The Greenham Common Collection

Periodicals: Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp News' (1 issue, 1983); pamphlets (1982-1983), ephemera including leaflets and circulars (1982-1983); Press cuttings (1982-1983), badges.

<p>More material can be found in the corresponding collections within the Library.</p>

This collection is open for consultation. Intending readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

During a telephone conversation with Jayne Nelson (donor of 7/JAN) in November 1998, she mentioned that she had given a sizeable Greenham Common Archive to the Library in July 1983 after quite some discussion with the then Archivist, and that she had wanted the collection to be kept together. She had given about two boxes of Greenham-related material.

There are no archival accession records for any collection specifically from Jayne Nelson or Greenham Common from that time, and no Greenham Common Archive either. Her Greenham collection was therefore not treated holistically as an archive in 1983, but was separated out into the various Library categories of periodical, pamphlet, ephemera and presscuttings, and indexed or collated under the heading "Greenham Common" in each category. There are significant clusters of Greenham Common material dating 1982-1983 in each of these categories.

The matter was complicated by the fact that the Library concurrently received Greenham Common material from other sources, some, but not all, as a result of Jayne Nelson's encouragement. Because of this, it is now impossible physically to reconstitute the Greenham Common archive of July 1983 - the exact provenance of Jayne Nelson's collection no longer exists - but an attempt has been made here to reconstitute to the possible collection intellectually.

Correspondence relating to the provenance and circumstances surrounding the 1983 gift can be found in 7/JAN/2.1.

RAF Greenham Common first became home to the US Army Air Force in November 1943, when the 354th Fighter Group moved in as part of the Allies efforts to meet the Nazi Government's aerial operations. Greenham Common, near Newbury in Berkshire, became a bomber operational training unit. Following the invasion of France, the Americans transferred their resources to France and Greenham Common reverted to RAF control until it was closed in 1946. However, as the Cold War began, it was reopened in 1951 as a US Strategic Air Command, coming into American Airforce operational control in June 1953. It was closed once more in 1961 only to be reopened in 1964, when it also became a NATO standby base. NATO's decision in 1979 to base ground cruise missiles at Greenham Common was a response to the proliferation of nuclear forces which occurred throughout that decade. It was in the wake of this announcement that the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp opened at this site. In September 1981 a Welsh group of 36 individuals opposed to nuclear power, called Women for Life on Earth, walked 120 miles from their headquarters to raise awareness of this issue and to protest against NATO's decision to site cruise missiles at Greenham Common. On reaching their destination they chained themselves to the perimeter fence and subsequently established a 'peace camp' there which was to remain for another two decades. The 'camp' itself consisted of nine smaller camps: the first was Yellow Gate, established the month after Women for Peace on Earth reached the airbase; others established in 1983 were Green Gate, the nearest to the silos, and the only entirely exclusive women-only camp at all times, the others accepting male visitors during the day; Turquoise Gate; Blue Gate with its new age focus; Pedestrian Gate; Indigo Gate; Violet Gate identified as being religiously focussed; Red Gate known as the artists gate; and Orange Gate. A central core of women lived either full-time or for stretches of time at any one of the gate camps with other staying for various lengths of time. From the beginning, links were formed with local feminist and anti-nuclear groups across the country while early support was received from the Women's Peace Alliance in order to facilitate these links and give publicity through its newsletter. In March 1982 the first blockade of the base occurred, staged by 250 women and during which 34 arrests were made. In May the first attempt to evict the peace camp was made as bailiffs and police attempted to clear the women and their possessions from the site. However, the camp was simply re-located to a nearby site. That same year, in February, the camp went onto a women only footing and in December, in response to chain letter sent out by organisers 30,000 women assembled to surround the site and 'embrace the base'. In January 1983 Newbury District Council revoked the common land bye-laws for Greenham Common, becoming the private landlord for the site and instituting Court proceedings to reclaim eviction costs, actions which were ruled as illegal by the House of Lords in 1990. The following April, CND supporters staged action which involved 70,000 people forming a 14-mile human chain linking Burghfield, Aldermaston and Greenham. However, the first transfer of cruise missiles to the airbase occurred in November 1983. Another major event occurred in December when 50,000 women encircled the base, holding up mirrors and taking down sections of the fence, resulting in hundreds of arrests. In 1987, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty was signed by the USA and the Soviet Union, and two years later in August 1989 the first step in the removal of cruise missiles from the Greenham Common airbase occurred, a process which was completed in March 1991. The American airforce handed control of the base to the Royal Air Force in September of the following year, who handed the base over to the Defence Land Agent three weeks later. On 1st January 2000 the last of the Greenham Common Women protestors left the camp.