League of Women Voters of Northampton records
Scope and Contents
The records of the League of Women Voters of Northampton consist primarily of printed sources including their Constitution and By-Laws, Reports (1928-90s), publications, membership lists, correspondence (1937-90s), minutes (1922-90s), and research files. Also included are copies of the Massachusetts League Bulletin (1936-70); transcripts of League- sponsored radio broadcasts; videotapes of televised informational broadcasts and forums with local political candidates; and publications and fliers produced by the League concerning the structure and functions of local government, housing issues, schools, voter services and welfare reform.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1922 - 1999
Creator
- League of Women Voters of Northampton (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the unpublished works by the creator of this collection. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Biographical / Historical
The National League of Women Voters was founded by victorious suffrage activists in 1920 to represent newly enfranchised women and "to foster education in citizenship and to support needed legislation." The Northampton (Mass.) chapter was formed Sept 19, 1922. In keeping with the national organizaton's original mission, Northampton members publish a LWV Bulletin, write newspaper columns, produce radio programs, and publications aimed at increasing public awareness of local political issues, government structure, voting rights and procedures. In addition to their efforts in the arena of electoral politics, League members also work to raise citizens' awareness about local community issues such as schools, welfare, housing, city planning, taxes, garbage collection, water purification, and public health.
Extent
15.938 linear feet (26 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Civic improvement and political organization. Records consist primarily of reports (1928-90s), publications, membership lists, correspondence, minutes, and research files. Also included are transcripts of League-sponsored radio broadcasts; videotapes of televised informational broadcasts and forums with local political candidates; and publications and educational fliers produced by the League concerning the structure and functions of local government, housing issues, schools, voter services and welfare reform.
Arrangement
This collection has been added to over time in multiple "accessions." An accession is a group of materials received from the same source at approximately the same time.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
As a preservation measure, researchers must use digital copies of audiovisual materials in this collection. Please consult with Special Collections staff or email specialcollections@smith.edu to request the creation of and access to digital copies.
Processing Information
Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
Subject
- Roy, Susan (Person)
- Bouley, Lou (Person)
- League of Women Voters of Northampton (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Bylaws
- Constitutions
- Ephemera
- Financial records
- Membership lists
- Minutes
- Videotapes
- clippings
- correspondence
- memorabilia
- photographs
- reports
- scrapbooks
Geographic
- Massachusetts -- Politics and government
- Northampton (Mass.)
- Northampton (Mass.)
- Northampton (Mass.) -- Politics and government
Topical
- Audiotapes
- Citizenship -- Massachusetts
- Civic improvement -- Northampton (Mass)
- Municipal government -- Northampton (Mass)
- Politics and government
- Women -- Political activity -- Massachusetts -- Northampton
- Women -- Societies and clubs
- Women -- Suffrage -- Massachusetts
- Women in community development -- Massachusetts
- Women’s societies and clubs
- Title
- League of Women Voters of Northampton records
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Date
- 2005
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2017-07-26T17:48:16-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2021-07-12: Content description added from accession inventory
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
