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League of Women Voters of Delaware County records
Notifications
Held at: Delaware County Historical Society [Contact Us]408 Avenue of the States, Chester, Pennsylvania, 19013
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Delaware County Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
"The League of Women Voters was founded by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920 during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The convention was held just six months before the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote after a 72-year struggle. The League began as a "mighty political experiment" designed to help 20 million women carry out their new responsibilities as voters. It encouraged them to use their new power to participate in shaping public policy. From the beginning, the League has been an activist, grassroots organization whose leaders believed that citizens should play a critical role in advocacy. It was then, and is now, a nonpartisan organization. League founders believed that maintaining a nonpartisan stance would protect the fledgling organization from becoming mired in the party politics of the day. However, League members were encouraged to be political themselves, by educating citizens about, and lobbying for, government and social reform legislation." (League of Women Voters of the United States)
"The League of Women Voters of Delaware County is a consortium of three local League organizations in Delaware County: Central Delaware County, Haverford and Radnor. Officially known as an Inter League Organization (ILO), [the] membership is made up of the members of these three Leagues. [The local organizations work to] provide voter service to all citizens in Delaware County, monitor all Delaware County Council meetings, greet new citizens at naturalization ceremonies, take action on issues affecting the county where the League has a position, study issues...[and] answer questions about voting and government." (League of Women Voters of Delaware County)
Bibliography:
Quoted text from: League of Women Voters of the United States. "History." Accessed June 24, 2013. http://www.lwv.org/history
Quoted text from: League of Women Voters of Delaware County. "About Us." Accessed June 24, 2013. http://delco.palwv.org/delco/about/index.htm
This collection consists of records of the League of Women Voters of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, circa 1960-circa 1999, including administrative and organizational records, event materials, and literature on local and national policy issues. The administrative and organizational records in this collection include meeting minutes (1960-circa 1990s), correspondence, and some financial records. There is a large quantity of material relating to the planning of local debates between politicians organized by the local League, such as correspondence, event programs, clippings, and press kits. The issue-related literature focuses on topics including public health, trash collection and an incinerator for Delaware County, and gambling legalization.
There are also materials relating to the history of the League of Women Voters and the consolidation of the League, as well as some documents from the national, Pennsylvania, and other branches of the League.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Delaware County Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
- League of Women Voters (U.S.)
- League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County (Pa.)
- League of Women Voters of Delaware County (Pa.)
- League of Women Voters of Haverford (Haverford, Pa.)
- League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
- League of Women Voters of Radnor (Radnor, Pa.)
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Delaware County Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Delaware County Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.