Archives Online at Indiana University

• Home

• Browse

• Search

• Advanced Search

• Help

A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives

Finding aid prepared by Stephanie Singleton

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
American Forum for Global Education.

Collection No.
C350

Extent
7 cubic feet (7 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
The American Forum for Global Education (1986-2008) was a nonprofit organization created through the merger of Global Perspectives in Education, Inc. (1976-1986), which was a former branch of the Center for War/Peace Studies of the New York Friends Group, and the National Council on Foreign Language and International Studies. The American Forum for Global Education provided professional development, curriculum materials, lesson plans, and resources to educators for teaching students about global/international history, culture and sociopolitical issues. This collection is predominantly comprised of publications of the American Forum for Global Education and its predecessor organizations.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Advance notice required for access.

Administrative History

The American Forum for Global Education was a private non-profit organization that operated from 1986 to 2008. Its mission was to promote “the education of our nation’s youth for responsible citizenship in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world,” and to provide leadership and assistance in shaping American educational systems and practices. Moreover, the American Forum for Global Education promoted cultural appreciation, sustainable development and critical and systemic analysis of global issues.

The organization’s foundations trace back to 1966, when Robert Wallace Gilmore and several colleagues started the Center for War/Peace Studies of the New York Friends Group. Gilmore was a Quaker, a pioneer of global education in the United States, and an activist involved in civil rights and peace groups such as the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), the Committee for Non-Violent Action, the International Confederation for Peace and Disarmament, and the Committee for a Political Settlement in Vietnam. Originally organized due to a perceived absence of substantive discourse surrounding the Vietnam War, the goal of the Center for War/Peace Studies was to create citizens capable of thinking critically about global issues by providing global education at every school level.

The Center for War/Peace Studies undertook a number of educational publications and projects, including the publication of the global education resource guide series, Intercom, and the establishment of the Center for Global Perspectives as the umbrella organization for the Center’s school programming. During the reorganization of the Center for War/Peace Studies in 1976, Global Perspectives in Education was incorporated and took over the Center for Global Perspectives, including publishing responsibility for Intercom. In 1986, Global Perspectives in Education, Inc., merged with the National Council on Foreign Language to form the American Forum for Global Education.

The American Forum for Global Education helped schools, school districts and state departments of education upgrade their programs and curriculums to confront challenges and opportunities of globalization. In addition, it published a myriad of global education curriculum resources, provided professional development programs for educators, and created a clearinghouse "for information and materials for global education that offered educators and the general public curriculum material and other resources at no cost via the internet."

Andrew F. Smith was employed by the American Forum for Global Education and its predecessor organizations from 1978 to 2005, including serving as president of the organization from 1981 until it closed in 2008.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series: Conference papers, Correspondence, Publications, and Subject files.

Scope and Content Note

This collection is predominantly composed of publications, mainly written by educators and published by the Center for War/Peace Studies and Global Perspectives in Education, Inc., which later became known as the American Forum for Global Education. The collection is arranged in four series: Conference papers, Correspondence, Publications, and Subject files. The Publications series, 1963-2005, comprises 95% of the collection and is further organized into several subseries: Articles, Books, Curriculum Evaluations, Curriculum Guides and Lesson Plans, Directories and Resource Guides, Journals, Miscellaneous, Newsletters, and Reports.

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Names
  • American Forum for Global Education --Archives.
  • American Forum for Global Education --Records and correspondence.
• • Topics
  • International education --History --20th century --Sources.

Related Material

This collection forms part of The Global and International Education Archive. The website and several publications of the American Forum for Global Education have been archived by the Global and International Education Archive at Indiana University .

Administrative Information

Container List