The printed material collected by Gilman which forms this series reflects her political beliefs, her commitment to social justice, and her hope for peace in the years preceding World War II.

Like other persons in the 1920s and 1930s who had become discouraged in the aftermath of World War I, Gilman believed something could be learned from the Soviet system. This series contains pamphlets, clippings, and notes relating to Russia and assembled at the time of Gilman's fact-finding trip to the Soviet Union in 1930. Pamphlets are also included from organizations concerned with civil liberties and disarmament such as the A.A.U.W., the A.C.L.U., the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Peace Patriots.

Other pamphlets in this series relate to labor problems prevalent in the 1930s and were compiled by well-known Socialist writers: Scott Nearing, I.M. Rubinow, Edmund Chaffee, and David P. Berenberg.

Gilman's own philosophy of Socialism was closely associated with her personal principles of Christian thought. As social and political events accelerated in the 1930s, Gilman apparently adopted the pacifist outlook. Other printed material in this series was produced by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, the National Council for Prevention of War, and the War Resisters League.

The final items in this series relate to the Spanish Civil War and a peace movement in the United States. Included are copies of Spanish war photographs, an American Students Union Bulletin outlining a student strike for peace, April 27, 1938, and a notice of a peace strike organized at The Johns Hopkins University.