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Guide to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Collection
MS 185
MS 185
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Title: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS 185
Contributing Institution:
San Diego History Center Document Collection
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
5.5 Linear feet
(9 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1922-1985
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of the San Diego branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
from 1925 through its closure in 1991.
creator:
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
This collection is open for research.
The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.
Collection processed by Katrina White on September 6, 2012.
Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous
funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Collection, MS 185, San Diego History Center Document Collection,
San Diego, CA.
Biographical / Historical Notes
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was established as an international peace organization at The
Hague in 1915; the U.S. delegation was led by Jane Addams. The delegates advocated a Society of Nations, universal disarmament,
and the end of World War I through continuous peaceful mediation by a commission of neutral parties. Since its founding, the
WILPF has had as its core motivation: “unit[ing] women in many countries who work by democratic and nonviolent means to remove
the causes of war and to create the conditions in which peace and freedom can flourish.” The WILPF was brought to San Diego
by Helen Marston (who later became Helen Marston Beardsley) in 1924. Helen (b. 1892; d. 1982) was the youngest daughter of
George White Marston, a wealthy San Diego businessman and civic activist. It was during her studies at Wellesley College in
Massachusetts that Helen became interested in political reform. After college, she spent time volunteering and teaching, but
ultimately found that her passion was in politics and the struggle for peace. While in Europe working to alleviate some of
the suffering caused by WWI, she attended the third international congress of WILPF in 1921. She returned to San Diego and
in 1924, started the WILPF San Diego Chapter. Since then the local WILPF has been active in educational programs involving
subjects as diverse as nonviolent resistance and the social structure of China. The main activities of the WILPF have included
sponsoring conferences and ongoing community discussions, peace rallies, correspondence campaigns and educational exhibits.
This collection includes papers related to the San Diego branch of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
throughout its existence from 1925 to 1991. It contains administrative, financial and membership documents as well as correspondence
and ephemera related to WILPF local, national and international events and causes. Items of note include the personal correspondence
of Helen Marston Beardsley and Florence Stevens, an original signed letter by Cesar Chavez, and photographs of Beardsley and
other prominent San Diegans.
Collection is arranged by series:
Series I: WILPF - San Diego Branch Papers
Series II: WILPF - National / International Papers
Series III: WILPF - Sponsored Events
Series IV: U.S.-Soviet Women’s Conference
Series V: Research Resources
Series VI: Florence Stevens Papers
Series VII: Helen Marston Beardsley Papers
Items in each series are arranged by subject.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession numbers 860920A, 890809, 920709.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Addams, Jane, 1860-1935
Arms Control Association (Washington, D.C.).
Balch, Emily
Ballantyne, Edith
Bates, Jim
Beardsley, George Marston
Beardsley, Helen Marston
Beardsley, John
Bishop, Helen
Bishop, Jane
Boehm, Marjorie
Boulding, Elise
Bowring, Ursula
Brown, Edmund G. (Edmund Gerald), 1905-1996
Burgener, Clair W.
Camp, Kay
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Chalmers, Ruth
Chavez, Cesar, 1927-1993
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (San Diego, Calif.).
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation.
Conyers, John, 1929-
Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000
D'Vincent, Donna
Delaney, Patricia
Edwards, Don, 1915-
Filner, Barbara
First Unitarian Church (San Diego, Calif.).
Frank, Libby
General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division.
Guthrie, David W.
Halper, Leah
Hamilton, Alice, 1869-1970
Harper, Frank
Harper, J. C. (Jacob Chandler), 1858-1939
Harper, Liliane
Hasegawa, Marii
Hatcher, Richard G., 1933-
Hatfield, Mark O., 1922-2011
Headley, Harriet
Hoskins, Alice B.
Huerta, Dolores, 1930-
Hunter, Duncan, 1948-
Imutan, Andy
Inouye, Daniel K., 1924-
Johnson, Glenna
Keller, Helen, 1880-1968
Korman, Phyllis
Kraus, Phyllis
Lessner, Milton
Linton, Etta
Livingston, Millie
Lowery, Bill, 1947-
Mandeville, Ernest W. (Ernest Wyckoff), 1896-
McClure, James A.
Midgley, Jane
Mobilization for Peace, Jobs and Justice (Organization).
New Hope Foundation.
Olmstead, Mildred Scott
Pendell, Ann Chalmers
Pendell, Carol
Physicians for Social Responsibility (U.S.).
Plastas, Melinda
Progress for Labor San Diego.
Reagan, Ronald
Reynolds, Barbara (Barbara Leonard)
Reynolds, Jessica
Rhoads, Anne
Rider, Pam
Schroeder, Pat
Scripps, Ellen Browning, 1836-1932
Seagall, Edith
Seneca Army Depot.
Sevigny, Therese P.
Shapiro, Sylvia
Sills, Joe
Simmons, Robert (Bob)
Somerville, Rose M. (Rose Maurer), 1908-
Steffens, Dorothy R.
Steinmetz, Doris
Steinmetz, Harry
Stevens, Florence
Stevens, Robert
Sturdivant
Taller, Dolores S.
United Nations Association.
United States Institute of Peace.
Vogel, Robert
Walshok, Mary Lindenstein
Whitney, Norman J. (Norman Jehiel), 1891-1967
Wickler, Beth
Women's History Reclamation Project.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Arms control
Nuclear weapons
San Diego (Calif.)
Soviet Union
Women -- Societies and clubs
Women political activists