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Collection Number: 04491

Collection Title: North Carolinians for the Freeze Records, 1982-1985

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

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Size 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 800 items)
Abstract North Carolinians for the Freeze, a coalition organized in 1982 as a citizens' group advocating a mutual, verifiable nuclear weapons freeze between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The group's main activitiy was the campaign for a freeze resolution in the 1983 session of the N.C. General Assembly. The resolution narrowly failed. Office files of North Carolinians for the Freeze documenting the organization of a state-wide network to lobby for the N.C. General Assembly freeze resolution, with some material relating to the campaign for the city council of Raleigh, N.C., to pass a "Peace Initiative" ordinance.
Creator North Carolinians for the Freeze.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the North Carolinians for the Freeze Records #4491, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Cyrus B. King of Raleigh, North Carolina, in August 1987.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, October 1987

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

North Carolinians for the Freeze was organized in the fall of 1982 as a citizens' group advocating a mutual, verifiable nuclear weapons freeze between the United States and the Soviet Union. NCF was a loose coalition of freeze groups and individuals from across the state who worked together to promote awareness of the freeze issue and to encourage the introduction and passage of a freeze resolution in the 1983 session of the North Carolina General Assembly.

The group was based in Raleigh, in office space donated by Common Cause. Dale M. Evarts of the Raleigh Peace Initiative was hired as general coordinator. Evarts had been active in the 1982 drive that resulted in the Raleigh City Council's adoption of an ordinance requiring the city manager to petition the president annually for a nuclear arms freeze. In addition to Common Cause, NCF received support from the American Friends Service Committee, SANE, the War Resisters' League, and other groups.

NCF was instrumental in lobbying for the freeze resolution that was introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly on 16 February 1983 by Representative H. Parks Helms (D-Mecklenburg) and Senator William G. Hancock, Jr. (D-Durham). The House resolution was passed on 4 March, but a joint resolution, designed to put both houses on record as favoring the freeze, eventually went down in defeat in the Senate, even though twenty-four of the fifty state senators were listed as sponsors. It was widely reported that the intervention of anti-freeze Lt. Governor James C. Green was the primary cause of the resolution's failure.

NCF was officially disbanded in January 1985, although activity had stopped, for the most part, after the freeze resolution's demise.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Files, 1982-1985, from the office of North Carolinians for the Freeze. Most files retain the titles assigned by NCF staff; a few titles have been changed to clarify contents. Of interest is the set of notes marked "Background" in the publicity file, which documents some of the history of the organization and its activities.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse North Carolinians for the Freeze Records, 1982-1985.

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