NEVER BEFORE  have the personal writings of those who were conscientious objectors to World War I been made available online to this extent, both as images of the texts and as transcriptions.*

HERE  the words of the C.O.s themselves shine, telling about their experiences through their own voices.

HERE  the legacy of their questions and convictions help us today when violence and war confront us.

HERE the Centennial of the Great War is acknowledged as an important time to reflect on the role of the conscience in dissent in every century.

This website seeks to showcase hundreds of digitized archival items from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection (and, in time, other institutions), presenting a wide range of Conscientious Objector (C.O.) thought from the time period of 1914-1920, giving us both non-religious and religious viewpoints and experiences from America and Great Britain.


*See also the Plowshares Digital Archives [http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/about]