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Guide to the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville Records, 1911-[ongoing]
BANC MSS 73/107 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville records,
Date (inclusive): 1911-[ongoing]
Collection Number: BANC MSS 73/107 c
Creator:
League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville (Calif.)
Extent:
Number of containers: 12 cartons, 1 oversize box, 3 oversize folders
Linear feet: 15.0
Linear feet: 15.0
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: The League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville (LWVBAE) Records, 1911-[ongoing], consist of administrative
files, program material, and election services records. Program material includes records of league studies, positions, and
action relating to local, state, and national issues. Local areas of concern include government structure, city finances,
planning, government services, education, and social policy. Election services material relates to voter education and voter
registration. The records include Board of Directors agendas and meeting minutes, bylaws, correspondence, financial statements,
notes, reports, and clippings. Records in the collection date from 1911 to 2001, with the bulk dating from 1939-1992.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must
be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.
[Identification of item], League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville Records, BANC MSS 73/107 c, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Photos of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, BANC PIC 1973.045
League of Women Voters annual meeting, Phonotape 1386 A
League of Women Voters of the Bay Area records, BANC MSS 2004/162 c
League of Women Voters of the Bay Area 75th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage Oral History Project recordings, Phonotape 3704
C and BANC CD 526
Motion pictures from the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area records, Motion Picture 978 C
Photos of the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area, BANC PIC 2004.150
Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Sound recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library.
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 of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville (Calif.)--Archives.
League of Women Voters of Berkeley (Calif.)--Archives.
Clubs--California--Berkeley.
Political activists--California--Berkeley.
Voter registration--California--Berkeley.
Women--California--Berkeley--Societies and clubs.
Women in politics--California--Berkeley.
Women political activists--California--Berkeley.
California--Politics and government.
Cashbooks.
Clippings.
Minutes.
Scrapbooks.
The League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville Records were given to The Bancroft Library by Phyllis V. Clement,
President, League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville, on October 7, 1992. Additions were made on April 9,
1996, and during 2002-2003. Future additions are expected.
Funding for the processing of the records provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
The League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville (LWVBAE) was first established as the Berkeley Center of the
California Civic League in 1911, when women won the right to vote in California. The League of Women Voters of the United
States was established in 1920, the same year that the 19th amendment was ratified. One year later, the California Civic League
merged with the League of Women Voters to became the California Unit of the League of Women Voters of the United States. At
the same time, the Berkeley Center of the California Civic League became the Berkeley League of Women Voters. The most recent
administrative change occurred in 1994, when Albany and Emeryville were added to the service area of the Berkeley League and
the name was changed to the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville.
The LWVBAE is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, political organization that acts on select governmental issues in the public interest.
Since its establishment, the League has maintained two major goals: to encourage active and informed citizen participation
in government, and to act on public policy issues based on League positions. League positions are reached after research and
study has been conducted on topics of interest, and agreement on the positions has been reached through member consensus.
The topic of the League's first study during 1911 was incineration. Other early issues that concerned the League include prohibition
(which the League strongly supported), equal rights, fair housing, libraries, recreation, school desegregation, counseling
and guidance in public schools, sanitary landfills, storm sewers, health and mental health, recycling, juvenile justice, and
labor relations. The League's current local support positions fall under several broad subjects including government structure,
city finances, city planning, government services, education, and social policy. The current positions reflect long-standing
themes in the League's mission to address and act on issues of public interest.
In addition to League action on issues of public interest, the League provides a variety of election services to encourage
informed citizen participation in government, including voter registration campaigns, the publication and distribution of
educational materials, the provision of speakers to local groups, and by sponsoring candidates' meetings. The LWVBAE Election
Services program officially began in 1924 when it sponsored public candidate's meetings. However prior to its formal establishment,
in 1916 the LWVBAE supplied the Alameda County Clerk with over four hundred copies of a League publication, the
Election Primer, for distribution to each precinct. In addition to voter education activities, voter registration services were also established
early in the League's history and continue to play an important role in the League's mission.
Scope and Content of Collection
The League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville Records (LWVBAE), 1911-[ongoing], consist of administrative
files, program material, and election services records. Program material includes records of League studies, positions, and
action relating to local, state, and national issues. Local areas of concern include government structure, city finances,
planning, government services, education, and social policy. Election services material relates to voter education and voter
registration. The records include Board of Directors agendas and meeting minutes, bylaws, correspondence, financial statements,
notes, reports, and clippings. Records in the collection date from 1911 to 2001, with the bulk dating from 1939-1992.
Records generated at the regional, state, and national levels of the League of Women Voters organization are present in this
collection due to the interaction among the various leagues and the League of Women Voters hierarchical organizational structure.
The administrative records from other leagues are primarily located in Subseries 1.12, Other Leagues. Smaller concentrations
of material from other leagues that pertain to studies, positions, action, and election services are interfiled throughout
Series 2 and Series 3.
The earliest records in the collection date from 1911 and consist of meeting records and one file on Women Suffrage. Meeting
records are located in Subseries 1.1, Board of Directors, and in Subseries 1.6, Meetings. The file on Women Suffrage is located
in Series 4. Subject Files. The collection also contains early financial material, dating from 1917, located in Subseries
1.10.
Records on studies, positions, and action are located in Series 2, and date from 1936 when local leagues conducted a teacher
tenure study. Topics of other studies, positions, and action in the collection include: the structure of Berkeley government
(1950s-1980s); Berkeley city finances (1950s-1970s); housing in Berkeley, including issues such as rent control and low and
moderate income housing (1940s-1990s); health and mental health issues (1950s-1970s); recreation (1940s-1970s); local libraries
(1950s-1990s); education (1940s-1980s); child welfare (1930s-1970s); and California's Central Valley project and other water
resources (1930s-1970s). With the exception of documentation that is present in early meeting records, material relating to
the League's earliest studies, positions, and action (ca. 1911-1930s) is largely missing from the collection.
LWVBAE publications and associated records are located in Series 1. Administrative Files, and in Series 3. Election Services.
General publications are located in Subseries 1.8, Publications, and include:
About Berkeley Schools;
Berkeley, Know Your Town: A Handbook of Local Government;
Local League Handbook: Berkeley Supplement; and
What the League of Women Voters Means to Berkeley. The file on
Berkeley Voter includes records only, as the publications were removed and cataloged separately. Publications that were created and distributed
as part of the LWVBAE Election Services are located in Subseries 3.2, Information Services, and include
Candidates' Questionnaire,
Pros and Cons, and
Voters Guide to Candidates and Issues.
Records of the LWVBAE are also held by the California Historical Society and include correspondence, minutes, reports, and
action surveys, dating from 1959 to the 1960s.