Mother, I Have Something to Tell You Series, 1981-2007 and undated

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Original audio recordings are closed to research. Use copies need to be created before contents can be accessed.

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Extent:

15 boxes

Scope and content:

In the early 1980s, Smith worked as a research associate at the Merrill-Palmer Institute of Wayne State University, studying family life and early childhood development. Smith collaborated with writer Jo Brans to publish the book Mother, I Have Something To Tell You in 1987. Based on interviews with mothers in Michigan, the book describes how parents deal with children who display untraditional behavior. Specifically, Smith researched families whose children challenged social and sexual mores during the 1960s and 1970s. The series contains correspondence, drafts, speeches, and Smith's sociological research related to the book, in addition to files on each mother, who appeared in the book under aliases provided by Brans. In keeping with the anonymity provided by the book, file names reflect aliases rather than real names. The mothers' subject files include written transcripts of Smith's interviews with the women, both with and without Smith's notes, questionnaires and sociological data, and audiocassette recordings of the interviews. Arrangement is alphabetical, followed by a large group of research files organized into rough book chapters by Smith.

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