Clark M. Eichelberger papers

1920-1991

Clark Mell Eichelberger (1896-1980) was a lecturer on national and international affairs with the Radcliffe Chautauqua System from 1922 to 1928. He was appointed director of the mid-West office of the League of Nations Association in 1928 and became director of the national organization in 1934. The name of the organization was changed to the American Association of the United Nations (A.A.U.N.) in 1945 and Eichelberger continued to serve as executive director until 1964. When the A.A.U.N. was merged with the United States Committee for the United Nations to form a new organization called the United Nations Association of the U.S.A., Eichelberger served as vice-president of the organization until 1968. He became increasingly involved with the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace which he helped to found in 1939 and became director (1939-1964), chairman (1964-1968) and executive director (1968-1974) of the Commission. He was associated with or helped to establish several other U.S. and international peace and world government organizations. Eichelberger also served as consultant to the League of Nations Secretariat, the U.S. delegation to the San Francisco Conference in 1945, and was a member of the committee which created the first draft of the charter of the United Nations. He authored several books on the United Nations. Collection consists of personal papers of Clark M. Eichelberger and records of organizations of which he was an official. Personal papers contain his writings, research notes, sound recordings of his radio broadcasts about the United Nations, oral history interviews, and personal miscellany including papers relative to his career as lecturer with the Radcliffe Chautauqua System. Bulk of the organizational records consists of records, 1920-1944, of the League of Nations Association; records, 1942-1965, of its successor, American Association for the United Nations; and records, 1939-1981, of the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace. There are also records of the American Union for Concerted Peace Efforts, Americans United for World Organization, Citizens for Victory, Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, and Free World Association. Organizational records include correspondence of the executive directors and other officials, minutes, press releases, photographs, periodicals, phonotapes, moving-picture films, clippings, printed ephemera, and other records.