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National Library of Wales: Peace petition from 1923 comes home

WCIA / Temple of Peace Archives black and white photo of women in 1924 holding a petitionWCIA / Temple of Peace Archives
Annie Hughes-Griffiths, Mary Ellis, Elined Prys and Gladys Thomas took the petition to Washington DC in 1924

A 100-year-old peace petition signed by nearly 400,000 women has been returned to Wales from the United States.

It called on the US to join a League of Nations and has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC since 1924.

Signatures gathered over seven months represented 30% of Wales' female population at the time.

The petition and a chest have now been donated to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.

Soon after World War One, a group of women in Wales organised a campaign for world peace.

Annie Hughes-Griffiths led the effort, with two paid staff and 400 organisers getting 390,296 women to sign their petition.

Mrs Hughes-Griffiths, Mary Ellis, Elined Prys and Gladys Thomas left Wales in February 1924, taking the petition to Washington DC in a specially-designed chest.

The New York press at the time described it as "a monster petition" said to have been seven miles (11km) long.

WCIA / Temple of Peace Archives book cover and petition pages insideWCIA / Temple of Peace Archives
Nearly 400,000 signature were gathered by volunteers going door to door over seven months in 1923

"Annie Hughes-Griffiths gave countless speeches," said Mererid Hopwood from the Women's Peace Petition Partnership, a group that worked over many years to bring the petition home.

"They travelled around with their message in Salt Lake City, Chicago, Colorado, San Francisco, Los Angeles and many more."

The peace campaigners were welcomed to the White House by President Calvin Coolidge, who then gave it to the Smithsonian for preservation.

The names on the petition will be digitised and made available online as part of a £249,262 National Lottery award to a peace petition project.

a wooden chest
The petition, said to be seven miles (11km) long was taken to America in this wooden chest

National Library of Wales chief executive Pedr ap Llwyd called the petition's arrival back "remarkable".

"I can't possibly imagine how these ladies gathered such a vast number of signatures, without the conveniences of the web we have today. It's incredible.

"It's remarkable that the Smithsonian has released such an important archive or collection to another national institution."

WCIA / Temple of Peace Archives black and white photo of women in 1923 holding a flagWCIA / Temple of Peace Archives
Women in Wales were campaigning for women in the America to lobby for the United States to join the League of Nations