Finding Aid to the Harriet Judd Eliel Oral History MS 954
Finding aid prepared by California Historical Society staff; revised by
Marie Dunlap in 2010.
California Historical Society
© 2000, revised 2010
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
Title: Harriet Judd Eliel oral history
Date: 1973
Collection Number: MS 954
Creator:
Eliel, Harriet Judd, 1890-
Physical Description:
1 folder
(0.1 Linear feet)
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Abstract: Contains a transcript of Carol Farley's 1973
interview with Harriet Judd Eliel documenting her activities as an officer of the
San Francisco, California, and national chapters of the League of Women Voters in
the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.
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[Identification of item], Harriet Judd Eliel Oral History, MS 954, California
Historical Society.
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections Number
NUCMC 82-438
Beatrice Ludlow Flick Oral History, MS 957
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
League of Women Voters (U.S.).
League of Women Voters of California.
League of Women Voters of San
Francisco.
Women civic leaders--California--San Francisco.
Oral histories.
This oral history was transcribed from an interview with Harriet Judd Eliel conducted
by Oberlin College student Carol Farley in 1973.
Harriet Judd Eliel was born in 1890 in Evanston, Illinois. She attended the
University of California, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Health and
Social Welfare in 1913. After the birth of her second son in 1916, she completed her
Master of Arts degree in Education, also at the University of California. Between
1921 and 1924, she established and directed the experimental John Dewey School in
Berkeley, California, which her sons attended.
In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Eliel held a number of positions with the League of
Women Voters at the local, state, and national levels. In the 1920s and 1930s, she
served on the legislative committee of the California League of Women Voters,
successfully opposing state legislation to cut education funding. Eliel also served
as president of the California League of Women Voters between 1933 and 1937;
secretary of the national League of Women Voters between 1936 and 1941; and
president of the San Francisco League of Women Voters between 1942 and 1944. Between
1944 and 1946, she held official positions with the City Government Committee and
Mayor's Post-War Planning Commission, both in San Francisco.
Eliel had two sons and two daughters, born in 1914, 1916, 1928, and 1930.
This oral history collection contains a transcript of Carol Farley's brief 1973
interview with Harriet Judd Eliel; a chronology of Eliel's career with the League of
Women Voters; and an index to the transcript.
The interview primarily concerns Eliel's activities as an officer of the San
Francisco, California, and national chapters of the League of Women Voters in the
1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. In particular, it sheds light on the membership,
administration, and legislative activities of the League, including its role in
support of public education, New Deal relief programs, civil service reform, and the
establishment of a women's prison in California.