Center for Civil Society International records, 1948-2008

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Summary

Creators:
World Without War Council and Center for Civil Society International
Abstract:
Correspondence, reports, directories, lists, pamphlets, serial issues, and circulated material, relating to voluntary associations in the former Soviet Union, exchanges and person-to-person contacts, religion, peace movements, human rights, and promotion of democracy and citizenship. Includes many publications collected by the Center. Also includes records of the Center's predecessor organization, the Northwest Regional Office of the World without War Council.
Extent:
117 manuscript boxes (46.8 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Center for Civil Society International records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

Records of both the Center for Civil Society International and of its predecessors, the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle and World Without War Council Northwest Regional Office, are included. The collection is divided into two series.

The Central Organizational Files series contains filing sequences that transcend specific topics and that reflect the continuing life of the organization throughout its temporal stages. Material within this series is arranged by physical form. Notably it includes chronologically arranged correspondence, predominantly outgoing, and chronologically arranged internal documents of other types, including minutes and memoranda. Governing documents, periodical reports of activities, financial records, and some issuances of the organization and its officials may also be found here.

The Subject File series contains material grouped by topic. The main division within the Subject File is between a General subseries of materials not dealing with specific countries on the one hand, and materials arranged alphabetically by country on the other hand. Correspondence with, and published and unpublished issuances of, a wide range of voluntary and other non-governmental organizations, make up the bulk of the Subject File material. The largest volume of material by geographic region concerns the successor republics to the Soviet Union, especially Russia, Ukraine and the Central Asian states. Economic and political reform, civic education, human rights, health and environmental issues, religion, exchange visits, and telecommunication and person-to-person contacts are among the aspects treated. There is also a considerable volume of earlier material from the 1980s, dealing especially with Central America and the Soviet Union, and including material on peace and disarmament movements, as well as exchange and person-to-person contacts and human rights concerns.

Biographical / historical:

The World Without War Council, a national American private nonprofit organization, was founded in 1958 with the primary goal of promoting alternatives to war, and with subsidiary goals of promoting civic education, international understanding and democratic government. Its regional office in Seattle, Washington, successively titled the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle and the World Without War Council Northwest Regional Office, was the predecessor organization of the Center for Civil Society International.

The Seattle office transformed itself into the Center for Civil Society International in 1992. This act reflected a realization of the profound changes in the international situation following the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War. The new focus of the Center became promotion of democratic values and civil reconstruction in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. It sought to act as a clearinghouse for contacts between non-governmental organizations in the United States and elsewhere interested in providing technical and other assistance in the new states, and grassroots non-governmental organizations in those countries.

M. Holt Ruffin became executive director of the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle in 1984 and remained as executive director of the Center for Civil Society International. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives acquired the records of the Center in 2008.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2009.
Arrangement:

Arranged in two series, Central Organizational Files, and Subject files. The main division within the Subject File is between a General subseries of materials not dealing with specific countries on the one hand, and materials arranged alphabetically by country on the other hand.

Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Center for Civil Society International records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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