New York Peace Society

New York Peace Society

Records, 1818-1843, 1906-1940
Document Group: DG 026 Provenance: The New York Peace Society and the World Alliance for International Friendship through Religion (after the two organizations merged)

Size: 7.25 linear feet

Restrictions: None

Microfilm: Yes

Finding Aid: Prepared by Peace Collection staff; updated by Wendy E. Chmielewski, Jan. 2005; revised by Anne Yoder, Aug. 2005

This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Historical Introduction

The New York Peace Society, organized by David Low Dodge in the summer of 1815, was the first peace society in the United States. The Society existed in four different stages, beginning in 1815, and lasting until 1940. In 1828, the first New York Peace Society became a branch of the American Peace Society. Subsequent to this merger, a second society was begun in New York City in 1837, lasting until about 1844. This group was active in advocating for arbitration in the dispute of U.S. claims against Mexico. In 1844, a third New York Peace Society was organized, but it soon disbanded (exact dates are unknown). Other forms of a group with the same name existed through the second half of the nineteenth century, one forming a branch of the Universal Peace Union. In 1906, the New York contingent of the Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration initiated reorganization of the NYPS. In February of that year a constitution was adopted and Oscar S. Strauss was elected President. Charles H. Levermore was Secretary of the organization from 1917 until 1924. Andrew Carnegie was one of its foremost supporters. The name was changed, from the Peace Society of the City of New York, to the New York Peace Society, at the time of incorporation in 1910. In Oct. 1940, the New York Peace Society voted to merge with the World Alliance for International Friendship Through Religion, and in November of that same year the World Alliance agreed to the merger. Additional resources on the various incarnations of the NYPS may be found in the records of the American Peace Society and the Universal Peace Union.

ArrangementThe SCPC has treated the various incarnations of the NYPS as one organization in the arranging of the files. The NYPS records from the first half of the twentieth century are the most extensive. Records are arranged into three major sections: the first section contains the nineteenth century material, organized chronologically, and twentieth century administrative records; the second section contains NYPS correspondence from the first half of the twentieth century; the third section of files contains material about various early twentieth century peace congresses and conferences, sponsored or supported by the NYPS.