Perris, Harry Shaw

Biography

English author and academic who wrote and lectured on Anglo-American relations, U.S. history, and issues of war and peace in Europe. As secretary of the British Peace Centenary Committee, Perris was one of the British delegates invited to the United States to assist in the organization of the celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of Peace Among English-speaking Peoples, 24 December 1814- 24 December 1914. The U.S. National Committee was organized in New York in February, 1910, with the aim of honoring the Treaty of Ghent and celebrating the century of peace between America and the British Empire. Invitations were extended to many other European countries with the purpose of cultivating world-wide good will. It was less a commemmoration of the past than a covenant of a continuation for the future of present amity and good will. The Honorary Chairman was Theodore Roosevelt but the committee had no governmental nor diplomatic functions.

From the guide to the Perris, Harry Shaw, 1907-1926, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)