Tag Archives: World War I

Exhibit: The War to End All Wars: Devastation, Resistance, and Relief in World War I

Exhibit: The War to End All Wars: Devastation, Resistance, and Relief in World War I

Atrium, McCabe Library
November 5 – December 1, 2018
Open to the public

November 11, 2018 is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. To commemorate this event the Swarthmore College Libraries is sponsoring an exhibition of materials from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Friends Historical Library, and the College Archives will on display. See materials on the reaction of Swarthmore College, Quakers, and peace activists to the first global war, 1914-1918.

Opening event, Thursday, November 8, 2018
Atrium, McCabe Library, 4:30 p.m.
Open to the public

“Looking Back at the Great War From a Writers’ Point of View”
Mystery writers Charles Todd and Caroline Todd will talk about their books set during World War I and immediately after. Their detectives, front line nurse Bess Crawford, and soldier-turned Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Rutledge face war time battles and the terrible consequences of war. Open to the public
There will be an opportunity to buy some of the authors’ books and light reception to follow the talk.

Win a signed copy of Charles Todd book! Free raffle for a book from the Swarthmore College bookstore
Visit the bookstore for a free raffle ticket

Looking Back at the Great War with Mystery Writers

Looking Back at the Great War: A Talk by Mystery Writers Charles and Caroline Todd

Thursday, November 8th at 4:30 p.m.
McCabe Library atrium

We wish to extend an invitation to you, and your network, to attend a talk by writers Caroline Todd and Charles Todd. This mother and son team have written over 30 mysteries, based in Britain following the Great War.

The Todds will be at Swarthmore College to talk about their writing process and their perspective on World War I from a writer’s point of view. This exciting event will occur on Thursday, November 8th, at 4:30 p.m. in the McCabe Library atrium, in conjunction with the opening of an exhibit about WWI.

The Todds are New York Times bestselling authors. Their most popular character, Inspector Ian Rutledge, is a WWI veteran who struggles with overcoming shell shock in the midst of solving mysteries for Scotland Yard. In their Bess Crawford mystery series, the Todds explore the role of women in the war as front line nurses.

Overall, their books describe the devastating effects of war on individuals and society. A new Bess Crawford mystery is due out on September 18th.

Copies of A Forgotten Place will be available after the talk. The Book Store in the Swarthmore Inn will also hold a raffle for a signed copy of the book. Raffle tickets will be available in the Store from November 1 through noon on November 8, and the raffle winner will be announced at the 4:30 event in McCabe. (Winner does not need to be present to win.)

Download and share a flyer.

Contact:
Wendy Chmielewski, Curator
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
wchmiel1 @ swarthmore.edu or 610-328-8557.

Sponsors: Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, the Bookstore, History Department, Peace and Conflict Studies Program

Peace drama performed 100 years ago on campus

This story in The Phoenix, Swarthmore College’s student newspaper, from October 27, 1914, only three months after the start of World War I, was brought to our attention this week.

The clipping below reports on the performance of a Founders’ Day “peace drama” about one soldiers’ struggle with the horrors of war, his return home, and a vision for “an era of peace, unsullied by the sword.”

Swarthmore is celebrating its sesquicentennial this year.

100th anniversary of the start of World War I

Recognition of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I-the Great War

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Anti-conscription demonstration 1916

Wendy Chmielewski, Curator of the Peace Collection attended the “Resistance to War” conference at the University of Hull (UK), September 7-9, 2014 . The conference included presentations historians and other scholars from the UK and other countries focused on resistance to war from the mid nineteenth century through World War I. Chmielewski presented a paper on the role of women in fundraising efforts that financed the peace movement in Great Britain in the 1850s.

On September 30th, Anne Yoder, Peace Collection Archivist, spoke on World War I conscientious objection at the Kate Furness Public Library in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. This presentation was part of the Furness Library’s program recognizing the centenary of the Great War.

Yoder and Chmielewski will both be attending the “World War I: Dissent, Activism, and Transformation” conference at Georgian Court University (NJ), and co-sponsored by the Peace History Society, in mid October. Yoder will be speaking about WWI conscientious objectors, David and Julius Eichel. Chmielewski will present on the war and anti-rhetoric in the suffrage speeches and writings of movement leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and Jane Addams. Both papers will use resources housed in the Peace Collection.

Peace Collection staff have contributed articles on resistance to World War I as part of the new web site “Home Before the Leaves Fall, Digital Resources in the Delaware Valley on the Great War”. The web site <http://wwionline.org/> contains information about resources in the Peace Collection and Friends Historical Library on peace congresses leading up to the war, women efforts for peace from 1914 onward, conscientious objectors, the varieties of opposition to the war, and the work of British and American Quaker relief organizations.