye Heisler; Peter van den Dungen; and Lawrence Wittner.

The Charles Chatfield Papers have been kept in the general order in which they were donated to the Peace Collection. Most of the folders were labeled by the donor and these have been retained. The files have been divided into three series for ease of use: Series A: Biographical Material and Correspondence; Series B: Writings, Notes, and Projects; and Series C: Subject File.

Series A contains one folder of biographical material. The rest of Series A contains correspondence organized alphabetically by last name of the correspondent. Most of this correspondence was already organized in this manner by the donor. Additional correspondence from many of the people listed in this series appears in Series B and sometimes Series C.

Series B contains a wide variety of material concerning Charles Chatfield's research, writing projects, some teaching materials, and professional projects in the field of peace history. The first section includes Chatfield's notes on various areas of his research interests. This material has been arranged alphabetically by subject. The second section in Series B contains Chatfield's notes, writings, and files on various projects, arranged in a loose chronological order. Because Charles Chatfield often works on several projects at one time, a strict chronological order has been difficult to maintain. Efforts have been made to keep together files on a project in a particular time period. Chatfield's extensive files on the Peace/MIR project, dated 1987-1997, were kept together in boxes 6 and 7 and placed out of chronological order at the end of the series. Correspondence with colleagues about all the writings and projects appears in most of the folders in this series.

The first three boxes in Series C contain pamphlets organized by country of publication. The second part of Series C contains reference material on peace history or published and unpublished work, usually articles or conference papers, from Charles Chatfield's colleagues. These files are organized alphabetically by subject or last name of colleague. Explanatory correspondence sometimes accompanies these items. For the most part these scholarly articles and papers were not utilized by Chatfield in the works he edited for publication or the conferences he organized. The writings published by Chatfield may be found in Series B.