The Community Activism series, 1981-2003, documents Mary Hathaway's involvement with a number of peace and social justice organizations in the Ann Arbor area and is further divided into the subseries: Coalition for Arms Control (CAC), Coalition Against War in the Gulf, Economic Conversion Task Force, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Shelters, and the What is National Security Forum.
The Coalition for Arms Control (CAC) comprises the bulk of this series. This subseries includes Mary's meeting minutes and notes, event information and publicity, and a substantial amount of correspondence with Michigan politicians, particularly Rep. Carl Pursell. The organization changed its name to Peace and Environmental Coalition Against Nuclear Weapons (PECANW) in 1998 to reflect its broadened focus on environmental concerns; however, the majority of the files in this collection date from the period when the organization was called the Coalition for Arms Control, so that is the name used for the organization throughout the collection.
The Coalition Against War in the Gulf subseries includes meeting minutes, event fliers, and correspondence relating to the Persian Gulf War. Included in this subseries are buttons, armbands, and other items that the coalition sold in order to raise money for their anti-war efforts.
The Economic Conversion Task Force subseries contains meeting minutes and outside publications addressing the possibility of moving away from a military-based economy.
The subseries relates to a community forum organized in 1981 by Mary and Will Hathaway and titled What is National Security.