Community Action Archives of Missouri
The Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia at the University of Missouri in Columbia has established the Community Action Archives of Missouri to document the activities and contributions of Community Action Agencies and Community Action leaders and workers.
Community Action Agencies occupy a unique niche in American social history. Created to carry out the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, they fought the War on Poverty at the local level. Programs whose names are now household words in the American Language -- Head Start, Job Corps, Legal Services, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Energy Assistance, Weatherization -- can trace their origins to the concepts of the Act. Community Action programs permeate the American landscape. Their achievements are the result of citizens using federal and state funding to identify and solve local problems.
The men and women who joined the Community Action movement at its beginning had a rare opportunity to influence society through their interpretation and implementation of the Act. Many of them, committed to the principles of economic opportunity, are involved with Community Action Agencies to this day.
As Community Action Agencies face new challenges, and as their founders contemplate retirement, the reocrds containing their unique perspectives on the origins of the movement are in danger of being lost. Agencies move, or staff needs more storage space. Directors retire. Files that have not been used for years suddenly are viewed as excess baggage. Transferring them to the Community Action Archives of Missouri will assure that the significance of both individuals and agencies willl be remembered by those who come after.
Records to Donate
Original source materials that show the impact of individuals and organizations, document how policy decisions were reached and implemented, and trace changes over time are appropriate for the Community Action Archives of Missouri.
Examples include:
- correspondence
- committee files and reports
- board records and reports
- newsletters
- minutes of meetings
- annual reports
- programs
- identified photographs
- buttons and pins
- signs and slogans
These materials may take the form of paper records, photographs, and audio and video cassettes and tapes.
Items that are not suitable for the collection include readily available published materials, most government documents, newspaper clippings, and the case files of individual clients.
For further information contact:
Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia
23 Ellis Library
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65201-5149
(573) 882-6028
shsofmo@umsystem.edu