Missouri Commission on the Status of Women, Papers, 1963-1974 (C3903)
.8 linear feet
INTRODUCTION
Papers and related materials of the Missouri Commission on the Status of Women. The papers include minutes of meetings, meeting agendas, correspondence, annual reports, press releases, newspaper clippings, photographs, federal publications, and miscellaneous material.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Missouri Commission on the Status of Women, Papers were donated to the State Historical Society of Missouri by Alberta J. Meyer on 3 December 1973 (SHS Accession No. 1049). An addition to the papers was made on 12 October 1982 (SHS Accession No. 2436).
ORGANIZATIONAL SKETCH
The first Missouri Commission on the Status of Women (MCSW) was appointed by Governor John M. Dalton in 1964. It was modelled after the President's Commission on the Status of Women established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. A second MCSW was appointed by Missouri Governor Warren E. Hearnes in 1965. Missouri became the ninth state to establish a statutory commission on the status of women when Senate Bill 261 was passed by the Seventy-fourth General Assembly in 1967. The purposes of the MCSW were to conduct research projects and studies to determine the legal status of women and to determine the equality or the inequality of opportunity afforded women in government, politics, education, business, the professions, sciences, arts, and social services; to encourage the advancement of women in these areas; to cooperate with other public and private agencies in securing equality; and to present an annual report to the governor and to the general assembly of its activities and findings.
After passage of Senate Bill 261, the director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations was responsible for appointments to the 15 member MCSW. Apparently, the appropriation of insufficient operating funds for MCSW, unfilled vacancies on the commission, and the increased activity of other national and state women's organizations led to the expiration of the MCSW sometime after 1984.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The materials included in the Missouri Commission on the Status of Women, Papers consist mostly of items collected by Edna Fischel Gellhorn, an early member of the Commission. While not the official records of the Commission, these papers give a good overview of the activities and membership of the two commissions appointed by governors Dalton and Hearnes and of the statutory commission from 1967 through 1973. Records of the commission after early 1974 are not included. The papers are arranged by types of material: Minutes; Correspondence; Reports; Executive Orders, Proclamations, and Resolutions; Press Releases; Publicity; Conference on the Status of Women; Publications; and Miscellaneous.
The minutes include copies of the official minutes of MCSW meetings, meeting agendas, cover letters relating to the dissemination of the minutes to members of the commission, and attachments to the minutes. The correspondence consists primarily of letters from chairwoman Alberta Meyer to members of the commission about upcoming meetings. Included are photographs of the presentation of a MCSW report to Governor Hearnes in July 1966; a copy of House Bill 479 which was to establish the MCSW as a statutory commission; and a description of commission activities written by Meyer in 1974.
The reports include only the first and second annual reports of 1965 and 1966; a copy of the invitation and program for the presentation of the second report in July 1966 and a summary of an October 1966 report. Among the items in the executive orders, proclamations, and resolutions are the executive order establishing the commission by statute, a resolution issued by the MCSW on the 50th anniversary of the Women's Bureau in 1970, and a proclamation by Governor Christopher Bond establishing Women's Equality Day in 1973.
The press releases include a variety of statements relating to the position and activities of the MCSW between December 1965 and January 1974. A few additional press releases are found with the publicity items along with newspaper clippings, photographs and programs. Photographs with the publicity material concern the presentation ceremony of the 1966 report to Governor Hearnes, a December 1969 luncheon meeting in Jefferson City, and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Women's Bureau in 1970.
The Conference on the Status of Women material consists of the invitation, program, registration card, and press release relating to the first conference held in Columbia, Missouri, in December 1964. The publications consist of federal booklets and leaflets from the 1960s relating to the work of the President's Commission on the Status of Women and affiliated national and state organizations. The publications are filed alphabetically by title.
Miscellaneous material includes MCSW membership rosters; addresses and speeches; biographical and memorial materials about Edna Fischel Gellhorn; and items relating to the involvement of the MCSW in the celebration of the Missouri sesquicentennial, including the music and script for a stage presentation on Missouri women.
FOLDER LIST
| f. 1 | Minutes, April 1964-February 1966 |
| f. 2 | Minutes, March 1966-March 1968 |
| f. 3 | Minutes, August 1968-December 1969 |
| f. 4 | Minutes, March 1970-December 1970 |
| f. 5 | Minutes, January 1971-November 1971 |
| f. 6 | Minutes, February 1972-October 1973 |
| f. 7 | Correspondence, March 1965-December 1966 |
| f. 8 | Correspondence, [1967]-December 1969 |
| f. 9 | Correspondence, April 1970-August 1974 |
| f. 10 | Reports, 1965-1966 |
| f. 11 | Executive orders, proclamations, and resolutions, 1969-1973 |
| f. 12 | Press releases, 1965-1974 |
| f. 13-15 | Publicity, 1964-1974 |
| f. 16 | Conference on the Status of Women, 1964 |
| f. 17 | Publications--American Women, A Report of the President's Commission of the Status of Women; Early Laws of Missouri Pertaining to Women; Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. |
| f. 18 | Publications--1965 Handbook on Women Workers; Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women, Summaries. |
| f. 19 | Publications--Know Your Rights; A Matter of Simple Justice; Progress of American Women; Report of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights. |
| f. 20 | Publications--Report of the Committee on Education; Report of the Committee on Federal Employment. |
| f. 21 | Publications--Report of the Committee on Home and Community; Report of the Committee on Private Employment; Report of the Committee on Protective Labor Legislation. |
| f. 22 | Publications--Report of the Committee on Social Insurance and Taxes; Report of the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation; Who Are The Working Mothers?; Why Women Work; The Women's Bureau, Its Functions and Services. |
| f. 23 | Miscellaneous--Rosters, speeches, and addresses |
| f. 24 | Miscellaneous--Edna Fischel Gellhorn materials |
| f. 25 | Miscellaneous--Missouri Sesquicentennial Celebration materials |
INDEX TERMS
These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.
- Abortion-Law and Legislation
- Dalton, John Montgomery
- Dow, Blanche Hinman
- Education
- Equal Pay for equal work
- Equal Rights Amendment
- Gellhorn, Edna (1878-1970)
- Hearnes, Betty Cooper (1927- )
- Hearnes, Warren Eastman (1923- )
- Hickey, Margaret (1902- )
- Holman, Lawrence (1906- )
- Kirkpatrick, James C. (1905-1997)
- Leigh, Anita L.
- Meyer, Alberta J.
- Missouri, Sesquicentennial
- Missouri. Commission on the Status of Women
- President's Commission on the Status of Women
- Sex discrimination
- Women, Employment
- Women, Legal rights