Coalition for New Priorities records, 1958-2008, bulk 1988-2008

This collection is open for research use. Advance appointment is required to view color photographs, videotapes, and audiotapes.

For listening and viewing purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a listening or viewing copy made if one is not available).

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Gift of the Committee for New Priorities (accession # 2010.0048, 2017.0013 ).

Coalition for New Priorities records (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and series/box number of a specific item.

Correspondence, research files, newsletters, meeting agendas and minutes, questionnaires, reports, mailing lists, flyers, pamphlets, clippings, and other records of the Coalition for New Priorities (CNP), also known as the Committee for New Priorities. Includes files belonging to Nancy Mayer and Berenice Bild and limited materials from two antinuclear groups active in Chicago, 1959-1961.

The Coalition for New Priorities (CNP) was an outgrowth of the Illinois Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy/Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, an organization created in the early 1980s. In 1989, the SANE/FREEZE group formed the CNP, under the leadership of Bernice Bild. The CNP's mission was securing significant reductions in the federal government's military budget. The Coalition for New Priorities later became known as the Committee for New Priorities. Records from the SANE/Freeze group; the Peace Conversion Commission, an official Chicago city agency created in 1992 to convert nuclear weapons facilities to peacetime use; and two antinuclear groups active in Chicago 1959-1961 are included in the collection.

Volunteer Anne Nguyen began the processing of this collection in April 2011; processing was completed by volunteer Robert Blythe in August 2017; processing of 2017 accrual completed by volunteer Robert Blythe in March 2018. Materials from the 2010.48 accession retain the folder-level organization and description created by the original processor. In order to maintain original order and context, materials from the 2017 accession, boxes 40-55, are in chronological order and have box-level description.

• Names
  • Mayer, Nancy
  • Bild, Bernice
  • Coalition for New Priorities--Archives
  • Chicago Area Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy
  • Chicago Peace Conversion Commission
  • Hyde Park Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy
  • Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign
  • SANE/FREEZE (Organization)
• Subject
  • Antinuclear movement--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Antinuclear movment--United States--20th century
  • Community organization--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Nuclear disarmament--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Nuclear disarmament--United States--20th century
  • Peace movements--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Peace movements--United States--20th century
  • Political participation--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
• Geographic Coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--20th century
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century

The collection is arranged in four series.

Series 1. SANE/FREEZE campaign papers, 1976-1995 (box 1-13, 33-35, 37-39, OSFF 1, PCLF 1, PCLF 2)

Series 1 consists of office files of the Illinois Nuclear Weapons Freeze group, which later became SANE/FREEZE and includes audiovisual materials and photographs.

Series 2. Coalition for New Priorities, 1980-2008 (box 14-24, 30-32, 40-55)

Series 2 consists of the office files of the Coalition for New Priorities.

Series 3. Chicago Peace Conversion Commission, 1983-1993 (box 24-30)

Series 3 consists of the office files of the Chicago Peace Conversion Commission.

Series 4. Chicago and Hyde Park Committees for a Sane Nuclear Policy, 1958-1961 (box 36)

Series 4 consists of records of two groups active circa 1960: the Hyde Park Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy and the Chicago Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.