World Disarmament Movement, 1928-1932

Component identifier:

Series 48

Content Summary:

The World Disarmament Movement (W.D.M.) was formed in Melbourne in 1928 to promote disarmament and foster the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Eighty societies with similar aims were affiliated. Copland was its President in 1929 and active in its cause into the early 1930s.

Series 48 contains the few W.D.M. papers that have survived in the Copland collection. They range from correspondence (mainly with Joseph Howie who was the Secretary in 1931) and Movement Council minutes (1929), circulars and notices to handbills, articles by Copland on disarmament, and newspaper cuttings. As well, there are references to like-minded organisations, such as the Anti-Fascist Concentration of Australia, the Australian League of Nations Union, and the National Council for Prevention of War. Some preliminary work on the 1932 World Disarmament Conference organised by the League of Nations is also documented.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Lady Copland presented the personal papers of Sir Douglas Copland to the National Library in September 1973. Additions to the collection were received from the Copland Family between 1977 and 1981.

Names:

Copland, D.B. (Douglas Berry), 1894-1971

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