Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters and documents which formed a portion of the Business Women's Legislative Council of California's records. The items in the collection pertain to the organization, maintenance and activities of the Council. The records span the years from 1927 to 1943, although there is a general gap in the files before 1929 and from 1936 through 1938. Notable correspondence includes letters from elected officials as well as candidates in California and the governors of nearly all states in response to questions about their positions on "equal rights for women wage-earners." Prominent gubernatorial signatories include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Bilbo, and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Among the many letters from California legislators, the one from Culbert Olson is the most notable. Ephemera includes pamphlets on women's rights from other organizations, newspaper clippings/transcripts, convention programs, and a typewritten tribute to Sue Brobst, BWLCC's founder and long-time president. Manuscripts comprise the bulk of the folders in the collection. The best records for understanding the organization's operations and culture are the meeting minutes. In addition to supplying a running record of the organization's history, they collate information found in board member reports, correspondence, membership records, resolutions and constitution. They become more detailed after 1939. The folder from the 1935 convention is a particularly rich source of information, including a list of the 500 members during the previous year. Membership records and applications contain valuable information about the occupation and address of individual members as well as a complete list of affiliated clubs. One major weakness of the collection is that provides very little evidence in regard to the organization's daily workings and relevant inter-personal dynamics. The formality of the minutes, reports, correspondents obscures these aspects of organizational life. However, the formality itself indicates the organization's approach within its particular social context. Lastly, one folder contains material such as pamphlets and reports from the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, with which the BWLCC affiliated. Major topics include women's economic, social and legal conditions in the United States, women's and feminist societies, feminism's political aspects, women's rights, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, The International Federation of Business and Professional Women, and the National Women's Party, as well as economic, social, and political conditions in Los Angeles County and California. Major participants in the collection fall into two categories. Nationally prominent officials include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Theodore Bilbo, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and Culbert Olson. Notable BWLCC board members include Sue Brobst, Albert Gude Lynch, Mamie L. Chase, Gertrude I. George, Frances Siener, Anne Leidendeker, Una Winter, May G. Schaefer, Iva Kellog, Lila B. Clark, Majorie Longwell. All held the role of president or secretary at some point and several such as Brobst, George, Winter, and Longwell were active in many other public organizations, before, during, and after the BWLCC's tenure.
