Community of the Peace People and Bridges to Peace Records
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Abstract
Community of the Peace People, Inc. (also referred to as The Peace People, USA) was a non-profit organization founded in 1977 with the mission to increase public awareness of conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th-century and to provide support for the work of Mairead Corrigan Maguire's Peace People in Belfast, the Committee for the Administration of Justice, and other organizations committed to nonviolent conflict resolution in the region. In 1997 the organization changed its name to Bridges to Peace in order to broaden its mandate while maintaining its commitment to nonviolent reconciliation efforts. Both groups supported and developed programs focused on community dialogue at the grassroots level, human rights justice, youth recreation, outreach to prisoners' families, and increasing domestic public awareness of the Troubles. This collection contains by-laws, memoranda, correspondence, publications, newsletters, financial reports, meeting minutes, research materials, and promotional literature documenting not only the functions and activities of the Community of the Peace People and Bridges to Peace, but also the attempt on the part of a group of Americans to actively participate in the efforts to secure a lasting peace in Northern Ireland in a way that emphasized healing at the level of the local community.
Historical/Biographical Note
Community of the Peace People, Inc. (also referred to as The Peace People, USA) was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1977 with the mission to increase public awareness of conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th-century and to provide support for the work of Mairead Corrigan Maguire's Peace People in Belfast, the Committee for the Administration of Justice, and other organizations committed to nonviolent conflict resolution in the region. The organization was incorporated in Delaware, but based in New York and governed by a 20-member Board of Trustees. By supporting and developing programs focused on community dialogue, human rights justice, youth recreation, outreach to prisoners' families, and increasing domestic public awareness of the Troubles, the Community of the Peace People sought to serve as an example of Americans playing an active role in the efforts to secure a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
In March of 1997, the Community of the Peace People changed its name to Bridges to Peace in an effort to broaden the organization's mandate while maintaining a commitment to nonviolence, reconciliation, and the protection of human and civil rights. Bridges to Peace emphasized grassroots engagement, focusing on peacemaking initiatives born out of the daily lives in local communities. Major project areas included efforts to combat sectarian antagonism through mutual respect, cross-community programs for youths, individual human rights protections in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, and engaging women in the democratic process through education. Examples of such endeavors included Kilcranny Farm reconciliation center, sports and recreation programs for youths, and groups like Women's Involvement Now. Domestically, Bridges to Peace focused its activities on raising public awareness of the work being accomplished through these initiatives.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into two series, both of which are ordered alphabetically, thereunder alphabetically or chronologically as appropriate:
Series I. Community of the Peace People Records, 1987-1997
Series II. Bridges to Peace Records, 1987-2010, bulk 1997-2010
Scope and Contents
This collection contains by-laws, memoranda, correspondence, publications, newsletters, financial reports, meeting minutes, research materials, and promotional literature documenting the functions and activities of the Community of the Peace People and later Bridges to Peace. Agendas and minutes from board meetings and conference calls reveal the organization's governance structure, and administrative documents like by-laws and mission statements demonstrate the evolution of the organization's overall purpose in the context of other contemporary groups providing assistance to Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The collection also contains correspondence from and promotional material produced by some of these related groups, some of which the Community of the Peace People or Bridges to Peace awarded grants to in order to support their efforts. Although numerous organizations and individuals engaged in community dialogue, human rights justice, youth recreation, outreach to prisoners' families, and increasing domestic public awareness of the Troubles received some form of assistance, Kilcranny Farm and the Committee for the Administration of Justice developed particularly strong relationships with the two American organizations. Materials related to these grant-funded endeavors include proposals, promotional literature, and interim and final reports. The collection also contains planning documents concerning the development of sponsored conferences and symposia held in both Northern Ireland and the United States on the subject of peace-making efforts in post-conflict societies. Materials concerning the fundraising process, including appeal letters, orientation packets, and incoming correspondence containing individual donations, reveal an attempt on the part of a group of Americans to actively participate in the conflict resolution process in a way that emphasized healing at the level of the local community.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Bridges to Peace, the creator of this collection, were transferred to New York University in 2013. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Bridges to Peace Records; AIA 066; box number; folder number; Archives of Irish America, Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Collection received from Frank Monahan, July 2012. The accession number associated with this gift is 2012.056.
Appraisal Note
Select financial documents, including tax returns, account statements, expense filings, and personal checks, were appraised and destroyed, based on the presence of sensitive personal information and a relative lack of evidential, intrinsic, or informational value. Approximately one hundred personal checks, sent to the organization as donations, were destroyed due to privacy concerns, with amounts ranging from $25 to $5,000 and an average amount of $100-200.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
Upon receipt, the collection displayed a rough separation of materials documenting the activities of the Community of the Peace People and Bridges to Peace. The majority of materials were foldered with accurate labels, with many like materials physically arranged in sequence. Other materials, however, were loose or in unlabeled folders. The original separation illustrating the organization's name change was retained to create a two-series structure for the collection. Because of the absence of any other overarching arrangement scheme within each series, materials were physically and intellectually brought together, arranged alphabetically (with further arrangement being alphabetical or chronological, as appropriate), and described.
Original folder titles were used, with descriptive clarifications as necessary. When no original folder title existed, one was supplied by the archivist. Not all descriptive folder titles, however, were accurate; some folders appear to have been reused and retain the original titles. In these instances, new descriptive folder titles were applied. In addition to this descriptive activity, the collection was also rehoused in acid-free folders and boxes.
