The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Collection was donated to Metropolitan State College in July, 1974, by Betty Silver who obtained them from Wilma Nissley. Professor Stephen Leonard, Chairman of the MSC History Department, transferred the Collection to the Auraria Library Special Collections Department in February of 1983.
Property rights to the collection are held by the Auraria Library; literary rights are dedicated to the public. There are no restrictions placed on the use of these materials.
In April of 1915, women delegates from twelve countries attended an International Congress of Women in the Hague and organized the Women's International Committee for Permanent Peace, which became the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1919.
They met while World War I was still raging, determined to bring an end to war, and to establish some form of international structure to maintain peace.
The first chairperson, and principle organizer of the WILPF was Jane Addams, who was to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Another co-founder of WILPF was Emily Green Balch, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Jane Addams died on May 21, 1925, and Mrs. Balch died on January 9, 1961.
The Denver chapter on the WILPF was founded by Anne H. Martin in 1926 (?). She served as its first chairperson. In 1935 Mrs. Henry Reist (Wilma) Nissley, the compiler of this collection, was elected chairperson. In 1939, Mrs. Nissley was elected president of the Colorado WILPF, and was a delegate to a Philadelphia peace conference the same year. Officers were elected on an annual basis.
The Denver WILPF usually met in the homes of members, and, at other times, in more formal meeting areas, such as churches. Most of the participants were well educated, socially prominent persons.
Most of the activities of the Denver WILPF were in the form of speeches and articles, rather than the more activist nature of modern peace movements. One of the early (1936) activities of the WILPF, including the Denver chapter, was the collection of millions of signatures, worldwide (23,000 in Denver), on a petition against war.
Some of the things they worked for were the League of Nations and justice for the American Japanese who were relocated in World War II. Some things they opposed were increased defense spending and the opening of Lowry Missile Base.
Currently, the WILPF has 100 local groups in the United States, including the Denver chapter. They bestow an annual Jane Addams Children's Book Award for the book best promoting the ideals of international friendship and understanding. They also sponsor a committee of educators and parents studying ways to teach peaceful attitudes in social relationships. They maintain a legislative office in Washington, D.C. They publish Peace and freedom (9 times a year), Legislative bulletin (6 times per year), and various pamphlets and leaflets.
The collection consists of two large scrapbooks of materials relating to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), or to peace and disarmament in general, which have been collected over the years by Mrs. Henry Reist (Wilma) Nissley. The span of time covered is from about 1931 to 1965, although there are materials which discuss events before that span of time as well. In general, the material was collected in chronological order.
Some of the contents of the scrapbooks include newspaper articles about prominent WILPF persons and their activities. There were news articles about the 1936 drive to acquire 50,000 signatures against war. There were copies of some leaflets distributed by WILPF over the years. Some leaflets gave information on the history and purposes of WILPF. Weekly meeting announcements that were published in the paper were collected. There were a few black and white photos of prominent local members of WILPF, in which they were sometimes identified. There were a few correspondence samples, such as letters from Congressmen. There were flyers announcing meetings, as well as some that took a stand on issues, such as Refugees as Assets.
There were a few stamps and seals that extolled peace or humanitarianism in some way. There was a list of those who attended the June, 1963, annual meeting of the American WILPF, which took place in Estes Park, Colorado.
The collection also includes a reel to reel tape from April, 1961, bearing a speech on the topic of "Psychological Problems of Disarmament" which is 45 minutes long.
This collection will be of interest to anyone interested in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, its people and its activities. It also has value for those interested in the history of the peace movement in general.
The Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom Collection
Denver, Colorado
Record Collection 18
Preliminary Inventory
2 linear feet
Box Item Description
1 1 Scrapbook - 1931-1956.
1 2 Scrapbook - 1953-1965.
1 3 Magnetic recording tape -
"Psychological Problems of Disarmament," 45
minutes, April, 1961.
2 1 Publicity and Public Relations
- 1965-1970.
SUBJECT TRACINGS
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Jane Addams
Emily Green Balch
Mrs. Henry Reist (Wilma) Nissley