Papers of the Aldermaston Women's Peace Campaign

Correspondence, circulars, ephemera, press cuttings, legal documents and other papers, mostly from the 1990s.

The Aldermaston Women's Peace Campaign was launched in December 1986 by a group of women who had been active in protests at Greenham Common. A small group had visited the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston the previous August and realised how little awareness there was of its work. The group aimed to highlight the work being done at AWE, to provide up-to-date information for workers and the public, and support and co-ordinate women-only nonviolent direct action at the AWE. The AWPC held a peace camp every month. Its other activities included yearly summer tours of military bases (by van and later by bicycles), blockades (including Beltane bonfires), rallies, vigils, workshops, and banner-making. Some women climbed or cut the fence to explore or provoke legal challenges, such as Harris's cutting of the AWE fence, which blocked a public footpath. Visitors to the camp have included two women from the Western Shoshone Nation protesting about the testing of nuclear weapons made at AWE on tribal lands in Nevada. At the time this catalogue was produced, the Camp(aign) remained active, "calling for an end to the production of nuclear warheads at Aldermaston, the decommissioning of the current stockpile, and AWE's expertise to be used for worldwide nuclear disarmament" (www.aldermaston.net).

The original files and system of arrangement used by the creator have been retained where these are evident.

Available to researchers, by appointment. Access to archive material is subject to preservation requirements and must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation. This Archive contains correspondence and other items likely to contain personal data so access to these files is restricted under the Data Protection Act pending further cataloguing. This will be carried out in response to user demand so individuals are encouraged to inform Special Collections of their interest in this material.

Donated to Special Collections by Del Gwynfyd Harris in 2013.

The Administrative history is based on information from the AWPC website, documents in the archive, and information in a letter from the donor to Special Collections.

A basic boxlist has been produced to make the Archive accessible as quickly as possible. This will be further refined in response to user demand.

This description is 'interim'; it is published as part of our 'First Sort' programme which aims to put basic information about new archives into the public domain as quickly as possible. We will refine and enrich it in response to user demand.
Described by Alison Cullingford, June 2016, using ISAD (G) 2.

Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of Special Collections staff, subject to copyright law and the condition of the originals. Applications for permission to make published use of any material should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian in the first instance. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Publications have been relocated to other collections. Appraisal of remaining material will be carried out as the Archive is catalogued in more detail.

Further accruals are expected.