League of Women Voters of Oberlin Records

Collection

Identifier: RG 31-006-005

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Records include minutes of general meetings and board meetings, 1924-1950; an annual report, 1945-46; bulletins, 1944-1960, 1969-1972; correspondence, 1955-1959; printed matter, 1956-1970; newspaper clipping, 1941, 1952, and 1947-1965; and three scrapbooks, 1949-1961. Folders of information from various committees cover the following topics: “Citizen’s View of 1952,” a program sponsored by NBC Radio; “Life Magazine”; the League of Women Voters, 1952-53; finance drives, 1953-1972; floridation, 1951-1954; the Freedom Agenda (attacked by House Un-American Activities Committee), 1955; housing/zoning/planning, ca. 1959; Oberlin ordinances, 1957; “Know Your Town,” ca. 1947-1952; libraries, ca. 1938-1947; Lorain County, 1937-1955; membership, 1949-1958; solid waste, 1971-72; taxes, ca. 1957-1974; and water pollution, 1968-1970.

Dates

Creation: 1924-2006, undated
Other: Date acquired: 01/14/1975

Creator

League of Women Voters of Oberlin (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted

Administrative History

The League of Women Voters was organized as the successor to the National American Woman Suffrage Association when women won the right to vote in 1920. As a national nonpartisan organization, it promotes political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. Though nonpartisan, the organization selects national, state, and local issues to study each year, and it takes a stand if there is a consensus among members. The Oberlin chapter was very active from the early 1920s through the mid-1970s, when it folded due to lack of new membership.

Sources Consulted

Roland M. Baumann, editor, Guide to the Women’s History Sources in the Oberlin College Archives (Oberlin: Oberlin College, 1990).

Note written by Roland M. Baumann.