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Rocky Mountain Online ArchiveTable of ContentsBox and Folder List Series II: Voters Service Files Series II: Voters Service Files |
Inventory of the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region Records, 1908-ongoingPikes Peak Library District, Special Collections in the 1905 Carnegie LibraryEmail: http://library.ppld.org/SpecialCollections/SpecialCollectionsContact.aspURL: http://library.ppld.org/SpecialCollections/default.asp ©2005 Pikes Peak Library District
HistoryConceived in 1919 as an organization to succeed the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the National League of Women Voters (LWV) was officially formed at NAWSA's Victory Convention in February of 1920. League founders recognized that a large percentage of the twenty million women enfranchised by the 19th Amendment had little or no political training. To help these women use their new votes wisely the League offered "citizenship education," information about the forms and processes of representative government and practice in making political decisions. The League's purpose was to provide nonpartisan political education and experience that would "achieve the success of democracy by arousing citizens to participate in government." The League also encouraged and supported "needed legislation," especially to improve social conditions for women and children. Early League successes included the establishment of a Women's Bureau in the Department of Labor (1920), the Sheppard-Towner Act promoting the welfare and hygiene of maternity and infancy (1921), and the Cable Act for the independent citizenship of women (1922). Members soon realized, however, that it was not enough to simply get legislation passed. The people administering the laws, as well as the processes of government itself, could diminish the effectiveness of the new rules. Consequently, the League advocated the council-manager plan for local government, the merit system, governmental reorganization to promote efficiency and economy, and strengthening legislative bodies. In 1928, Mrs. Mabel Costigan was commissioned by the National League President to establish a Colorado Branch of the League of Women Voters. The first meeting established a state board and plans for League Branches to be organized in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver and Greeley. In 1929, when the Colorado League was officially incorporated, it had twenty-seven members, including two from Colorado Springs. Because "League of Women Voters" was being used in Colorado by a group unaffiliated with the National League, the Colorado branch went under the name of the "Women Citizen's League of Colorado" until 1940. In its early years, the Colorado League studied the state government and supported "Maternity and Infancy Legislation," the government operation of Muscle Shoals, and the "Lame Duck Amendment," which shortened the time between election and inauguration. The League of Women Voters of Colorado Springs held its first meeting in February of 1938. Twenty-eight members were present and Alice Van Diest was selected to serve as President. In their first year the members conducted a community government survey, "Know Your County," undertaken by each new League branch. In December of 1940, the Colorado Springs League published its first newsletter, and in 1941 Colorado Springs hosted the State League Convention and reported on its first local study issues - juvenile services and education. League members worked on issues, government based and in the public interest, at three levels - national, state and local. In any given year several items might be under study at each level. Often one to three items at each level, selected by consensus, were actively supported or opposed. This action included public education and contact with public officials to influence decisions or legislation. Early local issue studies included labor-management problems, child welfare, recreation and health care. In the late 1940s the Colorado Springs League lent its support to the Council-Manager form of government and the Park Bond issue. During the 1950s the local League undertook a long-range program to improve conditions for the growing community. Members studied the financial and administrative jurisdictions of city and county government, metropolitan area development, and the principles of city planning. They supported the Capital Improvement Program proposed by the city of Colorado Springs and the formation of a Regional Planning Commission. In 1956 the Colorado Springs League published This is Colorado Springs and El Paso County, a comprehensive index to all local governmental bodies and agencies. A revised edition with illustrations was published in 1964 and a second revision was completed in 1970. Adequate juvenile services reemerged as an action issue for the Colorado Springs League early in the 1960s. City Planning continued to be a study and action item and the League began an evaluation of the charter of the city. Parks and recreation, local government financing, zoning and the housing code were also areas of study and action. In 1967 the Pikes Peak Regional Council of Governments was formed as a direct result of League action that started in 1955. At the April 1970 annual meeting, local League members voted to change the name of their organization from the League of Women Voters of Colorado Springs to the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region (LWVPPR) to better reflect the membership base and area of local concentration. In the years immediately following, the League studied the role of the superintendent of schools and encouraged city-county cooperation on transportation and health facilities. Parks and recreation continued to be important to the League and in 1973 it gave its support to open space. Later in the decade the League took up the county home rule issue, criminal justice and the city-county budget process. In 1977 the Palmer Deeded Park Lands lawsuit, in which the LWVPPR played an active part, was settled. Local government continued as a study and action item throughout the 1980s, as did transportation and parks. Water, air quality, land use, and urban and natural resources were all on the League's agenda as the population in El Paso County increased through the years. Heath care returned as a study item as the league entered the 1990s. And all the while, the LWVPPR participated in Colorado and National study and action items as well. Throughout the years League members also participated in Voters Service, the natural successor to "citizenship" education and a cornerstone of the organization. Voters Service was designed to share information about candidates and issues, to help citizens form intelligent political opinions, and encourage them to use their vote to express those opinions effectively. Like other Leagues across the nation, the Colorado Springs League rallied to "get out the vote," sponsored candidate debates, monitored elections, printed flyers and pamphlets, explained voting procedures, held registration drives and published factual information about elected officials and ballot issues. The League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region continues to be an active nonpartisan organization which seeks, as the League mission states, to encourage the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influence public policy through education and advocacy. ArrangementFiles in this collection have been divided into seven series based on subject and format. Within series, files are arranged alphabetically then chronologically. The Subject series has been arranged somewhat artificially, with broad subjects designated in some cases to bring materials together by topic. Publications originally maintained with subject material, but not located within individual folders at the time they were donated, have been placed at the end of their subject. The majority of duplicate materials were removed from the collection. With the exception of local-interest brochures, non-LWV publications that were not filed with subject or organizational materials at the time this collection was donated to the Pikes Peak Library District have been removed. LWV publications that were not filed with subject or organizational materials at the time of donation have been placed in the Publication series. Some of the items now filed in the Ephemera series were removed from folders within the collection; separation sheets have been used so that their original order may be recreated.
Annual Reports, 1938-1982 Board Meeting Minutes, 1939-1988 Constitution and By-laws, 1939-1980 Conventions and Councils, 1950-1991 Correspondence, 1947-1989 Financial Records, 1939-1989 League History - Local, 1947-1967 Membership Lists, 1938-1989 Orientation Information, 1941-1988 Program Information - Local, 1941-1982 Publicity, 1951-1988
Child / Juvenile Services, 1938-1993 Education, 1941-1996 Energy, 1973-1981 Finance, 1938-1986 Growth, 1971-1986 Health, 1946-1994 Housing, 1958-1978 Land Use, 1973-1997 Local Government, 1949-1976 Parks and Recreation, 1908-[199?] Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, 1969-1985 Planning, 1949-1990 Reapportionment, 1956-1982 Taxes, 1946-1977 Transportation, 1967-1983 Voters Service, 1940-1998 Water, 1956-1999
LWV - Pikes Peak Region newsletter, 1940-1991 LWV - Colorado newsletter, 1954-1994 LWV - United States, newsletter, 1951-1998
Scope and ContentThe materials in this collection, including correspondence, minutes, reports, newsletters, subject files, organization files, scrapbooks, ephemera, newsletters, publications, and audio and video tapes, document the activities of the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region (LWVPPR) from its founding in 1938 through to 1999, with the bulk of the material dating from 1939 to 1988. Nearly complete runs of board meeting minutes and LWVPPR newsletters provide a strong base for understanding the organization's purpose, activities and accomplishments. The major series in this collection are the Organization Files, Voters Service Files, Subject Files and Publications. The Organization Files series contains records, including correspondence, meeting minutes, annual reports, financial records, membership files, and orientation and publicity files, produced by the LWVPPR in the course of conducting their business. In some years, the Board Meeting Minute files hold correspondence, and in most years the minutes include the League's Annual Reports as presented to the members each April. Treasurer's Reports are also often found with Board Meeting Minutes. Annual Reports and Meeting Minutes provide good information about the League's chosen topics for study and action. Other sources for information about the League's areas of focus can be found under "Programs - Local" and "Programs - State" within the Organizational Files series and the "National Program / National Continuing Responsibilities" file within the Publications Series. Correspondence files provide some insight into Colorado Springs organizations sharing League views and may include local interest pamphlets, newsletters and ephemera. Many of the "Publicity" folders contain clippings which, along with the scrapbooks, help document the public activities of and public's reaction to the League. "Orientation" includes information about LWVPPR history, activities and goals. The second series, Voters Service, consists of files of materials gathered and produced in the course of conducting what the League considers to be their cornerstone activity - helping citizens become more informed about candidates, issues and the election process. Records in this series help to document Voters Service efforts undertaken by LWVPPR members, including sponsoring candidate debates, monitoring elections, explaining voting procedures, and publishing factual information about elected officials. The LWVPPR also printed their own flyers and pamphlets, including "Ballot Issues," a pro-con factual summary of issues on the local ballot, and the "Voters Guide," a compilation of information about local elections and local government. The Subject Files series contains materials gathered by League members in the course of issue research. National, state and local items to be studied are selected by consensus of the membership and include topics such as growth, transportation, children's laws, the economy, constitutional revision, health, land use, education and reapportionment. Folders within the Subject Files series can include reports, League and non-League publications, non-League meeting minutes, clippings, notes, correspondence and League and non-League newsletters. The Subject Files series has been arranged somewhat artificially. For example, the broad subject 'Education' was used to bring together folders marked 'Education' by the League and folders such as 'Adult Education Council' and 'District Eleven Schools in Approach Zones.' While folder headings were retained whenever possible and noted by the use of quotation marks around the title, some folders had no title or (because folders were used many times through the 1940s and 50s) the title no longer reflected the content. In this case the folder heading or subheading have been assigned, inferred from the material within. The subject "Child / Juvenile Services" was contrived to bring together materials, mostly unfoldered originally, with a similar theme. Dates reflect the publication or creation date of materials within the folders, and are not necessarily the dates the research was conducted or put to use. Often material gathered or produced by the League could be applied to multiple topics so, for example, information about Growth can also be found in subjects such as Land Use, Transportation, and Planning files. The Newsletters and Publications series includes newsletters, brochures, reports, pamphlets, booklets and books published by the LWVPPR, the Colorado League of Women Voters (LWVCO) and the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS). LWVPPR newsletters provide an excellent overview of the local League goals and activities. LWVPPR publications include "Ballot Issues" and "Voter's Guides" prepared by Voters Service, and Know Your City, Know Your County, an overview of the basic facts of government services in Colorado Springs and El Paso County. Two early reports produced by the Colorado Springs League on education and juvenile services are also filed in this series. However, publications originally filed with subject materials or within Organization or Voters Service folders remain in their original location, so materials in this series may be duplicates and League publications in other series may not appear here. State and National LWV newsletters are not necessarily complete runs and some, such as Facts and Issues, are only representative samples. Pikes Peak Region-specific brochures that were not originally filed within folders or as part of subjects in the collection have been placed within this series. Scrapbooks, Ephemera and Audio and Video Tapes series were so designated because of their format. The Scrapbooks contain mostly clippings documenting the League's stand on issues and their activities in the community. Ephemera includes bumper stickers, name tags and other items removed from other parts of the collection or found loose within boxes when the collection was processed. Audio and video tapes cover events sponsored by the League, some of which have corresponding materials in the Subject Files series. RestrictionsAccess RestrictionsThe collection is open for research. Copy RestrictionsThe researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection. Preferred CitationLeague of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region Records, Special Collections in the 1905 Carnegie Library, Pikes Peak Library District. Processing InformationThis collection was processed and a finding aid written by Donna McCrea in 2001. AcquisitionLWVPPR officers made the original donation of their records to the Pikes Peak Library District in August of 1977. Several additions to the collection have been made since that time. Separated MaterialThere are no separated materials. Related Archival MaterialThere are no related materials. Subject HeadingsMunicipal Government - Colorado Springs (Colo.) Utilities - Colorado Springs (Colo.) Local Government - Colorado Politics and Government - Colorado Springs (Colo.) Political Participation - Colorado Politics and Government - El Paso County (Colo.) Women in Politics - Colorado Parks - Colorado Springs (Colo.) League of Women Voters of Colorado Politics and Government - Pikes Peak Region (Colo.) Women - Society and Clubs - Colorado Education - Colorado Springs (Colo.) League of Women Voters of Colorado Springs League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region League of Women Voters of the United States Political Clubs - Colorado Shaw, Ruth Voting - Colorado Elections - Colorado Box and Folder ListSeries I: Organization Files
Series II: Voters Service FilesSeries II: Voters Service Files
Series III: Subject Files
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