TABLE OF CONTENTS
"The Emergence of Political Women in Connecticut, 1920-1945" 1980-1981
RG 153, University of Connecticut, Oral History Office
Inventory
Finding aid prepared by Connecticut State Library staff.
Copyright © 2011 by the Connecticut State Library
Overview of the Collection |
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| Repository: | Connecticut State Library |
| Creator: | University of Connecticut. Oral History Office |
| Title: | University of Connecticut, Oral History Office interviews collection |
| Dates: | 1980-1981, 2008 |
| Quantity: | .75 cubic feet |
| Abstract: | Oral history transcripts from the Emergence of Political Women in Connecticut, 1920-1945, project and from interviews with State Sen. George L. "Doc" Gunther. |
| Identification: | RG153 |
| Accession: | 1982-006 and 2001-122 |
| Language: | The records are in English. |
Historical Note
The Oral History Office at the University of Connecticut was established as the Oral History Project in 1968 and began to expand in the late seventies in response to a growing professional interest in this research technique. It was designated a Center by the University's Board of Trustees in 1981; the Center's name was changed to the Oral History Office in 2007.
See University of Connecticut, Oral History Office.
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Scope and Content
"The Emergence of Political Women in Connecticut: 1920-1945" project interviewed women who were active in the political life of Connecticut between 1920 and 1945. There are 21 transcripts.
Also in the collection is the transcript of a series of interviews conducted in 2008 with Senator George L. "Doc" Gunther.
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Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
This collection is stored at an off-site facility and therefore may not be available on a same-day basis.
See the Rules and Procedures for Researchers Using Archival Records and Secured Collections policy.
Restrictions on Use
See the Reproduction and Publications of State Library Collections policy.
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Related Material
RG 002:006, George Gunther Senatorial Files, 1968-2006, Connecticut State Library
RG 101, Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association, 1869-1921, Connecticut State Library.
RG 106, League of Women Voters, 1918-1957, Connecticut State Library.
RG 156, Connecticut Order of Women Legislators, 1937-1983, Connecticut State Library
Center for Oral History Interviews Collection, University of Connecticut.
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Index Terms
Persons:
Subjects:
Alternate Creator:
Document Types:
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Administrative Information
Provenance
The "Emergence of Political Women in Connecticut: 1920-1945" transcripts were trensferred to the Connecticut State library on May 10, 1982 by Bruce M. Stave, Director of the Center for Oral History.
The transcript of the Senator George L. "Doc" Gunther interview was transferred to the Connecticut State Library on May 13, 2010 by Bruce M. Stave, Director of the Oral History Office.
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Container List
| "The Emergence of Political Women in Connecticut, 1920-1945", 1980-1981, Accession: 1982-006 | |||||||||||
| 1. Marion Yeaw Biglow | 1 | ||||||||||
| Mrs. Biglow was a League of Women Voters founder and officer. She resided in Old Lyme and was 90 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 2. Virginia L. Blood | |||||||||||
| Miss Blood was elected to the General Assembly in 1940 and 1942; was a national, state and local Republican Party worker; and served as campaign chair and assistant to Congresswoman Claire Booth Luce. She resided in Darien and was 71 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 3. Emily Sophie Brown | |||||||||||
| Miss Brown was one of the first five women elected to the General Assembly in 1920 and she served as New Haven County Commissioner from 1922 to 1927. She resided in Naugatuck and was 99 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 4. Josephine E. Bryant | |||||||||||
| Miss Bryant was elected to the General Assembly in 1928 and became an active Republican Party worker. She resided in East Hartford and was 91 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 5. Edith Valet Cook | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Cook was elected to the General Assembly for two separate terms, 1927-1929 and 1957-1959; was a member of the Republican State Central Committee; and was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New Haven in 1957. She resided in New Haven until 1971 when she moved to California and was 89 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 6. Ruth McIntire Dadourian | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Dadourian was Executive Secretary of the COnnecticut Woman Suffrage Association, a lobbyist, a writer and a WPA Women's Project Supervisor. She resided in West Hartford and was 89 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 7. Helen Green | |||||||||||
| Miss Green was an active Republican Party worker both before and after her election to the General Assembly in 1924 when she was 30 years old. She resided in Granby and was 86 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 8. Stephanie Sulik Kamenski | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Kamenski was a four-term legislator, from 1940 to 1948, and served on the Agricultural Committee. She was Berlin Republican Town Treasurer for 25 years. She resided in Berlin and was 86 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 9. Helen Biinney Kitchel | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Kitchel was a four-term legislator, from 1930 to 1938, serving as Chair of the State Parks and Reservations Committee and as a member of the Banks Committee. She lived in Old Greenwich and was 90 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 10. Percy Maxim Lee | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Lee was President of the League of Women Voters on the local, state and national levels and was a prominent League spokeswoman. Lee also served on state and national advisory councils. She resided in Mystic and was 74 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 11. Eleanor H. Little | |||||||||||
| Miss Little was Relief Administrator for Connecticut during the Depression, a legislator in 1941 and 1945, and subsequently for 23 years, Board President of the Connecticut State Farm for Women at Niantic. | |||||||||||
| 12. Laura Belle Reed McCoy | |||||||||||
| Mrs. McCoy was the first non-white alderwoman in the United States, elected in 1940, and was an active Democrat and civic leader. She resided in New Haven as was 86 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 13. Margaret Nordhoff Morrison | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Morrison was a League of Women Voters delegate tot he National Council for the Prevention of War and a member of the Connecticut Council on International Relations. She resided in Hartford and was 88 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 14. Mrs. Alice Emmons Parmalee | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Parmelee was elected to the General Assembly in 1942 and again in 1952. She was a local Republican Town Chairwoman and also served as Tax Collector. She resided in East Hartland and was 77 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 15. Edna Mary Purtell | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Purtell was a suffrage demonstrator and was jailed in Washington, D.C. in 1918. She was known as a rousing public speaker for woman suffrage, a Free Ireland and the Democratic Party. An opponent of child labor, she worked as a State Labor Investigator. She resided in West Hartford and was 81 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 16. Nancy Carnegie Rockfeller | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Rockefeller was among the organizers of a birth control clinic for Connecticut women in Port Chester, N.Y. in 1932, and established the Greenwich Maternal Health Center in 1935, an illegal birth control clinic. After World Ward II her interests had been housing and care for the elderly. Mrs. Rockefeller resided in Greenwich and was 80 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 17. Celia Duhan Rostow | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Rostow was a Socialist Party leader and candidate for Secretary of the State, was a League of Women Voters President and a worker for child welfare. She resided in New Haven and was 80 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 18. Isabel Curtain Rylander | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Rylander was an eight-term legislator from 1940 to 1958 and clerk of the Finance Committee for 15 years. A Republican Party worker, she was the Litchfield Registrar of Voters for over 50 years and was Tax Collector for 25 years. She was also a National President of the Order of Women Legislators. She resided in Litchfield and was 75 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 19. Hilda Crosby Standish | |||||||||||
| Dr. Standish was Staff Physician and an active worker for the Connecticut Birth Control League and Planned Parenthood Association. She resided in West Hartford and was 78 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 20. Hazel Thrall Sullivan | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Sullivan was first elected to the General Assembly in 1944 at age 29, and reelected in 1946; she subsequently became active in the League of Women Voters. She resided in Windsor and was 65 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| 21. Chase Going Woodhouse | |||||||||||
| Mrs. Woodhouse taught economics at Smith College and the Women's College of the University of North Carolina before accepting a position at Connecticut College in New London in 1932. In New London, she began her political career first as a member of the Democratic Town Committee, then as Secretary of the State, 1940-1942, and a a U.S. Representative from he Second District in Connecticut, 1944-1946 and 1948-1950. She resided in the Baltic section of Sprague and was 90 years old at the time of the interview. | |||||||||||
| Interview with Senator George "Doc" Gunther, 2008, Accession: 2011-122 | |||||||||||
| Transcript, 2008 | Item 1 | ||||||||||
| Gunther resided in Stratford and represented the 21st District from 1967 until his retirement in 2006. He twice served as Senate Co-Chair and also served on the Regulation Review Committee and Legislative Management Committee. | |||||||||||
| Interviews conducted on 2008 August 8, 15, 22, September 12, October 10 | |||||||||||