The Friends of FMCS (Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service) History is a not-for-profit foundation for the purpose of gathering, preserving and publicizing the history of FMCS, and its predecessor, the USCS (United States Conciliation Service). Together these two organizations have provided a full time mediation staff for over ninety years.
This site illustrates this long history with materials from the Friends extensive archive. Papers, documents, photos, interviews and other memorabilia sketch an institutional history that dwarfs newer mediation providers started in the last thirty years.
The founder of the Friends, I began gathering these materials as a young FMCS mediator in 1964. I created the Friends fifteen years ago using personal resources, small donations and a three-year grant.
If you find these materials informative and useful, donations of any size will be appreciated. Please give appropriate credit to the Friends or the website (mediationhistory.org) if you use any material from the site.
For more information about the Friends go to About Us.
Thanks to Norm Lee's generous donation that made this website possible!
Welcome to MEDIATIONHISTORY.ORG
Jerome T. Barrett, Founder