Wesleyan University Parley conference scrapbooks

The Parley Committee of 1930 described the Wesleyan Parley as follows: "This parley is offered to the friends, guests and students of Wesleyan with the basic assumption that we as students have no prerogative to be utterly carefree or completely cloistered from the stress and flux of affairs 'off-campus.' We believe that without scorning campus interests a student may wisely concern himself with the interwoven political and economic forces that have given his people prosperity - and in turn have given him his Alma Mater."

"In a day when our government is groping through new and bewildering mazes, it seems no more than decently sporting that we students grapple these problems…Though in some campus circles this is treason, we cordially invite you to make the most of it."

Wesleyan parleys were arranged by the Parley Committee of the College Body (the student government) with secretarial assistance from the Christian Association. The Parley Committee generally consisted of four to ten students, along with faculty help until 1930. The annual conferences featured scholars from around the country discussing some of the day's most controversial and important topics, including labor, crime, race, marriage, and foreign policy. The tradition of Wesleyan Parleys began in 1924 and lasted until about the early 1960s. Chronology List Items marked with an asterisk (*) have accompanying scrapbooks. 1924-1925 College Life and Society 1925-1926 American College Education 1926-1927 American College Education 1927-1928 Symposium on Religion 1928-1929 Parley on War 1929-1930 *American Government and Business 1930-1931 *Parley on Crime 1931-1932 *Parley on Disarmament 1932-1933 *Parley on Marriage 1933-1934 *Parley on Race Relations 1934-1935 *Parley on Political Philosophies 1935-1936 *Parley on Labor Relations 1936-1937 *Parley on Marriage 1937-1938 *Parley on Higher Education in a Democracy 1938-1939 Parley on Inter-fraternity Relations (preliminary College Body Parley) 1938-1939 *Parley on American Foreign Policy 1939-1940 *Parley on the Political Issues in the Coming Election 1940-1941 *Parley on Marriage 1941-1942 *Parley on the Part of College Youth in the Post-War World 1946-1947 *Parley on Marriage 1947-1948 *Parley on Labor-Management Relations 1948-1949 *Parley on the United States and World Affairs 1949-1950 *Parley on Civil Liberties and American Minorities 1950-1951 Parley on Communism in a Democratic World 1952-1953 The Future of American Conservatism 1955-1956 India Today 1956-1957 The New Middle East 1958-1959 War and Peace in the Space Age 1959-1960 Parley on Social Responsibility in Labor Relations 1959-1960 The Face of American Morality 1960-1961 The South in Search of Itself 1961-1962 Government Secrecy in a Free Society 1962-1963 The Future of American Labor 1963-1964 Humor in Politics 1964-1965 Modern Dance, Music, and Theater 1965-1966 Future of the Civil Rights Movement