Reed Smith Wright State University Peace Studies Collection (UA-1)

The majority of the material in the Reed Smith Peace Studies Collection is organized as subject files pertaining to the Peace movement. The largest portions of the collection focus on three areas, conferences through Wright State University, grant applications and proposals, and correspondence.

Each conference or symposium has its own folder. The contents for these include academic papers around which the conferences were formed, biographical documents about the speakers, financial documents for each conference, and feedback information. The majority of the collection pertains to the Peace Movement and opposing Militarism.

Smith applied for numerous grants and fellowships in order to fund his conferences, papers, and research. Copies of the applications, proposals, and acceptance/rejection letters were kept.

Many folders contain correspondence between Smith and other WSU faculty, but also members of the Peace Movement and Politicians. Of Interest is the folder called “Democrats/ Congressional Correspondence,” which contains letters to many congressmen and politicians. Smith notably has a series of letters to John Glenn and another series to Tony Hall, both representing Ohio. Many letters are to politicians that Smith agreed with, but there are letters to politicians from the other side of the spectrum, such as Ronald Reagan.

Geographically, the collection has material that pertains to most of the globe, but there is particular focus on Eastern Europe and Russia and the former U.S.S.R., Latin America, and the United States.