"Founded in 1915, the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) is the oldest women's peace organization in the world. It is a non-profit non-governmental organization working 'to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make known the causes of war and work for a permanent peace' and to unite women worldwide who oppose oppression and exploitation. WILPF has National Sections in 37 countries. WILPF is headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland) and maintains a United Nations Office in New York City (USA)... Two WILPF leaders have received the Nobel Peace Prize for their peace efforts and international outlook and work with WILPF: Jane Addams in 1931 and Emily Greene Balch in 1946."
Click here for the WILFP website. | Click here for Wikipedia history of the WILPF. | Click here for WILPF records at Swarthmore College Peace Collection. | Click here for WILPF photos at Swarthmore College Peace Collection. | Click here for international peace conferences. |
Click here for an overview of women and peace.
Right click image to enlarge.
 | C
O
N
F |   January 10, 1915 - Women's meeting, New Willard Hotel, Washington, DC (USA). The forerunner to WILPF, the Woman's Peace Party (WPP) was formed at a meeting called by Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt. The approximately 3,000 women attendees approved a platform calling for the extension of suffrage to women and for a conference of neutral countries to offer continuous mediation as a way of ending war. WPP sent representatives to the International Women's Congress for Peace & Freedom in The Hague, April 28-30, 1915. (Image is not necessarily from the meeting in January 1915.)
|
| C
O
N
F
E
R
E
N
C
E |  April 28-30, 1915 -
International Women's Conference for Peace & Freedom, The Hague (Netherlands). Where held in The Hague? Until May 5? "Convenes on this day with more than 1,200 delegates from Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Poland, Belgium, the USA, and five other countries. Dedicated to the cause of peace and a resolution of the Great War. Often referred to as the Women's Peace Congress. Resulted from an invitation by a Dutch women's suffrage organization, led by Aletta Jacobs [1853-1929], to women s rights activists around the world, on the basis of the belief that a peaceful international assemblage of women would 'have its moral effect upon the belligerent countries' (as Jacobs put it during her opening address)."
"International Women's Congress for Peace and Freedom, held in The Hague from April 28 to April 30, 1915. The Congress was organized by the German feminist Anita Augspurg (1857-1943), Germany's first female jurist, and Lida Gustava Heymann (1868-1943) at the invitation of the Dutch pacifist, feminist and suffragist Aletta Jacobs to protest against the war then raging in Europe, and to suggest ways to prevent war in the future. The Congress, attended by 1,136 participants from both neutral and belligerent nations, adopted much of the platform of WPP and established an International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP) with Jane Addams as president."
Lower image shows US delegation, including Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch [1867-1961], and Alice Hamilton [1969-1970]. Click here to identify everyone.
|
January 1916 - First Annual Meeting, Woman's Peace Party (WPP). Voted to become the US Section of the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP).
 | C
O
N
F |
 May 12-17, 1919 - 2nd International WILPF Congress, Zurich (Switzerland). "Because the French government refused permission to the German women delegates, the women's conference was held in Zurich." "ICWPP denounced the final terms of the peace treaty ending World War I as a scheme of revenge of the victors over the vanquished that would sow the seeds of another world war. They decided to make their committee permanent and renamed it the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). The WILPF moved its headquarters to Geneva to be near the proposed site of the League of Nations, although WILPF did not endorse empowering that organization to conduct food blockades or to use military pressure to enforce its resolutions." Right image is US delegation.
|
 
 | O
F
F
I
C
E |
1920's - Geneva (Switzerland). Left image = "Siège de la Ligue [des Femmes Pour La Paix et la Liberte] dans les années 20 à la rue du Vieux Collège à Genève." Right image = "La Maison internationale. En pleine ville se dresse une charmante vieille maison vestige de la Genève d'autrefois. La Ligue occupe les 3 étages supérieurs et, outre la salle de lecture à l'entrée et 3 bureaux, il y a 8 chambres à la disposition d'hôtes, membres de la Ligue ou non, de passage à Genève. Les repas sont servis à volonté dans la maison." Right image dates from 1932.
|
July 10-17. 1921 - 3rd International WILPF Congress, Vienna (Austria).
| C
O
N
F |
1922 - Emergency Peace Conference, the Hague (Netherlands). Also called "Conference for a New Peace." "Calls for the convening of a World Congress to draw up a new agreement for a genuine peace." Attended by WILPF (Catherine Marshall from UK, Jane Addams from USA, Jeanne Melin from France) & other organizations.
|
July 8-15, 1926 - 5th International WILPF Congress, Dublin (Ireland).
August 24-28, 1929 - 6th International WILPF Congress, Prague (Czechoslovakia).
A
R
C
H
I
V
E |
 Summer 1929 - Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (USA). The official repository for the records of the US Section of the WILPF. Records of the US Section were first sent to the Friends Historical Society of Swarthmore College in the summer of 1929 when the WILPF National Office moved from one office to another in Washington, DC. In 1930, Addams donated a collection of books and personal papers relating to peace and social justice to the Friends Historical Library. Much of this material concerned her work with the WILPF, where she served as international president from its founding in 1919 until 1929, when she became honorary international president.
These two accessions became the foundation for the establishment in 1935 of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (originally called the Jane Addams Peace Collection, and then the Swarthmore College Peace Collection Memorial to Jane Addams). By 1947, 40 feet of material had been collected about the WILPF International Office, and 150 feet of records from the US Section.
|
May 15-19, 1932 - 7th International WILPF Congress, Grenoble (France).
| C
O
N
F | 1932 - Second Geneva Naval Conference, Geneva (Switzerland). "Apart from naval disarmaments, a reduction in land forces and limits on weapons were also discussed at the conference.
Sixty-one nations, including USA, USSR and Germany, came to the conference wanting a reduction in general arms. Some progress was made, but when Hitler came into power in 1933 he took Germany out of the Geneva Conference and the League of Nations, which was questionable but nothing was done about it." Images show WILPF women delivering Petition for Universal Disarmament, Peace & Freedom with 6,000,000 signatures. Click here for video.
|
September 3-8, 1934 - 8th International WILPF Congress, Zurich (Switzerland).
July 27-31, 1937 - 9th International WILPF Congress, Luhacovice (Czechoslovakia).
August 4-9, 1946 - 10th International WILPF Congress, Luxembourg. Theme was "A New World Order." "Thirteen sections were able to send representatives; ten were not. Exhausted and disillusioned by their experiences during WW-II, some had lost their enthusiasm for peace work and thought that the League should not continue as a separate women's organization. A motion for dissolution by the Dutch section was introduced but was overwhelmingly defeated."
 | B
O
O
K | 1948 - "Peace Symbols" by geographer Zonia Baber [1862->1948], Womens International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Originally published in 1937? Image shows Baber's world map entitled "Distribution of Peace Monuments." "Zonia Baber, a professor of geography and a member of the WILPF, made a project of collecting and publicizing 'peace symbols,' principally public monuments of various kinds. She assembled pictures and explanations of these objects into books, traveling exhibits, and presentations, which circulated in both religious and secular settings: 'schools, churches, conferences, or missionary societies.' A photograph of the peace plow made out of Civil War weapons for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia figured prominently in her productions."
|
| A
S
S
N |
 1948 - Jane Adams Peace Association (JAPA), 777 United Naitons Plaza, New York City, New York (USA). Founded "to foster a better understanding between the people of the world toward the end that wars may be avoided and a more lasting peace enjoyed.""
|
August 15-19, 1949 - 11th International WILPF Congress, Copenhagen (Denmark).
August 4-8, 1953 - 12th International WILPF Congress, Paris (France).
July 23-28. 1956 - 13th International WILPF Congress, Birmingham (England).
July 27-31, 1959 - 14th International WILPF Congress, Stockholm (Sweden).
1961 - First WILPF conference of Soviet & American women to help break down cold war barriers.
Where held? Click this web page for references to other conferences of the Women's International League
for Peace & Freedom (WILPF).
July 8-13, 1962 - 15th International WILPF Congress, Asilomar, California (USA).
July 16-31, 1965 - 16th International WILPF Congress, The Hague (Netherlands). Year of WILPF's 50th anniversary. "Launched world petition drive asking women to use their power to end the armed conflict in Vietnam."
 | 1965 - Event Celebrating WILPF's 50th Anniversary, Location in USA? Image shows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressing the event.
|
August 18-24, 1968 - 17th International WILPF Congress, Nyborg Strand (Denmark).
Dec 28, 1970-Jan 2, 1971 - 18th International WILPF Congress, New Delhi (India).
July 17-20. 1974 - 19th International WILPF Congress, Birmingham (England).
August 11-15, 1977 - 20th International WILPF Congress, Tokyo (Japan).
August 19-23, 1980 - 21st International WILPF Congress, Hamden, Connecticut (USA).
July 31-Aug 6, 1983 - 22nd International WILPF Congress, Goteborg (Sweden).
July 23-29, 1986 - 23th International WILPF Congress, Woudschoten-Zeist (Netherlands).
July 14-25, 1989 - 24th International WILPF Congress, Sydney (Australia).
July 1-6, 1992 - 25th International WILPF Congress, Santa Cruz (Bolivia).
August 1-6, 1995 - 26th International WILPF Congress, Helsinki (Finland). Followed by 4th UN Conference on Women in China.
 
| T
R
A
I
N |  August 7-29, 1995 - WILPF Peace Train to Beijing from Helsinki (Finland) to Beijing (China). Carried 230 women & 10 men from 42 countries across two continents from WILPF's 26th International Congress in Helsinki (theme "Building a Secure and Sustainable World Society") to the 4th UN Conference on Women in China. Delegates discussed peace and justice issues with Eastern Europe and Central Asian women en route.
|
July 25-31, 1998 - 27th International WILPF Congress, Baltimore, Maryland (USA).
2004 - 28th International WILPF Congress, Stockholm (Sweden).
July 21-27, 2007 - 29th International WILPF Congress, Santa Cruz (Bolivia)
August 2011 - 30th? International WILPF Congress, ? (Costa Rica)
2015 - 31st? International WILPF Congress, The Hague (Netherlands). "Each year on 28 April – our official birthday – WILPF distributes information about WILPF’s past achievements as well as our vision for the future. In 2015, WILPF will host a conference for our 100th anniversary.
In addition to a meeting in the Hague, celebratory events will be held on national and local levels; WILPF sections all around the world will delve into and share the unique history of their work.
WILPF will also be producing a wide range of materials to commemorate three generations of pur history and vision: leaflets, books, pamphlets, a photo exhibition and a short film."
1935 - Grave of Jane Addams, Cedarville (30 miles west of Rockford), Illinois (USA). Addams died in Chicago. The obilisk at her grave was restored in 2004. Jane Addams [1860-1935] was president of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF). She & Nicholas Murray Butler [1862-1947] shared the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. "As the first U.S. woman to win the prize, Addams was applauded for her 'expression of an essentially American democracy.'"