Harvard University Library
OASIS: Online Archival Search Information System

http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00737Frames Version
Questions or Comments Copyright Statement

A-36

Miller, Emma Guffey, 1874-1970. Papers, 1833-1975 (inclusive), 1884-1972 (bulk): A Finding Aid

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

[link]

The papers were reprocessed under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (RC-24669-76-987) in 1979, and were again reprocessed in 1991 by Bert Hartry, and microfilmed as part of a Schlesinger Library/University Publications of America project.
Radcliffe College
June 1979

Descriptive Summary

Call No.: A-36
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: Emma (Guffey) Miller, 1874-1970
Title: Papers, 1833, 1884-1972
Quantity: 3 cartons, 1 + 1/2 file boxes, 1 folio folder, 2 folio+ folders, 2 oversize folders.
Abstract: Correspondence of Emma Guffey Miller, Democratic Party leader.

Processing Information:

Reprocessed: June 1979

By: Madeleine Bagwell Perez

Acquisition Information:

Accession numbers: 57-8, 57-32, 58-3, 58-63, 51, 114, 289, 379, 667, 834, 892, 1239, 1501, 70-83, 71-100, 72-74, 77-M113, 77-M188, 81-M248, 91-M169

The Emma Guffey Miller papers were given to the Schlesinger Library between November 1956 and November 1968 by EGM. Additional materials were given in June 1970, August 1971, November 1977, and October 1981 by William Miller ; in July 1972 by Edgar Grim Miller ; in August 1977 by Michael Ochs ; and in October 1991 by Cathy (Miller) Crocker and Alexander Miller.

Emma (Guffey) Miller, Democratic Party leader, was born Mary Emma Guffey at Guffey Station, Pa., on July 6, 1874, the daughter of Barbaretta (Hough) and John Guffey. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with an A.B. in history and political science in 1899. While traveling in Japan (1902) she met and married Carroll Miller (1875-1949). EGM's letters to her family (see #6-8) recount their courtship and marriage and the birth of their first child, William Gardner Miller, III. Twin sons, John Guffey and Carroll Jr., were born in 1908, son Joseph F. in 1912.

Active politically since her college days, EGM campaigned for Democratic candidates in 1920; in 1924 she was elected a delegate to the national convention, where, in a seconding speech for Alfred E. Smith (see #136), she appealed for religious tolerance and denounced the Ku Klux Klan. As a result, EGM received one-half vote for the presidential nomination, the first woman ever to do so. She helped organize the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, and spoke out for prohibition reform; her advocacy of disarmament forced her resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1932 she was elected Democratic National Committeewoman from Pennsylvania, a post she held until her death. During the 1930s and 40s she also served as official hostess for her brother, Joseph F. Guffey, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1935-1947). EGM remained in the background of political life, never running for nor accepting public office herself, though she felt strongly about women's right to do both. She was an active member of the National Woman's Party (Chairman, 1960-1965, and Life President, 1965-1970), and an outspoken advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment.

EGM died of a heart attack on February 23, 1970, and is buried with her husband in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Va.

More biographical information is available in this collection (see Series I). See also Notable American Women: The Modern Period (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980), which includes a list of additional sources. EGM also gave papers to the Pennsylvania Room of the Carnegie Library (Pittsburgh) and the Slippery Rock State College Archives.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The EGM papers have been divided into four series:

I.Personal and biographical, #1-33.

II.General correspondence, #34-131.

III.Speeches and writings, #132-157.

IV.Organizations and boards, #158-183m.

The papers provide some information about EGM's college education, the Guffey family (especially her brother, Senator Joseph F. Guffey), her husband, Carroll Miller, her sons, and her travels. They document her many interests and volunteer activities: Democratic Party politics on the local, state, and national levels, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee, Slippery Rock State College, the National Woman's Party and the Equal Rights Amendment, the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform, Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. The correspondence (Series II) also provides documentation of anti-Catholicism (see #39, 88, 92-93), politics at Slippery Rock State College, and political favors and patronage during the 1950s and 60s. There is almost no information about her family or her personal life (childhood, adolescence, and her marriage after 1907).

Series I, Personal and biographical (#1-33), includes the following in the order listed: certificates, Bryn Mawr College material, short EGM biographies, lists from her social life in Washington, D.C., printed excerpts of her letters to her family, 1901-1907, Guffey and Miller family material, photographs, and clippings about EGM.

Series II, General correspondence, (#34-131), makes up the bulk of the collection, and is arranged chronologically. Letters found grouped by subject or by individual were kept together and placed chronologically on the basis of the earliest item in each group. Some enclosures referred to in the letters are missing. Many prominent politicians and a variety of organizations wrote to EGM; not all are included in the added entries; researchers should therefore refer to the index in the printed guide. Invitations and programs are in a separate chronological sequence at the end of the series (#117-131).

Series III, Speeches and writings (#132-157), is divided into two sections. EGM's speeches concern mainly prohibition reform, party politics, and the Equal Rights Amendment; they are arranged chronologically. The writings fall into six categories, each arranged chronologically: poetry, articles, EGM's Washington column, plays, miscellaneous, and writings by others.

Series IV, Organizations and boards (#158-183m), is divided into two sections. The first contains reports, minutes, photographs, and proceedings, and is arranged chronologically by organization (i.e., according to the earliest item in each group). The second section consists of memorabilia, including membership cards, buttons, etc., and is arranged by category (and chronologically within each category) in the following order: handmade items, membership cards, Democratic National Conventions, Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, Democratic Party candidates and committees, miscellaneous. A portion of the miscellaneous items are in box 5.

Most clippings were discarded after microfilming.

MICROFILM OF COLLECTION

Following filming, #20, 22-27, 32-33, 53 were discarded.

A small number of clippings from #22-27 were moved to #21o.

Microfilm contains material from accession number 92-M205 (formerly D-29), which is not included in this inventory.

CONTAINER LIST

Carton 1: #1-26

Carton 2: #68-114

Carton 3: #115-154

Box 4: #155-169

Box 5: #170m-183m

INVENTORY

Series I. PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
- 1-8: EGM
  - 1-2f+: Certificates: appointments, honors, tributes
    - 1. 1887, 1923-1967, n.d.
    - 2f+. 1899, 1935-1968 (scattered)
  - 3. Bryn Mawr College, 1898-1968 (scattered): correspondence, invitations, programs, class of 1899 "Triennial Record," etc.
    See also #48, 115, 136.
  - 4. Short biographies, 1934-1954 (scattered).
    For autobiographical speech, see #152.
    
    See also #12.
  - 5. Lists, Washington, D.C., 1934-1948: calls made and received, invitations received, Gridiron Widows' Party, 1936?: guest signatures
  - 6-8: Correspondence: EGM to parents, siblings (printed excerpts)
    - 6. April 1901 - May 1902, written "During a Trip to the Orient"
    - 7-8: Written on trips to and from Japan, and during the three years EGM lived there
      - 7. 1904-June 24, 1905
      - 8. June 27, 1905 - 1907; includes Japanese theater program.
- 9-12: Family
  - 9-10: Guffey
    - 9. ALS, 1889, TLS, 1939, to Pauletta Guffey (EGM's sister); Clippings, 1962, 1964; Family histories (some by EGM), 1963, n.d.; includes copy of 1833 list of debts.
    - 10. Re: Senator Joseph F. Guffey (EGM's brother), 1924-1959, n.d.: invitation, program, speech, correspondence.
      See also #13, 21o, 63.
  - 11. Re: Carroll Miller, 1933-1950, n.d.: correspondence, memorial service, clippings, certificate, etc.
  - 12. Re: sons, William, John, Carroll, Jr., Joseph, 1930-1971 (scattered), n.d.: correspondence, clippings, unpublished article re: EGM, etc.
- 13-19f+: Photographs.
  FILED IN PHOTOGRAPH DRAWER.
  - 13. EGM, ca. 1898, 1928, ca.1941, 1968, n.d., one caricature drawing, n.d.; also two photographs of Joseph F. Guffey.
  - 14-16: With others
    - 14. 1934-1964
    - 15. 1950s
    - 16. n.d.
  - 17. Others, 1935, 1945, n.d.: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lorena Hickok, Alfred E. Smith, et al.
  - 18. Places, 1960, 1964, n.d.
  - 19f+. Two of EGM, two of Miller home in Aurora, Ill., n.d.
- 20-33: Clippings re: EGM (some incomplete)
  - 20. ca.1918, 1924-1930
    DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING.
  - 21o. 1930-1968 (scattered), n.d.; includes clippings from #22-27 (moved after microfilming.)
  - 22. 1931
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 23. 1932-1933
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 24. 1934-1936
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 25. 1937-1939
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 26. 1940-1949
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 27. 1950, 1954-1961
    MOSTLY DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING; SEE #21o.
  - 28f. "Slippery Rock [Pa.] Pioneers" scrapbook, 1960; includes programs, PHOTOGRAPHS. Deed (photocopy) to land EMG gave Slippery Rock State College, 1963. Clippings re: Slippery Rock Sesquicentennial, 1975
    For "Slippery Rock [Pa.] Pioneers, " etc., See also Series II, #153, 167.
  - 29. 1962-1963; includes Democratic State Committee press release, radio script re: EGM
  - 30. 1964
  - 31. 1965-1969; includes National Woman's Party Bulletin, radio script, EGM notes
  - 32-33. n.d.
    DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING.

Series II. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE
- 34. 1914, 1920-1923
- 35-37: 1924
  - 35. Jan.-June
  - 36. July-Nov.
  - 37. Telegrams
- 38. 1925-1927
- 39. 1928-1929
- 40. 1930
- 41. 1931
- 42. 1932-1937: with and re: Cameron Ralston
- 43. 1932; includes 1884 Democratic Party flier.
- 44-47: Appeals to Eleanor Roosevelt for assistance (from Pennsylvanians), forwarded to EGM for investigation; includes reports.
  - 44. 1932-1933
  - 45. 1934-1935
  - 46. Reports only, 1933-1936.
    see also #58, 59.
  - 47. Pennsylvania State Treasury reports re: investigation of Department of Public Assistance, 1937.
    Photocopies; initials only appear on most; originals with full names will be open to research on January 1, 2010.
    
    For Pennsylvania State Treasury reports, see also #59, 60, 142-144.
- 48-49: 1933
  - 48. Jan.-June
  - 49. July-Dec.; includes list of Pennsylvania prohibition repeal workers.
- 50-53: Re: National Recovery Act; includes completed question-naires and lists of workers by county, 1933-1934, n.d.
  - 50. Adams-Cameron
  - 51. Carbon-Mercer
  - 52. Mifflin-York
  - 53. Clippings
    DISCARDED AFTER MICROFILMINING.
- 54. 1933-1951 (scattered): with Mary ["Molly"] Dewson. Includes Bess Furman.
- 55. 1934
- 56. 1935
- 57. 1936
- 58-59: 1937
  - 58. Feb.-June
  - 59. July-Dec.
- 60. 1938
- 61. 1939-1940
- 62. 1941
- 63. 1942-1943; includes Joseph F. Guffey speech.
- 64. 1944
- 65. 1945-1947
- 66. 1948-1949
- 67. 1950-1951
- 68. 1952-1953
- 69. 1954
- 70-73: 1955
  - 70. Jan.-Feb.
  - 71. Mar.-Apr.
  - 72. May-July
  - 73. Aug.-Dec.
- 74. 1955-1965, re: Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania.
  See also #1, #14, #123.
- 75-79: 1956
  - 75. Jan.-Feb.
  - 76. Mar.-Apr.
  - 77. May-June
  - 78. July-Aug.; includes Eleanor Roosevelt press conference.
  - 79. Sept.-Dec.
- 80-83: 1957
  - 80. Jan.-Mar.
  - 81. Apr.-May
  - 82. June-Sept.
  - 83. Oct.-Dec.
- 84-85: 1958
  - 84. Jan.-May; includes copy of S.J. Res. 80 [i.e., Equal Rights Amendment].
  - 85. June-Dec.; includes itineraries, list of members of 1958 Democratic State Platform Committee.
- 86-88: 1959
  - 86. Jan.-Apr.
  - 87. May-July
  - 88. Aug.-Dec.
- 89-93: 1960
  - 89. Jan.-Feb.
  - 90. Mar.-May
  - 91. June
  - 92. July-Aug.
  - 93. Sept.-Dec.
- 94. 1961
- 95-96: 1962
  - 95. Jan.-July
  - 96. Aug.-Dec.
- 97-99: 1963
  - 97. Jan.-May; includes Frances Perkins tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt.
  - 98. June-Aug.
  - 99. Sept.-Dec.
- 100-103: 1964; includes press releases for Genevieve Blatt, candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.
  - 100. Jan.-May
  - 101. June-Aug.
  - 102. Sept.-Oct.
  - 103. Nov.-Dec.
- 104-106: 1965
  - 104. Jan.-May
  - 105. June-Sept.
  - 106. Oct.-Dec.
- 107-109: 1966
  - 107. Jan.-May
  - 108. June-Sept.
  - 109. Oct.-Dec.
- 110-111: 1967
  - 110. Jan.-May
  - 111. June-Dec.
- 112-114: 1968
  - 112. Jan.-May
  - 113. June-Sept.
  - 114. Oct.-Dec.; includes press release re: EGM.
- 115. 1969-1971; includes PHOTOGRAPH of friends, EGM letter re: M. Carey Thomas.
- 116. n.d., some re: Slippery Rock College accreditation; includes NWP press release.
- 117-131: Invitations and programs; EGM speaker at many events; arranged chronologically.
  - 117. 1922-1925
  - 118. 1927?-1929
  - 119. 1930-1933
  - 120. 1934-1938; includes itinerary.
  - 121. 1939-1946
  - 122. 1947-1952
  - 123. 1954-1955
  - 124. 1956-1959
  - 125. 1960-1961
  - 126. 1962
  - 127. 1963
  - 128. 1964-1966
  - 129. 1967-1969
  - 130. 1970
  - 131. n.d.

Series III. SPEECHES AND WRITINGS
- 132-151: Speeches, 1910?-1968, n.d.: ms., ts., printed; includes notes.
  - 132. 1910?, 1920s
  - 133-135: Re: repeal of prohibition
    - 133. 1920s-early 1930s
    - 134. 1930-1931
    - 135. 1932-1933
  - 136. 1924
  - 137. 1925-ca.1930; includes program.
  - 138. 1932-1933
  - 139. 1935
  - 140-141. 1936; includes program.
  - 142. 1937
  - 143-144: 1938; includes speeches re: dairy farmers in Pennsylvania.
    - 143. Jan.-Apr.; includes program.
    - 144. May-Nov.
  - 145. 1939
  - 146. 1940
  - 147. 1941
  - 148. 1942-1943
  - 149. 1944-1948
  - 150. 1955-1960
  - 151. 1964-1968, n.d. includes program, autobiographical speech.
- 152-157: Writings, 1917-1968, n.d.; ms., ts., printed.
  - 152. Poetry, 1917-1964 (scattered), n.d., most re: political themes; includes poems by others.
  - 153. Magazine and newspaper articles, letters to editors, 1925-1965 (scattered)
  - 154. EGM's column, 1937-1968 (scattered), in The Sur-vey, published by the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women
  - 155. Plays, n.d.
  - 156. Miscellaneous, 1945, n.d.
  - 157. Writings by others, quotations from others, 1961, n.d.

Series IV. ORGANIZATIONS AND BOARDS
- 158. Pennsylvania Constitution Commemoration Committee (EGM member): "Suggestions to Schools...", 1937
- 159. Affiliated [with the Woman's National Democratic Club] Clubs (EGM chair): convention report, 1939
- 160-161: National Youth Administration
  - 160. Pennsylvania State Advisory Committee (EGM member): minutes, May 1941; case studies, report, n.d.
    See also #58, 62-63.
  - 161. Photographs, n.d.
    FILED IN PHOTOGRAPH DRAWER.
- 162. Annual Assay Commission (EGM member): proceedings, 1951
- 163-167: Minutes
  - 163-164: Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, Inc., annual conventions (EGM member and National Committeewoman)
    - 163. 30th, 1957; includes EGM's notes.
    - 164. 31st, 1958; includes list of officers (1958-1959), resolutions.
  - 165. National Woman's Party, National Council (EGM chair), Sept. 1961
  - 166. Pennsylvania State Colleges, Association of Trustees (EGM member), Apr. 1963
  - 167. Slippery Rock State College Board of Trustees, Jan. 1968
- 168o. Democratic Party Platform Committee (EGM member): report (galley proofs), 1960; Ballot for Vice-President of the U.S., 1968; Democratic Party fund raising broadside, n.d.
- 169. President's Commission on the Status of Women: report, 1963
- 170m-180m: Membership cards, badges, passes, buttons, etc. Most political, many belonging to EGM.
  - 170m. Handmade badges, place cards, 1933, n.d.
  - 171m. Membership cards, passes, 1936-1968, n.d.
  - 172m-174m: Democratic National Conventions
    - 172m. 1924, 1932, 1956; includes scarf (1924).
    - 173m. 1960
    - 174m. 1964, 1968, n.d.
  - 175m. Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women, 1954-1968 (scattered), n.d.
  - 176m-178m: Democratic Party candidates, committees
    - 176m. 1928-1944 (scattered)
    - 177m. 1949-1964 (scattered)
    - 178m. 1965, n.d.
  - 179m-180m: Miscellaneous
    - 179m. 1900-1955 (scattered), n.d.: Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform, Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, etc.
    - 180m. 1962-1966, n.d.; includes "LBJ" earrings.

Additional catalog entries

Addams, Jane, 1860-1935

Alsop, Joseph, 1910-

Armstrong, Florence A. (Florence Arzelia), 1881-1962

Avery, Nina Belle Horton

Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956

Blatt, Genevieve, 1913-

Bowles, Chester, 1901-

Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston, 1866-1948

Bryn Mawr College

Burns, James MacGregor

Carpenter, Liz

Clark, Frank Monore, 1915-

Clark, Joseph S.

Cross, Wilbur L. (Wilbur Lucius), 1862-1948

Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948

Democratic National Committee (U.S.)

Democratic National Committee (U.S.). Women's Division

Dewson, Molly, 1874-1962

Dirksen, Everett McKinley

Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania

Edwards, India

Farley, James Aloysius, 1888-

Forrest, Wilbur

Furness, Betty, 1916-

Granaham, Kathryn Elizabeth, 1896?-1979

Green, Theodore Francis, 1867-

Guffey family

Guffey, Joseph F., 1870-1959

Harriman, W. Averell (William Averell), 1891-1896

Hayden, Carl Trumbull, 1877-1972

Hill, Lister, 1894-1984

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978

Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912-

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973

Johnson, Mordecai Wyatt, 1890-

Kefauver, Estes, 1903-1963

Kennedy, Ethel, 1928-

Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968

Keyes, Frances Parkinson, 1885-1970

Keyserling, Mary Dublin

Krock, Arthur, 1886-

Lausche, Frank John, 1895-

Loines, Hilda

Louchheim, Katie, 1903-

Lucy Stone League, Inc.

Lutz, Alma

McAllister, Dorothy S.

McBride, Mary Margaret, 1899-

McCormack, John W., 1891-

Mann, Alexander, 1860-1948

Marks, Jeannette Augustus, 1875-1964

Matthews, Burnita Shelton, 1894-

Mesta, Perle Skirvin, 1891-

Meyer, Agnes Elizabeth Ernst, 1887-

Miller, Carroll, 1875-1949

Miller family

Miller, Frieda Segelke, 1889-1973

National Woman's Party

Norton, Mary Teresa, 1875-1959

Owen, Ruth Bryan, 1885-1954

Parisi, Angela R., 1914-1961

Paul, Alice, 1885-1977

Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women

Pepper, Claude, 1900-

Perkins, Frances, 1882-1965

Peterson, Esther Eggertsen, 1906-

Pinchot, Cornelia Bryce, 1881-1960

Pollitzer, Anita, 1894-1975

Price, Margaret, 1912-1969

Putnam, Elizabeth Lowell, 1862-1935

Ralston, Cameron

Rayburn, Sam, 1882-1961

Robb, Inez

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

Ross, Nellie Tayloe, 1876-1977

Sabin, Pauline Morton

St. George, Katharine

Scandrett, Richard B. Jr., 1891-1969

Schlesinger, Arthur M. (Arthur Meier), 1917-

Sharpe, Mary Elizabeth, 1884-1985

Slippery Rock State College

Sloan, Grace McCalmont

Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944

Smith, Corinna Lindon, 1876-

Smith, Margaret Chase, 1897-

Starrett, Agnes Lynch, 1899-

Stevens, Doris, 1892-1963

Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965

Thomas, M. Carey (Martha Carey), 1857-1935

Truman, Bess Wallace

Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972

United States. National Youth Administration

United States. Work Projects Administration

Varallo, Mary A.

Wagenhorst, Lewis H

Wallace, Henry Agard, 1888-1965

Wallace, Ilo Browne

Weisenfluh, Norman Naegeli, 1899-

Williams, G. Mennen, 1911-

Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt, 1872-1961

Women's Joint Legislative Commitee for Equal Rights

Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform

Women's Universal Movement

Woodward, Ellen Sullivan, 1887-1971

World Woman's Party

Americans--Japan

Anti-Catholicism--United States

China--Description and travel-20th century

Dairy farmers--Pennsylvania

Daughters of the American Revolution

Democratic Party (Pennsylvania)

Democratic Party (U.S.)

Depressions--1929--Pennsylvania

Elected officials--Pennsylvania

Equal rights amendments

Family records

Hate mail

Japan--Description and travel-1901-1945

New Deal, 1933-1939

Patronage, Political--Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania--Politics and government--20th century

Politics, Practical--United States

Prohibition--Repeal of legislation

Republican Party (Pennsylvania)

Slippery Rock State College--Administration

United States. National Recovery Administration

United States--Politics and government--20th century

Voyages and travels

Women in politics--United States

Women's rights-United States

sch00737