Special Collections and University Archives: Reform and Countercultural Movements

Attorney and government official Archibald S. Alexander rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, served as Assistant Secretary of the Army (1949-1950), and as Under Secretary of the Army (1950-1952). Among his other activities, he was president of the Free Europe Committee (1959-1963) before working for the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1963-1969) as its assistant director. Alexander's papers primarily relate to his involvement, after his retirement, with arms control groups, educational institutions, and public service organizations. Organizations represented include the Arms Control Association, World Federalists Association, an organization devoted to curbing the arms race, the American Bar Association's Arms Control and Disarmament Committee, and the Task Force for the Nuclear Test Ban. Included are correspondence, agendas and minutes, budgets, drafts of articles, working papers and reports, memoranda, transcripts of meetings, press clippings, photographs, printed matter, and other papers.

Correspondence and other papers reflecting Orlie Pell's interest in pacifism, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the United Nations, and the League of Women Voters of Hunterdon County, N.J. Pell served as president of the U.S. Section of WILPF (1957-1961), president of the League of Women Voters of Hunterdon County (1966-1967), and as a director of SANE, Inc.

Articles of incorporation, bylaws, correspondence, minutes, agenda, financial statements, reports, general files, conference papers, essays, publicity material, clippings, and other records. Includes records of World Law Fund, begun in 1961 as Fund for Education for World Peace Through World Law, an institute project, became World Law Fund in 1963, and merged with the institute in 1972. Persons represented include Archibald S. Alexander, Grenville Clark, Norman Cousins, Alan Cranston, C. Douglas Dillon, Harry B. Hollins, Robert C. Johansen, Elizabeth C. Little, Saul H. Mendlovitz, Earl D. Osborn, and Cyrus Vance.

The Rutgers-Douglass Students Against Nuclear Policy group, also known as SANE, was a chapter of a national group called the National Committee for a SANE nuclear policy. The groups at Rutgers University and Douglass College formed independently of each other in 1964, but often worked together towards their goals of general and complete disarmament, cessation of all nuclear testing, and a strengthened United Nations. The collection is comprised of correspondence and information about national and other SANE chapters.

The records of provost and vice president Richard Schlatter span the years 1945 to 1974, with the majority of material dating from the 1960s. The papers pertain to Schlatter's many responsibilities as provost and consist largely of correspondence and reports. Included is a folder of correspondence with the Rutgers student chapter of the national Students Against Nuclear Experimentation organization, as well as publications by the group and notification of events the group planned.

The Rutgers Photograph Collection represents the photographic documentation of Rutgers University. It is organized into the following categories: Academic and Administrative Functions, Athletics, Art, Buildings and Grounds, etc. The Student Life series includes photographs of student activism on nuclear weapons.

Noted for distinctive architecture and renowned as an artists' colony, Roosevelt, N.J., began its existence as a New Deal community of Jewish settlers supported by economic cooperatives in the form of farm operations, a factory, and retail shops. The collection consists of reference materials, records of community organizations, and papers and collections of individuals that were brought together to document the history of Roosevelt Borough and its residents. Included is a folder of materials on the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament.

The papers of artist Blanche Grambs contain personal and professional correspondence, publicity and reviews of Grambs Miller book illustrations, notes, recipes, and travel memorabilia. The papers include itineraries, event programs, and brochures relating to two 1987 events in the USSR, the USSR 7th World Congress of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and SANE Professional Round Table, as well as an article on USSR travel, travel memorabilia, and handwritten notes about the visit.

The collection includes 415 drawings, posters, prints, proof sheets, and sheets of lettering that touch many of the techniques and themes of Ben Shahn’s artistic output. Included is “Oh Lord our Father, our young patriots” (1986), a broadside for the Great Peace March for Nuclear Disarmament. The quotation, from ‘The War Prayer’ by Mark Twain, is below a drawing of a crowd of suited men with crutches and canes.