CND: The story of a peace movement - catalogue and exhibition now available online

‘The story of a peace movement’, supported by the Nuclear Education Trust and LSE Annual Fund, is an archival and educational programme developed by LSE and CND to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of CND in 1958. Two elements of this project have now been completed: cataloguing the CND papers already held at LSE Archives; and, the availability of an exhibition featuring some of those papers.

Catalogue

The catalogue of those papers of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) which are currently held at LSE Archives is now available online via the Archives Catalogue.

CND is an active non party-political British organisation advocating the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide. It was established in 1958 by a group of public figures and political activists. Founding members included Canon John Collins, Bertrand Russell, and J.B. Priestley. Through a programme of peaceful demonstrations and public information, CND quickly established itself as a major political and cultural force for change. Throughout its history, it has attracted the interest and involvement of a wide variety of leading political and cultural figures, sparking lively internal debate on policy and strategy.

Since 1971 CND has deposited its core administrative papers with LSE Archives and new deposits are regularly added. The bulk of the existing holdings have now been listed, and are available on the online Archives Catalogue. They offer a fascinating insight into the development of the movement as it responded to dramatic changes in the global political scene. Currently the archive includes:

• papers of the Committee of 100, established in the early 1960s to organise non-violent direct action
• executive committee minutes, following the discussions and debates of the movement
• papers of special interest groups, from Ex-Services CND to members of Equity for Nuclear Disarmament
• a wide range of campaigning material, including leaflets and demonstration manuals
• an extensive collection of local group magazines and newsletters.

Exhibition

The exhibition is available online, starting at CND: The story of a peace movement, part one.

Banners featuring the exhibition have been designed to tour venues throughout the UK. To hire the exhibition, or to find out if it is coming to a venue near you, contact officemanager@cnduk.org.

Leaflet

A summary of the exhibition, including a timeline of CND's history is available to download as a leaflet (as a pdf):

CND at 50 leaflet

To view the PDF file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. This software is already installed on many computers. However, if you do not have it, you may download it for free from the Adobe website.

Further information

For further information about the project see CND: The story of a peace movement or email us: document@lse.ac.uk.

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