Between World Wars I and II, 6 Byron Street was the office of the Massachusetts Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Florence Luscomb (1887-1985) was executive secretary of the office from 1929-1933. An early graduate of MIT, Luscomb gave up her career in architecture to work full time for the women’s movement. After women’s suffrage was passed, she was the executive secretary for the newly formed Massachusetts League of Women Voters and narrowly missed being elected to the Boston City Council. She became involved in the labor movement and ran for governor in 1952, continuing her antiwar and civil rights activities until her death. During the time the WILPF office was here, Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961), the second American woman to earn the Nobel Peace Prize, served as national president. Balch was a native of Boston and a former Wellesley College professor. From 1919 to 1922, as first international secretary-treasurer of WILPF in Geneva, Balch launched the new organization and set up its guidelines. In 1946, Balch followed Jane Addams (1860-1935) when she earned the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts and the work of WILPF.
