Physician and pacifist active in movement of conscientious objectors opposing use of their taxes for military purposes; chairperson and honorary national chairperson of the National Council for a World Peace Tax Fund (name changed in 1985 to National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund). Pacifist Issues series includes materials collected and created by Bassett on a variety of pacifist issues, primarily war tax resistance and conscientious objection; the Peace Tax Fund series consists of chronological files and topological files relating to the work of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund; and series of manuals, handbooks and reference materials.
The David R. Bassett Papers document Bassett's activities in local and national peace-related organizations, most notably the peace tax fund movement from 1963 to 2002. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, agendas, memos, newspaper clippings, articles, interview transcripts, flyers, brochures, handouts, notes and newsletters, as well as a number of handbooks and manuals. The collection divides into four series. Pacifist Issues concern Bassett's peace-related activities. The next series, which makes up the bulk of the collection, contains the organizational records of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund. The last two series are devoted to related groups, including Other Organizations based in the United States, or International groups devoted to peace tax funds or other peace-related causes.
