Greenfield Peace Center Records
Formed in 1963, the Greenfield Peace Center viewed itself as an educational organization teaching about and advocating for world peace. Their activities included organizing peace marches, warning against the dangers of nuclear war, conducting teach-ins, campaigning against war toys, and counseling on the alternatives to the draft.
Correspondence, administrative documents, and news clippings relating to peace activism centered in Greenfield, Massachusetts and in the upper Pioneer Valley, especially by the Greenfield Community Peace Center, William Hefner, and Turn Toward Peace.
Background on Greenfield (Mass.) Peace Center
An educational organization that taught about and advocated for world peace, the Greenfield Peace Center was founded in 1963, in part by William K. Hefner, a radical pacifist who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the 1st Massachusetts district three times from 1960 to 1964. Seeking to educate the community about peace-related issues both global and local, the group was active in Greenfield and throughout the Pioneer Valley into the early 1970s, organizing peace marches, warning against the dangers of nuclear war, conducting teach-ins, campaigning against war toys, and counseling on alternatives to the draft. Collaboration with other peace-centered organizations, like Turn Toward Peace, the Franklin County League for Political Action, and Political Action for Peace (PAX), was a regular part of the the Greenfield Peace Center’s work in promoting and advocating for a more peaceful foreign policy for the United States.
Scope of collection
The Greenfield Peace Center Records contain correspondence and administrative documents relating to peace activism centered in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and in the upper Pioneer Valley, especially by the Peace Center, William Hefner, and Turn Toward Peace. The collection also contains a large number of news clippings and letters to the editor from the Greenfield Recorder-Gazette relating to peace advocacy in the area and including some dissenting voices. A small grouping of academic anti-war articles are also included.
Inventory
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Provenance
From Irmarie Jones, 1986.
Processing Information
Processed by Nathan Giacalone, 2018.
Related Material
See also:
Language:
English
Copyright and Use (More information )
Cite as: Greenfield Peace Center Records (MS
121). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts
Amherst Libraries.
Search terms
Subjects
- Peace movements–Massachusetts
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975–Protest movements–Massachusetts
Contributors
- Greenfield (Mass.) Peace
Center [main entry] - Hefner, William K.
Genres and formats
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Letters to the editor