Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open to research.

Publication Rights

Contact George Mason University Libraries, SCA for information.

Preferred Citation

Edwin M. Lynch Collection, George Mason University Libraries

Biographical/Historical Information

Born in Annandale, Virginia, Edwin M. Lynch, a prominent Northern Virginia real estate businessman, served as Fairfax County delegate to the Virginia General Assembly from 1945 to 1947 and again from 1949 to 1954. Lynch had been a benefactor to the GMU Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, ICAR, since the late 1980s. As a George Mason University Foundation trustee and an ICAR advisory board member and chairman, Lynch supported a framework of programs that have ensured a margin of excellence and distinction for the Institute. In 1987 Lynch endowed the first chair and an annual lecture series, in memory of his parents, Vernon and Minnie. The following year, he helped to establish the doctoral program, the first in the world. In 1996, Lynch and his wife, Helen, created the John W. Burton Endowment, named for one of ICAR most distinguished professors.

Scope and Content Information

The Vietnamese Conflict Protest Collection donated to George Mason University by Edwin Lynch provides information on the discontent and disillusionment which came to exist among some segments of the American people as a result of American military intervention in Southeast Asia. The Collection covers the period of time ranging from 1965 to 1975, with the bulk of the material from the years 1967 to 1971.

The Collection consists of a variety of materials relating to the Vietnamese Conflict including pamphlets, booklets, correspondence, posters, reprint articles, newspaper clippings, various antiwar publications, and the minutes of meetings of several antiwar groups. These items are arranged by subject heading in alphabetical order, and the material within the individual files is arranged in chronological order. Much of the information contained in the Collection relates to the activities of various groups that were formed to protest the American involvement in Vietnam, groups representing such disparate segments of the population as the clergy and business executives. While this information manages to give us a good view of the antiwar movement in the United States as both a local and a national phenomenon, the collection is particularly valuable for the information it provides on the work of local groups i.e., those based in and concerned with the Washington D.C. area, including Northern Virginia.

Arrangement

by subject