Welcome to the web site for the

Peace Museum of the Delaware Valley

A peace museum in the Delaware Valley is still just a developing idea. This could be the beginning of something meaningful. A new museum could become a place where people can and learn, not just the history of the peace movement, but a living organization that might explore the origins of violence in our culture. A place where real experiences are shared. It could a place where children can learn alternatives to violent behavior. It could be a place that holds the seeds of the future. A future that works against war. Our culture needs places where peace is taught and where non-violent methods are made available to all.

We can look at what has been proven to work in the past and apply it to the future.

Why a peace museum?

Did you know that there are hundreds of war museums and many war colleges in the United States, but only 3 peace museums?

Did you know that there are only approximately 60 peace museums in the entire world?

Our culture, now more than ever, needs places where the idea of peace is not just some remote concept.  We have come to learn that “health “ is not just the absence of disease; it is an active process of learning and taking good care of ourselves. In the same manner, we may come to learn that peace is a much more active process than just the absence of war.

There are many peace centers in this country doing incredible work. Peace museums compliment that work by presenting the history and providing a place peace of study.

Why have a Peace Museum in the Delaware Valley ?

The Delaware Valley has a rich history in peace. William Penn maintained peace with the Native American people and negotiated fair payments for their land in his own lifetime.  Chief Tamanend was partner with William Penn in the boldly-conceived 1683 agreement that Europeans and Indians would live together in peace. Penn's unprecedented Indian treaties captured the imagination of Europe. Voltaire wrote about them as portent of a new age and an exception to European extermination and expulsion or even enslavement of the American Indians.

This history is exemplified in the famous “Peaceable Kingdom” paintings of Edward Hicks, a Quaker who was born and painted in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Edward Hicks 1780-1849 Peaceable Kingdom, ca. 1848
Oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 31 7/8"
James G. Forsyth Fund, 1940

The early Quakers and other early settlers in Pennsylvania believed in justice and freedom for all people. They were later in the forefront of abolishing slavery and promoters of rights for women.

What will the Peace Museum be like?

The Peace Museum of the Delaware Valley will be nondenominational. However, because much peace work over the years has been done by “Peace Churches” there will be many references to various religious bodies.  Our website is hosted by Buckingham Friends Meeting in Lahaska, PA.

Most peace museums in this country and around the world are places that actively educate all ages. Most museums have collections of objects related to various peace activities. These objects tell stories about what many people have done to promote peace.

Many have galleries showing artistic works that uniquely convey the struggle for peace in our time as well as throughout history. Most museums such as the Dayton International Peace Museum (http://www.daytonpeacemuseum.org) have traveling exhibits that are loaned to various schools and community groups.

Multimedia presentations and children’s activities focusing on nonviolent conflict resolution are also main features of peace museums.

The Peace Museum of the Delaware Valley could be all of the above and even more.

How can you help?

If you are interested in becoming part of this wonderful new project please contact us at:

The Peace Museum of the Delaware Valley
c\o John Bailey
86 Rocktown Rd.
Ringoes NJ 08551
jbailey@crusoe.net

Links

If you would like to learn more about other Peace museums, please use these links:

http://www.peacehistorysociety.org/

http://www.wagingpeace.org/

http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/

http://www.museumsforpeace.org/organizations_Museums_for_Peace.htm

http://www.daytonpeacemuseum.org/

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

http://www.peacemuseum.org/

http://pax.protest.net/

http://www.nion.us/

http://www.peacetalksonline.org/

http://www.peacetalksradio.com/

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html

http://www.ipb.org/web/index.php

http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/

http://www.nonviolence.org/

http://www.amnesty.org/

http://www.worldpeace.org/peacepoles.html

I and the people know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done,
Do Evil in return.   W.H. Auden

Peace

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