Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Records of the Arlington County Women's Democratic Club, Collection # RG 171, Arlington Public Library, Center for Local History

Acquisition Information

Gift of Nancy T. Renfro, daughter of Sue Renfro, an active member of the club.

Historical Information

The Arlington County Women's Democratic Club was founded in 1932 with the purpose of furthering the ideals of the Democratic Party. Members were encouraged to work for the election of Democratic candidates. The club held monthly luncheon meetings with speakers, chiefly Democratic political figures active in Arlington County or Virginia politics. Sometimes the club held Virginia Democratic candidate forums, with multiple speakers. The group was somewhat conservative, reporting a gap between the club's opinions and those of the national Democratic organization by the early 1970s.

Scope and Content

Record Group 171 houses the records of the Arlington County Woman's Democratic Club, 1954-1974. The record group measures approximately one linear foot. Types of materials are bylaws, minutes, correspondence, newsletters, brochures, clippings, and photographs; most of the material are meeting minutes

Some members of the House of Delegates in the 1960s and 1970s were invited to their luncheon meetings, including Harrison Mann and Mary Marshall. Luncheon topics included the establishment of Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University, mental health funding, revision of the state constitution, electoral redistricting, pollution of the Potomac River, and petroleum supply. The club favored no-fault auto insurance and state regulation of nursing homes but not busing for racial balance in the public schools or the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for women.

The club also held some purely social events such as Christmas parties and the club produced a scrapbook for the 1963-1964 administrative year.

Arrangement

Record Group 171 is organized into six series by type of material. Within series the arrangement is chiefly chronological. There are photographs in Series 6, File 4, from the 1963-1964 scrapbook.

Related Material

Researchers interested in Arlington Democrats may consult numerous record groups, for example, RG 137, Records of the Arlington County Democratic Committee . For information on Arlington women active in the Democratic Party, researchers may consult RG 27, Personal Papers of Beulah Shipley Goss (an active member of the club) and RG 65, Personal Papers of Mary A. Marshall (who served in the House of Delegates, 1966-1970, 1972-1992).

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Arlington (Va.)
• Arlington County (Va.)
• Arlington County (Va.) -- Politics and government.
• Democratic Party (U.S.)
• Democratic Party (Va.)
• Political parties -- United States.
• Virginia -- Politics and government
• Voting -- United States.
• Women -- United States -- Societies and clubs.
• Women in community organization

Adjunct Descriptive Data