Consumer Reports. Rhoda Karpatkin papers, 1935-2010

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Summary

Creator:
Consumer Reports (Firm)
Abstract:
Consumer Reports is a product testing and consumer advocacy nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., founded in 1936. Rhoda Karpatkin is a lawyer and consumer advocate who served as Director of Consumers Union from 1974 until her retirement in 2001. The collection includes clippings; correspondence and memoranda; corporate and financial audits and reports; legal and legislative documents; meeting agendas and minutes; newsletters, pamphlets and other publications; photographs; press releases; speeches; texts of articles and other printed materials that document Karpatkins career with Consumers Union as well as her involvement with the international consumer movement. Topics include the Bhopal gas disaster; communism and the anti-communist movement during the Cold War; consumer protection; drug export controls; economic and human rights; environmental justice and policy protections; history of Consumers Union; sustainable consumption; tobacco use and passive health hazards; and transnationalism and international businesses. Individuals represented in the collection include Colston Warne, Eileen Nic, Esther Peterson, James Guest, Madeline Ross, Manubhai Shah, Michel van Hulten, and Ralph Nader. Organizations represented include the Administrative Conference of the United States, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumer Reports Books, Consumers Union Foundation, Consumers' Association of Canada, International Organization of Consumers' Unions (now Consumers International), Media and Consumer Foundation, and the United Nations. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
50.0 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English, Arabic, Basque, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish.
Collection ID:
RL.11946

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes clippings; correspondence and memoranda; corporate and financial audits and reports; legal and legislative documents; meeting agendas and minutes; newsletters, pamphlets and other publications; photographs; press releases; speeches; texts of articles and other printed materials that document Karpatkins career with Consumers Union as well as her involvement with the international consumer movement. Topics include the Bhopal gas disaster; communism and the anti-communist movement during the Cold War; consumer protection; drug export controls; economic and human rights; environmental justice and policy protections; history of Consumers Union; sustainable consumption; tobacco use and passive health hazards; and transnationalism and international businesses. Individuals represented in the collection include Colston Warne, Eileen Nic, Esther Peterson, James Guest, Madeline Ross, Manubhai Shah, Michel van Hulten, and Ralph Nader. Organizations represented include the Administrative Conference of the United States, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumer Reports Books, Consumers Union Foundation, Consumers' Association of Canada, International Organization of Consumers' Unions (now Consumers International), Media and Consumer Foundation, and the United Nations.

Biographical / historical:

Consumer Reports is a product testing and consumer advocacy nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., founded in 1936. Rhoda Karpatkin is a lawyer and consumer advocate who served as Director of Consumers Union from 1974 until her retirement in 2001.

Rhoda Karpatkin was born in 1930 in New York. She attended Brooklyn College (BA, 1951) and Yale Law School (LLB 1953). She had a private law practice (1954-1961) before becoming a partner in Karpatkin, Ohrenstein & Karpatkin (1961-1974); Karpatkin served as outside counsel for Consumers Union from 1958-1974. In 1974 she was selected as the first woman executive director of Consumers Union, a position she held until retiring in 2001. In addition she held executive positions with the International Organization of Consumers' Unions (President 1985-1991; Vice President 1991-1997; Honorary Secretary from 1997).

Acquisition information:
The Consumer Reports. Rhoda Karpatkin papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2019.
Processing information:

Processed by Richard Collier, Nov. 2021;

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2019-0130.

Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Administrative and General Files; Board of Directors; Departments and Divisions; Outside Organizations; Publications; Writings and Speeches; International Organization of Consumers' Unions (IOCU)/Consumers International (CI).

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Consumer Reports. Rhoda Karpatkin papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1bf17