Call Number:

DG.275

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

3.75 linear ft. (9 boxes)

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item] in the Concepcion Picciotto Papers (DG 275), Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Date:

1936-2016 (inclusive)

Abstract:

Concepcion Picciotto maintained an anti-nuclear protest in Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington (D.C.) from 1981 until her death in 2016 -- which was the longest such vigil in U.S. history.

Concepcion Picciotto, a United States-based peace activist, was born in Vigo, Spain on January 15, 1936. She came to America to work at the Spanish Embassy in New York, where she stayed from October 1965 - June 1973. Believing that the U.S. Constitution embodied the values of peace, justice, and freedom for all, Picciotto became a naturalized citizen on December 29, 1970.

On October 29, 1966, Concepcion Picciotto married a young, wealthy Italian man. However, their marriage was plagued from the start with her husband's relationship with a baroness from Italy. Despite the hardships, Picciotto remained faithful to her husband. When she struggled to have a child, the couple went to Argentina in 1973 to adopt a daughter.

After a long and difficult process, Picciotto returned to the States with her child, only to have her marriage fell apart soon afterwards. She suffered more abuse and mistreatment, both by her family and by those from whom she sought help--including doctors, nuns, and the police. Picciotto managed to escape to Spain for a while, and according to a doctor who examined her there, she showed evidence of being injected with drugs. It was never her will to be parted with her daughter, but Picciotto ultimately lost the custody battle and became estranged from her child.

After being discriminated against and stripped of her bare human rights during her time in America (according to Picciotto), she dedicated her life to protesting the direction that U.S. government was going in terms of war and nuclear weapons. Picciotto met William Thomas on August 12, 1981; together they started the White House Peace Vigil against war and nuclear proliferation. Thomas built Picciotto a tent in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and she lived there the rest of her life. By the end, when Picciotto died in 2016, she had carried out the longest continuous vigil ever to occur in the United States.

[Written by Juhyae Kim, SCPC student worker]

This collection came to the SCPC largely in disorder. A student assistant went through it first to organize it loosely, followed by processing by the Archivist. The files document Concepcion's early life to a small extent, with the bulk going toward documenting her life on vigil in Lafayette Park (by the White House, Washington, D.C.). This includes correspondence, especially letters from her admirers around the world, media coverage by many newspapers and other periodicals, among other material. In addition, there are files of her fellow protestors.