The archives of the League of Nations are a unique source of information not only about the League (1919-1946), but also about peace movements and international relations in general from the end of the nineteenth century. The collections represent 3,000 linear metres of textual records and documents, as well as brochures and pamphlets, visual documents and museum items.
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The League of Nations archives proper consist not only of the original files of the Secretariat of the League (correspondence and documents received or produced by the various sections or other administrative units of the Secretariat), but also of the Commission files (records of external League organs), concerning the Financial Reconstruction of Austria and Hungary, the Saar Governing Commission, the Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, the Upper Silesia Mixed Commission and the files created by the Economic and Financial Section of the League Secretariat installed in Princeton during the Second World War. The Refugees Mixed Archives Group (“Nansen Fonds”) includes files from the Secretariat of the League of Nations, from the International Labour Office and from more or less autonomous bodies.
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Private papers of officials and delegates also form part of the archival collections, as well as other very important collections concerned with the history of peace movements from the end of the nineteenth century, particularly the archives of Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) and Alfred Fried (1864-1921) and of the International Peace Bureau (1892-1951).
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The League of Nations documents collection consists of official publications (printed or mimeographed), minutes, working papers and documents of the various League organs.
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The visual collections consist of photographs of pacifists and postcards from the peace movements-related archives; photographs of League of Nations personalities, delegates, and the Palais des Nations; caricatures and other visual material such as pre- and post-war political posters and original interior designs of the Palais des Nations.
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