The papers of the League of Women Voters of Durham (LWVD) span the dates 1947-1991, with three main clusters of records: the mid-to-late 1950s, the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the late 1970s through the middle of the 1980s. The papers consist chiefly of newsletters, minutes of the Board and other meetings, administrative and financial records, publicity materials, newspaper clippings, and information related to the political work of the League. Most of the papers address the work of the Durham League, which was founded in 1946 and ceased operations in 1991. Scattered records document the activities of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina (LWVNC).
The League is best known as a non-partisan organization sponsoring voter registration and candidates' forums, and those activities are well-documented here. In addition, League members held meetings to discuss a broad range of other social and political issues, and from those debates formulated positions which the chapter lobbied for in the media and through various political channels. The issues discussed in depth and documented in the collection include school desegregation; the merger of the Durham city and county school systems; local bond issues; the Equal Rights Amendment; foreign trade; diplomatic relations between the United States and China; water and air quality; solid and toxic waste; and reproductive rights. The papers include some correspondence with local, state, and federal officials regarding these and other issues; however, correspondence in general comprises a small portion of the collection.
The papers document the League activities of various Durham women who became prominent in local and state politics. The papers also provide a window into racial politics in Durham, in particular through debates over school desegregation and the proposed merger of the city and county school systems. Voter registration materials and correspondence also shed light on this subject, including a few letters the League received condemning its attempts to register supposedly uneducated African Americans.
Processed by: Ian K. Lekus
Completed February 2, 1997
Encoded by Stephen D. Miller
The League papers included several scrapbooks, primarily consisting of newspaper clippings. Those clippings have been photocopied and are housed in the Scrapbook section of the Clippings Series. For that section, care should be taken by researchers to maintain the order of the clippings in those folders, which maintain the original order of scrapbook pages.
Board minutes, bulletins, financial records (particularly monthly treasurer's reports in the 1970s and 1980s), issue briefings and other papers were sometimes stapled together and sometimes kept unstapled in looseleaf binders before coming to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Researchers unable to find financial records, political materials, or other papers for a given date are advised to check the Board minutes and bulletins for that date, where they may be housed.
