Consumer Reports. Florence Mason papers, 1957-1982 and undated

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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. Florence Mason served as Librarian and Assistant to the Director at Consumers Union and correspondent to the United Nations for the International Organization of Consumers' Unions' (now Consumers International). The Florence Mason papers include correspondence, meeting minutes and notes, newsletters and periodicals, reports and other printed materials that primarily document Mason's work with the International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU). Topics addressed include consumer protection and education, food issues, economic development, humanitarian assistance, as well as issues relating to women in rural and developing areas. Several files relate to correspondence with Colston Warne, Director of Consumers Union. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
12.0 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.11805

Background

Scope and content:

The Florence Mason papers include correspondence, meeting minutes and notes, newsletters and periodicals, reports and other printed materials that primarily document Mason's work with the International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU). Topics addressed include consumer protection and education, food issues, economic development, humanitarian assistance, as well as issues relating to women in rural and developing areas. Several files relate to correspondence with Colston Warne, Director of Consumers Union.

Biographical / historical:

Consumer Reports is a product testing and consumer advocacy nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., founded in 1936. Florence Mason served as Librarian and Assistant to the Director at Consumers Union and the International Organization of Consumers' Unions' (now Consumers International) correspondent to the United Nations.

Florence Mason was born in 1896 in Wisconsin. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1921 and worked in the university's Extension Division. From 1929-1939 Mason served as record keeper and librarian at the American Standards Association. Mason joined Consumers Union in 1939 and worked in the Technical Division's Filing Department, helping to set up the Consumers Union library, and advanced to become Assistant to the Director. She was instrumental in the founding of the International Organization of Consumers' Unions (IOCU) and retired from Consumers Union in 1961 to work with that agency, becoming its first correspondent to the United Nations. Mason died in 1990.

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

Processed by Richard Collier, Mar. 2020;

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2019-0130

Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Country File; Subject File

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 copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

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