Our History

In 1986, activists from a number of small peace & justice groups in the Missoula area  envisioned a central clearinghouse for peace information and resources, and a meeting place to gather human spirit for peacemaking.

Their hope was to move a concern for peacemaking from the invisible fringes of the community directly into its heart. From a small, loaned room in a church basement, to a rented storefront, to its own home by the Clark Fork River in downtown Missoula, the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center (JRPC) has established itself as a visible and active force for a positive future. Whenever the peace is disturbed – locally, nationally or globally – our phones ring off the hook. Media, local government officials, members of the University community, activists and the general public turn to us as a source of information, wider means of information dissemination, or a place to network with other concerned individuals. With the buildup toward war on Iraq, planning and implementation of multiple rallies occurred here through which thousands of concerned Montanans gathered in the cause of peace.

Learn more about the history peace activism in Missoula.

• University of Montana’s Archives and Special Collections has a collection of oral history interviews that were conducted by Dawn Walsh for the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center. The interviewees were former and current members of the Missoula Women for Peace and detail their interest and activities related to peace activism. We have just learned that  those interviews (both the audio and transcripts) are now available online at this link https://scholarworks.umt.edu/missoulawomenforpeace_oralhistory/. 

• Beyond the Divide