East Lansing Peace Education Center records
Scope and Contents
The Peace Education Center records date from the late 1960's through the 1990's, with the bulk of the materials generated from the Center's work during the 1980's. These materials – reflecting the typical, late-twentieth century means by which advocacy groups and private individuals informed themselves of the most contentious, serious and far-reaching issues of their day, and how they sought to influence others – include newspapers and newspaper clippings, magazines and magazine articles, newsletters, essays, reports from a wide variety of government and non-government organizations, flyers, pamphlets, brochures, conference hand-outs, briefing packets, reading programs, press releases, drafts of legislative bills, books, photographs, slides, film strips, audio tapes, posters, poetry, holiday cards and personal letters. Copies of e-mail correspondence concerning the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 complete the scope of the collection, and are a timely indicator of how computer communication has rapidly transformed the way advocacy groups such as the PEC accomplish their goals of educating and motivating the public. Besides information on issues of the day, the collection also contains PEC's internal records, including financial records, minutes of board meetings, policy records, director's records, and correspondence, all dating from the founding of the Center through the 1990's. There is also a large collection of PEC publicity files, consisting of local newspaper clippings and event flyers documenting the many activities the Center initiated over the years.
Dates
- Creation: approximately 1962-2005
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Access
The material is stored off site. Please contact Special Collections three working days in advance if you wish to use it.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the authors of the items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. For photocopy and duplication requests, please contact the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries.
Biographical / Historical
The East Lansing Peace Education Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting peace and human rights, began under the auspices of the United Ministries in Higher Education (UMHE) at Michigan State University in the early 1970's. At the time, the UMHE, a ministry supported by several Christian churches, was interested in establishing a peace center to maintain and strengthen local peace efforts in the post-Vietnam War/ post-military draft era. The Center first opened in October, 1973, under the direction of Warren Day of the UMHE. Its official name was "The Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution." By 1975, its name had changed to "The East Lansing Peace Education Center," and it soon became independent of the UMHE. Through the years, the Center has supported a variety of task forces, including the Southern Africa Liberation Committee (SALC), Committee for Education on Latin America (CELA), Ingham County Coalition Against Registration and the Draft (I-Card), Middle East Awareness Committee (MEAC) and Mobilization for Survival (MOBE), an anti-nuclear weapons task force. Its members have participated in many local and national demonstrations for peace, and have sponsored numerous public speakers and fundraisers for charity. Its annual activities have included observances for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a Peace and Justice Alternative Holiday Gift Sale, and Commemoration of Tax Day on April 15, to call attention to the diversion of tax dollars to military purposes. Still active today, the Center continues to offer educational events for schools and the general public, draft counseling, curriculum and research consultation, and access to their collection of materials on war and peace, food and hunger, human rights, etc. Its component community groups and task forces continue to address human rights issues of all kinds. The PEC is currently located in East Lansing, Michigan at the Unitarian Universalist Church (www.peaceedcenter.org).
Extent
29 Linear Feet (29 boxes) ; 27 x 14 x 32 cm.
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is organized into 6 parts: 1) U.S. Military and Nuclear Issues; 2) Peace and Justice: International Scope; 3) Peace and Justice within Regions and Countries; 4) PEC records, including Administrative Records, Publicity, Educational Outreach, Resource Materials, and PEC newsletters; 5) Local and National Peace/Advocacy Groups' materials and newsletters; 6) Other peace education materials, including A/V, reading programs, and misc. books.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Records of the Peace Education Center have been transferred in multiple installments since the 1990s.
Varying Form of Title
Peace Education Center archives.
Processing Information
The processing of the Peace Education Center records was made possible, in part, through the Beth Shapiro Endowment Fund. This inventory was completed on June 1, 2006 by Anne-Marie Rachman.
- Title
- Finding Aid for the East Lansing Peace Education Center records
- Status
- 4 Published And Cataloged
- Author
- Finding aid by Anne-Marie Rachman.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections Repository