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Intercollegiate Peace Association
A student-led peace organization from the early 20th century, it used speeches, contests, and conferences to encourage debate about arbitration and international peace. Its published prize orations capture a moment when college students were being urged to think seriously about war, diplomacy, and public responsibility.
1 Audiobook
Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace Association
by Intercollegiate Peace Association
About the author
Organized in 1905 at Goshen College in Indiana, the Intercollegiate Peace Association was formed by peace-church college communities who wanted to promote peace and arbitration among students. Rather than centering on a single authorial voice, the association became a platform for young speakers whose prize-winning orations were later gathered into print.
The association is best remembered for its intercollegiate oratorical contests, which awarded prizes and published winning essays and speeches. These collections give modern readers a window into early 20th-century campus idealism, especially the belief that careful argument and public speaking could help shape a more peaceful world.
Archival records indicate that its activities were reduced during the war years, and that in 1943 the organization’s name changed to the Intercollegiate Peace Speech Association after the deaths of benefactors Mary and Helen Seabury. There appears to be little evidence of the group continuing after 1950, which makes its surviving publications especially valuable as a record of student peace advocacy in that era.