Archives West Finding Aid

The Whatcom County Nuclear Arms Freeze (WCNAF) records document a county wide campaign in Washington State against national nuclear arms proliferation from 1981 to 1986. The collection comprises administrative records, newsletters, project files, and also a small amount of reference material, ephemera and publicity records. Administrative records include memos and organizing strategies circulated by the campaign's national clearing house in St Louis, Missouri, as well as the state office in Seattle, membership and meeting records for the regional and local peace movement, and by-laws documenting the organizational structure and goals of the state campaign. Newsletters encompassing the years 1982-1986 provide a valuable overview of the objectives, activities, and accomplishments of the WCNAF. The collection also contains newsletters from other regional peace groups, including Sky Valley Peace Council, Skagit Citizens for Nuclear Disarmament, Thurston County Freeze, Snohomish County Freeze, Fraser Valley Peace Council, and University of British Columbia Students for Peace and Mutual Disarmament. Anti-nuclear activities and project files portion of the WCNAF records document some of the specific actions of the local and state nuclear freeze movement. These files include records regarding the 1984 decision to make Whatcom County a Nuclear Free Zone, information about Nakhodka, Bellingham's "paired city" in the USSR, and meeting minutes, newsletters, correspondence and other materials produced by the North Puget Sound Coalition for a Nuclear Freeze based in Freeland, Washington. National reference material includes newspaper clippings and articles regarding nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons policies. Ephemera and publicity files include peace movement buttons, publicity fliers and advertisements pertaining to WCNAF activities.