Call Number:

SCRC 291

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

67 linear feet (60 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Elizabeth Thoman Media Literacy Collection, SCRC 291, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1943-2010 (inclusive)

Form:

Administrative records, Audiocassettes, Clippings, Compact discs, Correspondence, DVDs, Ephemera, Financial records, Floppy disks, Legal documents, Minutes (administrative records), Negatives, Newsletters, Periodicals, Photocopies, Photographs, Publications (documents), Reports, Slides, Sound recordings, Speeches (documents), Transparencies, VHS (TM), and video recordings (physical artifacts)

Abstract:

Sister Elizabeth Thoman (1943-2016) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to John and Gertrude Thoman, and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1964, she entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in Davenport, Iowa, taking her final vows in 1966. She earned a bachelor's degree from Marycrest College (Davenport, IA), and master's degrees from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications and from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles.

Thoman taught high school English in Iowa from 1967 to 1969, and worked as a staff photographer for the Franciscan Communications Center from 1970 to 1975. She founded and led the National Sisters Communication Service in Los Angeles, an organization that provided communication resources for communities of women religious around the country. It was in these positions that Thoman developed her interest in communication and media literacy education.

In 1977, Thoman founded Media&Values magazine, dedicated to examining gender and racial stereotypes in the media; media regulation; children and media; violence in the media; and other issues. In 1984, the magazine was purchased by the Media Action Research Center (MARC), and in 1989, the magazine incorporated on its own as the Center for Media and Values (CMV). The center's name changed to the Center for Media Literacy (CML) in 1994, citing a desire to "shift to a service 'movement' as opposed to a 'publisher' of educational resources." Media&Values ceased publication in 1994, and was superseded by the Connect newsletter (which had begun as a supplement to the magazine in 1990).

From 1991 to 1995, CML produced some of the first generation of educational resources and tools about the media in the country and was a pioneer not only in publishing resources for direct use in the classroom, but also in teacher training and professional development for educators. CML created the package "Beyond Blame: Challenging Violence in the Media, " and its teacher training efforts included a Crash Course in Media Literacy. CML was also involved in the Felton Media Literacy Scholars Program, funded by television pioneer Normal Felton. In 1996 CML hosted the Second National Media Literacy Conference. In 2002, CML published its MediaLit Kit, a tool for teaching and learning in the context of a media age.

Some of Thoman's other accomplishments include the Partnership for Media Education (PME), which she founded in 1997 with three other leaders in the media literacy field (Renee Hobbs, Lisa Reisberg, and Nancy Chase Garcia), to support an annual national media literacy conference. In 2000, PME evolved into the Alliance for a Media Literate America (AMLA), the first professional national membership organization dedicated to media literacy. In 2008, the board changed the name to the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).

Thoman testified before Congress, published numerous articles, spoke at many conferences, and was the recipient of awards for her important role in the development of media literacy education in the United States.

Upon her retirement in 2006, Thoman continued her interested in photography and established Healing Petals (http://www.healingpetals.org/), a collection of flower photographs designed to inspire meditation and prayer. Thoman died at the age of 73 on December 22, 2016, at the Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, Iowa.

The Elizabeth Thoman Media Literacy Collection dates from 1943 to 2010 and contains organizational as well as personal/professional records. The collection includes the records for the various iterations of the organization that Elizabeth Thoman founded, beginning with the Media Action Research Center, and continuing through the Media&Values magazine, the Center for Media and Values, and the Center for Media Literacy. Records include published curricula and educational tools, correspondence, and a complete run of Media&Values and the Connect newsletter; Thoman's speeches, articles, conference materials, and reference and research files; founding documents and early archives of the Partnership for Media Education/Alliance for a Media Literate America/National Association for Media Literacy Education; the Center for Media Literacy's resource library including publications, videos, and resource and project files; and other materials.

Researchers will find significant overlap between series-the magazine and the Center for Media Literacy were Thoman's life's work and the delineation between her personal and professional life, and that of the CML, in this collection is not clear-cut.

The collection provides documentation and a rich history of media literacy education in the United States and the development of pedagogy and theory of the field. Additionally, it documents the CML's evolution from the publisher of a magazine and educational resources to an important player in the "movement" in media literacy during an explosion in media consumption among the youth of the country.

The collection is arranged into four series as follows:

Series 1: Organizational records, 1968-2007, undated

Series 2: Thoman personal papers, 1976-2009, undated

Series 3: PMA/AMLA/NAMLA records, 1997-2008, undated

Series 4: Curriculum materials and resources, 1943-2009, undated