The Pugwash Archives:
A small quantity of archives relates to the pre-history and early history of the Pugwash movement (mainly the second half of the 1950s), including some relating to Bertrand Russell (instigator of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto) who served as first president of Pugwash (RTBT 5/1/1 - 3). Some appears to have been brought together to inform research into the history of the movement. Drafts of histories and related correspondence are also included (RTBT 5/1/4)

The core archives - representing over half the Pugwash archive in terms of physical quantity - are those relating to Conferences and other meetings, including correspondence regarding planning and arrangement, research papers presented, formal proceedings and notes of discussions. They represent an almost complete series for the period 1957 - 2005, except for some gaps representing meetings near the end of Joseph Rotblat’s life, when he was unable to attend (RTBT 5/22/1-17)
Soon after its origin, Pugwash evolved structures for governance and management. Archives include minutes and meeting papers for the Continuing Committee (consisting of a few key people), of the much larger governing Council into which it evolved, and of the smaller Executive Committee which was created in the 1970s to provide a focus for decision making (see RTBT 5/3/1 - 4).
There is also a considerable amount of correspondence (RTBT 5/4). Some relates to matters of international significance (such as the development of official Pugwash views on issues such as the United Nations Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and other matters , the Vietnam and Iraq Wars); some relates to awards and international recognition of the movement (notably the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded jointly to Pugwash and Joseph Rotblat in 1995); some relates to routine and internal matters. There is also a large quantity of correspondence with Pugwash participants, supporters and other named individuals.
Pugwash was an international movement, but in many countries national groups grew up for those sharing its aims, which organised their own activities and contributed financially to Pugwash activities. The archive includes correspondence with these national groups and some records of their activities and publications, 1959 - 2005 (RTBT 5/5/1 - 2 and RTBT 5/5/6).
From the 1970s, students and other young people were also encouraged to participate and to organise their own activities both nationally and internationally, and there are some records of these activities as well as of the central International Student / Young Pugwash organisation (ISYP) which developed at the end of the twentieth century. (RTBT 5/5/3 - 5)
For the British Pugwash Group (RTBT 5/6), in which Joseph Rotblat played an active role, there are minutes of meetings and more extensive records of its campaigning and publication activities 1960 - 2005, as well as records of the celebrations organised by the Group to mark Joseph Rotblat’s 90th birthday and records of the British Pugwash Trust.
To provide legal structures for the management of contracts, finances, taxation and receipt of charitable donations, formal entities were established, whose sole purpose was to benefit Pugwash and its aims. The Society for Education in the Applications of Science (SEAS) was established as a UK charity in 1968 and wound up in 1991; minutes, accounts and other archives are held 1960 - 1992 (RTBT 5/7/1). Pugwash Limited was established as a company under UK law in 1962 and continues to exist (as at 2013); minutes of Board of Directors meetings, accounts and other archives are held 1962 - 2003 (RTBT 5/7/2). The Pugwash Foundation was established under Swiss law in 1987; some copy minutes, accounts and other archives are held for the period 1984 - 2004 (RTBT 5/7/2; not complete).
In its early days Pugwash activities were run on a voluntary basis, with Rotblat and other members of the Continuing Committee carrying out all the administrative and financial activities themselves, but later an office was set up and secretarial assistance employed. Some archives relating to staff and financial matters, 1958 - 2002 are represented (RTBT 5/8). Offices with their own staff were also established in offices in Rome, Geneva and Washington DC; no records of these are held, though occasionally copies of correspondence with these offices were sent to the London office.
RTBT 5/9 consists of publicity and other material produced by Pugwash together with press cuttings and other papers concerning Pugwash and printed copies of circular emails to which Pugwash subscribed.
RTBT 5/10 is material not strictly relating to Pugwash which originated with Bernard Feld (1919 - 1993), Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who as Secretary General of Pugwash was based at the Pugwash London office in London during the mid 1970s.