Title: Red River Valley Peace Workers Records, 1981-1992

ID: OGLMC1202

Primary Creator: Red River Valley Peace Workers (1982-)

Other Creators: Nukewatch

Extent: 1.25 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 02/16/1990. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Cold War, Peace

Languages: English

The Red River Valley Peace Workers Records consist of newsletters and a series of scrapbooks, 1982-1989, containing newspaper clippings, correspondence, programs of events, and photographs. The newsletter "Red River Valley Peace Workers" began with the February/March 1983 issue. Initially it was a bimonthly publication, but by the late 1980s, it was published sporadically. The June 1989 issue contained a plea for donations. The "NDPC North Dakota Peace Coalition" was a quarterly newsletter published by the Red River Valley Peace Workers and the Fargo-Moorhead Peace Workers, two of the sixteen members of the NDPC. It was first published in April 1985. The collection has issues of this newsletter through July 1988.

Newspaper clippings in the scrapbooks are primarily from the Grand Forks Herald and the Dakota Student. They describe activities and opinions of the organization and issues of concern. The correspondence is primarily letters written by Rev. Walter Scott to local, state, and national politicians. Programs of events indicate the organization's planned activities, such as conferences, 4th of July picnics, speakers for meetings, fundraisers, etc. The scrapbooks also contain numerous color photographs of group members at sponsored events and meetings. The majority of the photographs are unlabelled.

The first addition to the Red River Valley Peace Workers Records consists of a scrapbook, 1990-1992, containing bulletins and newspaper clippings. The second addition contains a poster titled "Peace Garden?: A Citizen's Action Guide to the Missile Silos of North Dakota." The poster was sponsored by the North Dakota Peace Coalition, and published by Nukewatch of Madison, Wisconsin. The poster has a copyright date of 1986.

The 1982 UND Peace Conference acted as a catalyst for the creation of the Red River Valley Peace Workers. At this conference several groups became aware of each other's existence and joined together to form the Red River Valley Peace Workers. These groups included: Educators for Social Responsibility, American Medical Students Association, Lawyers Alliance, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the UND Peace Committee. The purpose of the organization was to inform and involve the public in the quest for peace. The organization proposed a National Peace Academy to train people in conflict resolution, which would serve as a peaceful counterpart to the United States Military Academy.

In May 1983, the organization adopted the following goals: (1) create a forum for education, debate and consciousness so that individuals may more effectively work together at the task of assuming responsibility for peace and constructing conditions for peace. (2) Create a sensitivity to, as well as an understanding of global situations that fuel tensions and threaten world peace. (3) Prevent nuclear annihilation, recognizing that the goal is attainable only through a total world nuclear disarmament. (4) Make ourselves fit citizens for a world at peace.

The organization also concerned itself with a variety of national and international issues: aid to Nicaragua and the Contras, El Salvador, the nuclear weapons freeze campaign, MX and cruise missiles, Rail Garrison, Backscatter Radar plan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Nazi Germany and Hitler.

Cold War
Peace

Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections

Accruals: Additional materials were received from Ginny Miller on March 6, 1992 (92-1813) and Betty Gard, UND Chester Fritz Library, on March 16, 1992 (2001-2507)

Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

Acquisition Source: Dr. Rachel Scott, UND College of Nursing

Acquisition Method: Donation; 90-1690

Related Publications:

Map:

Missile silos of North Dakota: Grand Forks. Madison, WI: Nukewatch 1986.

Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Red River Valley Peace Workers Records. OGLMC 1202, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota.

Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid added to Archon in November 2013.