Summary Information
John Schuchardt Papers
1874-1945, 1978-1997
Mss 853; PH Mss 853; M2001-061; M2007-094
3.0 c.f. (8 archives boxes) and 1 poster; plus additions of 0.9 c.f.
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of John Schuchardt, a radical anti-nuclear/peace activist, primarily documenting his involvement in the Plowshares movement and other peace actions and groups between the early 1980s and late 1990s. The collection contains information on the various activities and multiple protest actions held by Plowshares and its members and the subsequent court proceedings; the peace movement; Plowshares’ founders, the Berrigans; Schuchardt’s association with S. Brian Willson and the Vietnam War veterans' peace movement; and several actions in Nicaragua and Latin America. There are also some family papers belonging to Rudolf and William Schuchardt (1874-1945).
There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00853
Biography/History
John Schuchardt is a long-time peace activist primarily involved with the religious anti-nuclear peace movement in the United States. He was born in May 1939, the son of an architect and a Baptist minister and raised in the Chicago suburbs. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1961 and received a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1964. During this period Schuchardt was also an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, but in 1965 he resigned his commission because of his opposition to the war in Vietnam. At this time he worked as dean of admissions at Swarthmore, later moving to Vermont where he opened a law practice in Brattleboro. From 1972 to 1975, Schuchardt worked as a public defender in Windham City, Massachusetts. After experiencing a spiritual conversion he left this occupation and joined the Society of Brothers, a Christian community in upstate New York. A year later he moved to Jonah House, a sanctuary for activists in Baltimore, Maryland. There he became associated with the well-known anti-Vietnam War activists Daniel and Philip Berrigan.
In 1978, Schuchardt was arrested for a protest that involved the pouring of human blood at the Pentagon. In 1980, he was involved in a much more widely known peace action. At this time Schuchardt and seven others (the Berrigans, Dean Hammer, Carl Kabot, Elmer Maas, Anne Montgomery, and Molly Rush) entered a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and beat the warheads with hammers and poured blood over the blueprints of the warheads. This action, which was inspired by the Biblical prophesy, “...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4), was a protest against the production of nuclear weapons designed to be used in a first-strike nuclear attack. The defendants came to be known as the Plowshares 8 and the subsequent peace protests they inspired came to be known as the Plowshares movement.
Appeals and litigation pertaining to Plowshares 8 continued for ten years and during this time Schuchardt served two years in prison. On July 14, 1983, while the Plowshares 8 case was still being appealed, Schuchardt and seven others (Agnes Bauerlein, Macy Morse, Frank Panopoulos, Jean Holladay, and John Pendleton) were arrested for damaging computers and pouring blood at the AVCO plant in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
During the 1980s, Schuchardt became associated with S. Brian Willson and the Vietnam War veterans' peace movement, and he participated in several actions in Nicaragua and Latin America. In 1991, Schuchardt received national attention when he witnessed against the Gulf War in the First Congregational Church at Kennebunkport, Maine, at a service attended by President and Mrs. George Bush. The protest, which received front-page coverage across the country, ended with Schuchardt's forcible expulsion from the church and arrest for disorderly conduct.
Arrangement of the Materials
This collection was received in multiple parts from the donor(s) and is organized into 2 major parts. These materials have not been physically interfiled and researchers might need to consult more than one part to locate similar materials.
Related Material
Pamphlets and printed materials related to the Plowshares movement are housed in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Restricted: Copyright is owned by John Schuchardt until January 1, 2023, at which time all rights are granted to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Original Collection presented by John Schuchardt, Leverett, Massachusetts, 1982-1994; Additions presented by John Schuchardt. Accession Number: M82-187, M82-283, M82-306, M82-341, M82-474, M83-220, M84-179, M84-180, M85-114, M85-115, M85-588, M86-492, M88-331, M92-073, M94-120, M2001-061, M2007-094
Processed by Mary Decker (archives intern) and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1995.
Contents List
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Mss 853
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Part 1 (Mss 853, PH Mss 853): Original Collection, 1978-19913.0 c.f. (8 archives boxes) and 1 poster The organization of the Original Collection corresponds to the major protest actions in which Schuchardt participated. Major series relate to PLOWSHARES 8, PENTAGON PEACE ACTION, AVCO PLOWSHARES, and the GULF WAR. The final series, GENERAL PEACE ACTIONS, combines information about numerous witnesses for which the quantity of information in the collection is limited. Documentation about each of the major protests is similar, consisting of correspondence, legal documents, and publicity. Documentation about the smaller protest activities varies and tends to be incomplete. Although many of the actions are documented by correspondence, the majority of the files include letters received rather than copies of outgoing correspondence. As a result, Schuchardt's own views are incompletely documented, and there is little documentation of other aspects of his life. The PLOWSHARES 8 material, which is alphabetically arranged, is the largest section of the collection. Included are eyewitness statements to the police, FBI lab reports, blueprints of the General Electric plant, and information about the preparation of the legal defense and the expert witnesses whose testimony was not admitted. Court documents, which are extensive (although probably not complete), include appeals, briefs, opinions, transcriptions, notes, and a chronology prepared by Schuchardt. Due to restrictions on the admission of evidence and testimony, some of the legal documents (particularly the group's attempts to initiate a “justification” defense) are probably unique. The correspondence consists of letters received by Schuchardt from his co-defendants, particularly Molly Rush; this correspondence provides excellent documentation of Plowshares' legal planning and strategy, as well as their thoughts and feelings during imprisonment. There is also an extensive amount of correspondence from sympathetic members of the public and friends and one folder concerning the question of sanctuary. With the exception of group letters or correspondence with illegible signatures, this correspondence is alphabetically arranged. Unfortunately there are few letters here written by Schuchardt and no other personal writings; the result is that there are few indications of Schuchardt's own thoughts prior to and after the Plowshares action. The publicity chiefly consists of newspaper clippings, documenting the Plowshares case and also the release of Emile de Antonio's film In the King of Prussia. The AVCO PLOWSHARES material is similarly subdivided into legal material, correspondence, and publicity. The legal materials here consist of defendants' statements, briefs, testimony of expert witnesses, and Schuchardt's notes. The correspondence is somewhat sketchy, chiefly consisting of incoming letters from supporters. The publicity consists of press releases issued by the group, including an indictment against the AVCO Corporation; news clippings; and notes on Pursuit of Happiness, a documentary film produced by Global Village. The GULF WAR series also contains legal material, correspondence, and clippings. The legal material here is limited, consisting chiefly of police reports and eyewitness statements, but the correspondence is extensive. It consists of incoming letters of support from lay people and religious leaders, many of which contain insightful discussions of the role of religion in peace activism. Especially noteworthy here is an exchange between Schuchardt's son and President Bush; Bush's photocopied letter contains a handwritten note about the incident. Also of note is an observation about Bush's character and family from Harold Burbank, a Kennebunkport native who was the Bush family caddy and groundskeeper. Once again, Schuchardt's outgoing letters and personal observations are missing. The publicity includes newsclippings about Schuchardt's witness, as well as official White House memos and press releases about the U.S. military involvement in the Persian Gulf. The GENERAL PEACE ACTIONS series is a mix of alphabetically-arranged material relating to various peace activities, activists, and groups, some of which Schuchardt was directly involved with, while others are topics about which he merely collected information. The series originally contained substantial information about Veterans Fast for Life and various Veterans Peace Action Teams but because this duplicated information in the S. Brian Willson Papers also held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, only documents relating directly to Schuchardt's activities have been retained here. Notable is a photocopied copy of the diary Schuchardt kept during a Veterans Peace Action Team protest in Nicaragua in 1987 in which he and several other protesters walked through the war zone, and an eyewitness account he received from Scott Rutherford about the accident in which Willson lost his leg.
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Series: Plowshares 8
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Correspondence
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Co-defendants
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Berrigan, Phil, 1981, undated
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Berrigan, Daniel, 1981, undated
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Hammer, Dean, 1981
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Kabat, Carl, 1981-1982
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Montgomery, Anne, 1980, undated
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Rush, Molly, 1980-1981
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General prison correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
7-17
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A-R
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Box
2
Folder
1-3
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S-Z
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Box
2
Folder
4-5
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Miscellaneous unidentified correspondence
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Sanctuary correspondence
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Blueprint and plans of General Electric
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Expert witnesses, vitas and synopses of proposed testimony
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Box
3
Folder
3
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FBI reports, 1980
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Box
3
Folder
4
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In the King of Prussia film
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Jury material
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Legal documents
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Correspondence, 1980-1981
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Documents
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Common Pleas Court
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Box
3
Folder
7-12
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Transcripts of proceedings, 1981
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Box
4
Folder
1
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Miscellaneous documents
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Box
4
Folder
2
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Opinion
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Box
4
Folder
3
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District Court transcript
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Superior Court
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Box
4
Folder
4-5
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Brief for appellants, correspondence and drafts
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Box
4
Folder
6
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Brief for appellees
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Box
4
Folder
7
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Miscellaneous documents
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Box
4
Folder
8
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Opinions
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Box
4
Folder
9
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Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
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Box
5
Folder
1
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Supreme Court of the United States, Petition
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Box
5
Folder
2
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Capitolo case, 1982-1983
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Box
5
Folder
3
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Notes and chronology, 1980-1990
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Box
5
Folder
4
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Police report and witnesses statements
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Box
5
Folder
5-8
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Publicity and clippings
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PH Mss 853
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Oversize poster
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Mss 853
Box
5
Folder
9
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Trial preparation
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Series: Pentagon Peace Action
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Box
5
Folder
10
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Correspondence, 1979-1982
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Legal documents
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Box
5
Folder
11
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Circuit Court of Appeals
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Box
5
Folder
12-13
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U.S. District Court
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Box
5
Folder
14
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Cassidy and Schuchardt
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Series: Avco Plowshares
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Binder of legal and publicity material
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Box
6
Folder
2
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Clippings
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Box
6
Folder
3
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Correspondence, 1983-1984
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Box
6
Folder
4
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Legal documents, 1983-1990
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Box
6
Folder
5
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Police statements
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Box
6
Folder
6
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Publicity
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Box
6
Folder
7
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Pursuit of Happiness film
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Series: Gulf War
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Box
6
Folder
8-9
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Correspondence, 1991, undated
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Box
7
Folder
1
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Clippings
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Box
7
Folder
2
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Police report and witness statements
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Box
7
Folder
3
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White House and official materials
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Series: General Peace Actions
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Box
7
Folder
4
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Boyle, Francis A. Papers, 1985-1986
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Box
7
Folder
5
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Faith and Resistance Retreat, 1985
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Box
7
Folder
6
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Fast for Life, 1983
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Box
7
Folder
7
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Hood, Paul (Draper Laboratory), 1983
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Box
7
Folder
8
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International law defense
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Box
7
Folder
9
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International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Conference, 1989
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Box
7
Folder
10
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International conference on Nuclear Weapons and International Law, 1987
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Box
7
Folder
11
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Jonah House, 1981
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Box
7
Folder
12
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Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, 1987
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Box
7
Folder
13
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Litesky, Charles, 1986
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Box
7
Folder
14
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Miscellaneous notes
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Box
7
Folder
15
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Mobilization for Survival, 1977
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Box
7
Folder
16
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Mountain Valley Peace Council (Prisoners of Conscience), 1982, 1986
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Box
7
Folder
17
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New England Peace Walk, 1987
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Nicaragua
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Box
7
Folder
18
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General
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Box
7
Folder
19
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Schuchardt diary, 1987
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Box
8
Folder
1
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Peace Pagoda, 1985, undated
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Box
8
Folder
2
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Pro-Peace, 1986
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Box
8
Folder
3
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Project Independence, 1988-1989
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Box
8
Folder
4
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Rajgir Symposium (India), 1986
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Box
8
Folder
5
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Recognition Weekend, 1986
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Box
8
Folder
6
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Research contact with John Schuchardt, 1982-1983, undated
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Box
8
Folder
7
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Schaeffer-Duffy, Scott case, undated
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Box
8
Folder
8
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Silo Plowshares, 1986
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Box
8
Folder
9
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Storey, Shirley (Seabrook), 1980
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Box
8
Folder
10-11
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Trident Submarine demonstration, 1986
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Box
8
Folder
12
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Veterans Fast for Life/Veterans Peace Action Teams (S. Brian Willson), 1987-1991
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Box
8
Folder
13
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Witness for Disarmament, 1987
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Box
8
Folder
14
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Writings, undated
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Box
8
Folder
15
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Clippings regarding miscellaneous marches, demonstrations, and actions
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M2001-061
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Part 2 (M2001-061): Additions, 1874-1945, 1985-19970.7 c.f. (2 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) Additions, consisting of papers relating to Schuchardt's peace activism with the Plowshares movement including news clippings related to various activities and protests of the group, general information about the movement and its founders, Phillip and Daniel Berrigan, other religiously inspired peace movements, and a small amount of mailings and ephemera. Also included are papers documenting Schuchardt's activities within Plowshares and other peace organizations, such as Veterans for Peace, consisting of correspondence and newspaper articles. Additionally, there are family papers (1874-1945) of Schuchardt's grandfather Rudolf and great-uncle William which consist of correspondence, news clippings, and publications relating to their professional life as electrical engineer and city planner, respectively. Also included is a Schuchardt family history written by William during World War II that traces some branches of the family back to the 1700s.
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Plowshares Movement
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Box
1
Folder
1-2
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Bath Iron Works incident, articles and legal matters, 1997
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Plowshares and the Berrigans, articles
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Plowshares, mailings and events
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John Schuchardt
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Box
1
Folder
5
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General articles
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
7
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United States v. Schuchardt, Portland, Maine, 1997
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Veterans for Peace, Schuchardt and Iraq
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Schuchardt family papers, 1874-1945
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William H. Schuchardt
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Correspondence
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Box
2
Folder
2
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City planning, Los Angeles
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Rudolf F. Schuchardt, telegrams
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Box
2
Folder
4
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“Schuchardt Saga,” family genealogy
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Oversize Folder
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Rudolf F. Schuchardt, diplomas, awards, land deeds
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M2007-094
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Part 3 (M2007-094): Additions, 1989-1997
0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)
: Additions, 1989-1997, consisting of court proceedings following the protest actions at the General Electric plant in 1980 and at AVCO Corporation in 1983. Included are transcripts, testimonies, a petition draft, questions for potential jurors, re-sentencing information, and an article from the Boston Globe.
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