Collection Guide
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Linder (Doris H.) papers
M1621
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Doris H. Linder papers
Creator:
Linder, Doris H.
Identifier/Call Number: M1621
Identifier/Call Number: 4847
Physical Description:
21 Linear Feet
Date: circa 1900-2008
Language of Material: English, Swedish, Norwegian
Abstract: Doris H. Linder (1925-2008) was a writer, historian and educator with primary interests in women's rights, family planning,
labor, public policy, international relations, the United Nations, Scandinavia and Swedish-American immigration history. Her
collection includes research and teaching files and notes, drafts and correspondence related to her published research, travel
and country files, family and personal correspondence and ephemera, slides, and published material.
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials
are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift; Beth Bhatnagar, executor; 2008. Accessions 2008-131 and 2008-204.
Collection was minimally processed. Original folders were retained as they include multiple DHL annotations. Folder titles
are mostly as transcribed. Loose material was placed in folders and grouped where deemed most appropriate. Related material
may not be grouped together physically. Selected travel ephemera (published material such as postcards, brochures, maps, etc.)
has been transferred to other collections.
Doris Helen Linder (1925-2008) was born in Columbia, South Dakota to Swedish immigrants Hilda and Arvid Justus Linder. Linder
studied history at Stanford University, where she received a BA in 1946 and an MA in 1949. She received a Ph.D. in History
from the University of Minnesota in 1961.
Linder was Professor of History at the College of San Mateo for over forty years, teaching world history and women's studies
courses. She also taught at San Jose State from 1952-1957 and at Stanford University from 1962-1965. Later in the decade Linder
taught in Africa; as a Fullbright lecturer in the History Department of Haile Sellasie University, Addis Ababa 1965-1966,
at the University of Ife, Nigeria 1966-1967, and as a study-tour lecturer in Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria in 1970. She
was also an academic study tour leader in Scandinavia, and among her extensive travels she also made annual research trips
to Scandinavia. Linder retired 1989 but continued to travel, conduct research and write.
She wrote, translated, and published several biographies, but perhaps her most well-known work is
Crusader for Sex Education: Elise Ottesen-Jensen in Scandinavia and on the International Scene published by the University Press of America in 1997.
Doris Linder died unexpectedly on April 25, 2008, in Tunisia.
Linder wrote an eloquent summary of her career upon her retirement from teachinh; it is included in its entirety below.
Retirement letter to Dr. Lois Callahan, President College of San Mateo, June 15, 1989
Dear Dr. Callahan:
Thank you for your kind words upon my retirement. Since I believe only Dr. Albert Acena, History Department head, has a record
here at the college of my career as a history teacher/historian, I wish to send you the enclosed vitae. It includes summaries
of activities during the twenty years of my career before employment at CSM as well as during my twenty-two years here. In
the event I wish to apply for lecture engagements or other pursuits in the future, I hope that you are willing to be cited
as a reference. I will be living in this area so it should be easy to contact me in the event you want further information
or have suggestions.
May I add that my central goal as an educator has been to expand the knowledge of Americans about the legacy of the past--a
past shaped by many peoples and both sexes. In my earlier years it was gratifying to receive the encouragement of my Stanford
and Minnesota professors as well as my directors at San Jose State and Cal Poly to continue my studies and teaching. After
deciding to remain an educator rather than accept the invitation to become a Foreign Service Officer in the early 1960s, no
awards were more gratifying to me than a Fulbright research grant to Mexico and a Fulbright lectureship to Ethiopia in the
mid-60s.
In more recent years I have valued the opportunities for intellectual exchange at various historical conventions and institutes,
and I appreciate the fact that the college has provided some funding for these experiences. The research work for papers presented
at these conventions and resultant publications were selected with a view to enhancing my proficiency in my teaching fields
at CSM as well as to making some modest contribution to historical knowledge. It is my hope and my impression that a good
many CSM students have gained from my courses a collegiate level of history knowledge devoid of parochialism and sexism,
Sincerely,
Doris H. Linder, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
[identification of item], Doris H. Linder Papers (M1621). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Doris Linder's papers includes research and teaching files and notes, drafts and correspondence related to her published research,
travel and country files, family and personal correspondence and ephemera, slides, and published material.
Research files consist primarily of articles, photocopies, and many handwritten notes. There is also some original correspondence,
printed ephemera, and other material in these files.
Country files contain both teaching materials and travel notes and ephemera.Some published material is also included, mostly
magazines and pamphlets.
Many personal and family files were used to write her mother's biography. These material are filed both under the Hilda Linder
series as well as Doris' own "personal" series.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women historians -- Archives
Swedish American women
Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- California -- San Francisco
Labor unions -- Organizing -- United States
Labor movement
Women in the labor movement
Family planning
Reproductive rights
Public policy
Biographies
Lie, Haakon, 1905-2009
Mbikusita-Lewanika, Inonge Mutumbaetwa
Ottesen-Jensen, Elise, 1886-1973
Lionæs, Aase, 1907-
Sargent, Ellen Clark, 1826–1911
Matyas, Jennie, 1895-
Furuseth, Andrew, 1854-1938
Linder family
United Nations