Series II: Activities, Programs, Special Projects, 1943-1990, inclusive

Series II: Activities, Programs, and Special Projects (1943-1990), is divided into four subseries.

Subseries II.A: NCASF Activities, contains 147 folders, the largest subseries in the collection. The bulk of these activities took place in the 1940's and 1950's, and consist mainly of rallies, conferences, dinners, testimonials, fundraisers, exhibits, and receptions. The types of materials are reports, correspondence, minutes from planning meetings, and speeches. Included in this collection are materials from recurring NCASF events, such as the Annual American-Soviet Friendship Rallies at Madison Square Garden and Red Army Dinners. Early Council activities included tributes to Josef Stalin and Foreign Minister Vishinski. Beginning in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the scale of these events noticeably decreased, reflecting changes in the national political climate and the onset of the Cold War. During this period, the kind of activities gradually changed, from mass political rallies to smaller, cultural events. More recent Council activities include participation in the New York City Board of Education "City as School" program, a 1985 American-Soviet Childrens' Art Exchange, and a 1987 educational program on Chernobyl.

Subseries II.B: Exchange and Travel Programs, contains material from travel programs and tours initiated by the NCASF. About three-quarters of this subseries consists principally of applications and lists of delegations to the Council's Camp Artek program. This subseries also contains itineraries, tour reports, program applications, and publicity arrangements from a number of other Council-sponsored USSR tours and delegations.

Subseries II.C: Campaign for a People's Peace Treaty/People's Appeal for Peace (1982-1989) documents the administration and activities of this Council-sponsored organization, whose activities failed to culminate with the presentation of peace petitions to Ronald Reagan in 1987. Included in this subseries is information on the Campaign's "pairing project," an attempt to pair US and Soviet cities through correspondence and exchange programs.

Subseries II.D: Other Organizations Concerned with American-Soviet Relations (1944-1989), is arranged alphabetically. This series principle contains publications and newsletters, as well as some correspondence, from organizations such as the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship, the American-Soviet Youth Forum, and the Soviet American Sail.

Content Warning: Some audiovisual recordings in this series contain explicit content describing violence against women.