Manuscripts Collection
Barbara Jeanne Stuhler was born April 18, 1927, in Monticello, Iowa, the daughter of George Russell and Mae (Galbraith) Stuhler. She was raised in Evanston, Illinois, and attended MacMurray College (Jacksonville, Illinois) where she earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1945. After college, Stuhler enrolled in the University of Minnesota Graduate School of Public Administration (now the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs). On completion of her course work, she was awarded an internship in the National Institute of Public Affairs, working in 1946-1947 with the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget). Following her internship, she joined the Bureau of Public Administration staff at the University of Virginia as a research assistant and bibliographer.
Stuhler moved to Minneapolis in 1948 when she was offered a position as executive secretary of the Minnesota branch of the League of Women Voters. Stuhler worked for two years before accepting a position as assistant director of the World Affairs Center in the University of Minnesota's General Extension Division. In 1952, after completing a thesis on the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, she received a master's degree in public administration. She continued as associate director of the World Affairs Center until 1975 when she was promoted to associate dean for Community Relations and Extension Services of Continuing Education and Extension. In 1988 she was again promoted to the rank of executive associate dean. During her university tenure, Stuhler taught numerous adult education courses, managed the World Affairs Center, authored many articles and pamphlet publications, and was a frequent speaker at conferences, professional associations, and local club meetings.
In addition to her university career Stuhler maintained an active membership in the League of Women Voters and served in leadership positions at both national and state levels. Her many League activities included heading an exchange tour of the Soviet Union in 1967, participating in numerous conferences, writing newsletter articles, drafting text for informational pamphlets, consulting on the design of historical exhibits, and planning celebratory events for the 75th anniversary of women's suffrage. Although she may have given the League her largest attention, Stuhler was also active in many other professional, civic, and women's organizations, including the National Council of Community World Affairs Organization, the United Nations Rally of Minnesota, the Arms Control Association, the Minnesota Humane Society, the Women's Candidate Development Coalition, and the Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund.
In addition to these professional and organizational activities Stuhler also researched and authored several historical books and articles that focused on Minnesota politicians and women.
Stuhler retired from the University of Minnesota in 1990. On January 28, 2007, she died at age 82.
The collection consists of personal papers that document Stuhler's professional career, research interests, publications, and organizational activities. Included are notes from classes she taught; scripts from a contemporary world affairs radio commentary that were broadcast on KUOM (Twin Cities) for 15 years; texts from speeches and presentations before local clubs, conferences, and professional associations; research files and background materials related to the publication of historical articles and books; trip files documenting a 1960s exchange program with Soviet Union women and a 1975 tour of NATO European security sites; and organizational files reflecting Stuhler's involvement with women's, world affairs, civic, and business organizations.
The papers include information about Minnesota diplomats and politicians such as Walter H. Judd, Joseph H. Ball, Harold E. Stassen, Hubert H. Humphrey, and Eugene J. McCarthy; Minnesota women suffragists and suffrage history; and the planning and design of the Women's Suffrage Memorial Garden on the state capitol grounds. Her speeches, class notes, and radio scripts focus on U.S. foreign relations, international economics, development aid, national security, disarmament, and the United Nations.
Materials documenting her research interests and organizational activities also include records documenting the Bipartisan Caucus to End the War in Vietnam; the League of Women Voters; Minnesota Groweing (a women's network that raised grassroots and financial support for Joan Growe's 1984 senatorial campaign); the University's Commission on Women; the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO; the National Cattle Industry Advisory Committee; Norwest Bank of Minneapolis; and Northland College.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Accession numbers: 11,570; 15,383; 15,607; 15,818; 16,130; 16,383
Processed by: Lydia Lucas, 1973; Monica Manny Ralston, March 2001; Sarah Ethier, January 2008; Christopher Welter, September 2009
Catalog ID number: 1730924
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics
should
This portion documents Stuhler's professional career from 1946 when she served as an intern in the Social Security Administration until 1990 when she retired as executive associate dean of the University of Minnesota's Continuing Education and Extension Services. Included are résumés, lists of her publications, and awards; printed bulletins, handwritten notes, and typed progress reports that document her internship with the National Institute of Public Affairs; activities reports related to her first post-college position as a bibliographer for the University of Virginia's Bureau of Public Administration; correspondence regarding her accepting the position for the League of Women Voters of Minnesota's organization secretary; and correspondence, performance evaluations, and committee materials related to her work at the university. Some of the miscellaneous personal materials reflect Stuhler's role as a mid-level university administrator, salary discrepancies between male and female administrators, the goals and objectives of the Continuing Education and Extension program, and the inner dynamics of program staff. Also included are outlines, talking points, and notes from classes, seminars and lectures she taught as a professor in the university's World Affairs Center and Community Relations and Extension Services.
Also includes group photographs of the 1946-1947 interns, Stuhler's Senate and House identification card passes, and biographical data for a 1969 directory.
Stuhler's notes reflect lectures given by visiting faculty and federal bureaucrats on such topics as the State Department, the Federal Security Agency, legislative reference services, post-world war economics, foreign policy, housing, labor, communism, human rights, and the United Nations.
As well as reports pertaining to Stuhler's work as a bibliographer, correspondence, project reports, bibliographic notes, background material, and interview notes for a study of the state of Virginia's 1948 administrative reorganization are also included.
Beginning in 1969 and continuing through 1985 Stuhler wrote and recorded a weekly five-minute radio commentary that aired on the University's radio station KUOM during the afternoon news segment. These commentaries gave her personal viewpoints on contemporary American policies and world affairs and particularly focused on arms control, international economics, trade, foreign aid, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations. Other topics over the years touched upon American involvement in Vietnam, turmoil in the Middle East, relations between India and Pakistan, China's representation in the United Nations, inflation and energy crises of the 1970s, the Panama Canal treaty, the Iranian hostage crisis, SALT negotiations, El Salvador, and American relations with Canada. Broadcasts that focused on women included commentaries on Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Helen Suzman, Margaret Thatcher, the International Women's Year, the 1977 Houston Women's Conference, Arvonne Fraser's post as director of the Office of Women in Development, women and work, women in the military, the formation of the Women's Campaign Fund, and women in politics. Files pertaining to the commentaries are arranged chronologically and include typescripts of her broadcasts, administrative correspondence between Stuhler and the University's Department of Radio and Television, and correspondence from listeners asking for copies of her commentaries or offering different viewpoints.
Stuhler's speeches date from the late 1940s when she was working for the League of Women Voters through the period shortly after she retired from the University. Included is an incomplete chronological list and correspondence regarding her engagements before a wide range of audiences and events. She was often called upon to speak at meetings of local women's clubs, local women voters leagues, branches of the American Association of University Women, local United Nations associations, as well as to many groups and seminars associated with the University and its Continuing Education and Extension programs. The speeches are arranged by topical subject area and include a set of general and program speeches given before leagues of women voters. Another set specifically regards the University's World Affairs Center. Most often the speeches consist of outlines or talking points handwritten on cards with key opening and concluding statements but there are also full typed texts as well.
The last file in this set contains materials pertaining to a 13-part television series on women produced by the University in 1970. Stuhler hosted the opening and closing broadcasts with Vera Schletzer as well as the segments on government, volunteerism, arts, and sports.
Statements made by Stuhler as a national board member of the League of Women Voters during legislative hearings regarding the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Speech title is "The Forgotten Years of Women in Politics."
This portion of the papers contains research and publicity files related to Stuhler's article and book publications. Also included are pamphlets, booklets, reprints, book reviews, and newsletters containing items Stuhler wrote that were published by the League of Women Voters, the University of Minnesota World Affairs Center, or in conference proceedings.
The research files consist of correspondence, proposals, outlines, drafts, interview notes, citations research, editor critiques, and background materials. Speeches pertaining to two of her books published by the Minnesota Historical Society are also included. Files pertaining to the Bipartisan Caucus to End the War in Vietnam contain preliminary research that Stuhler conducted for a proposed study of the Caucus. The Caucus was formed in early April 1971 with the aim of registering anti-war voters and garnering support for peace candidates. The files also include records that Stuhler collected from former members Betty Salisbury and Martha Platt that document the formation, activities, and dissolution of this short-lived group and its predecessor, the Committee for a Clear Conscience. Files pertaining to the history of the women's network behind Joan Growe's 1984 senatorial campaign contain Stuhler's own records as a member of that organization's steering committee.
This article was read on the floor of the House of Representatives by
Congressman Donald Fraser and was published in the
Fliers, news clippings, correspondence, geographical and cultural information specific to Southeast Asia, statistics on civilian injury and death, and other research used by the Bipartisan Caucus.
Salisbury co-chaired the Caucus with Louis Smerling. Her files include notes from committee meetings, telephone calls, and task lists; minutes; committee reports; Caucus circulars; printed materials; and news clippings. The files provide documentation of Caucus goals and activities as well as documentation of discussions that occurred within the Caucus, the threat that Eugene McCarthy's campaign dealt to the bipartisan nature of the group, and the rifts between party loyalties that contributed to a loss of momentum within the Caucus.
This committee was formed in reaction to a GOP fund raising dinner that featured Ronald Reagan as speaker. To protest the Reagan dinner, the committee sponsored a bipartisan event that featured anti-war speaker and former senator Charles Goodell. The file contains committee circulars regarding event planning and ticket sales, press releases, and news clippings.
Correspondence, notes, candidate resolutions, news clippings, and campaign literature pertaining to Salisbury's participation in efforts to raise Republican precinct support for Paul McCloskey throughout Minnesota.
Martha Platt was both a sponsor of the Committee for a Clear Conscience and a chair of Minnesotans to End the War in Vietnam. Her files primarily contain printed materials that document parallel efforts aimed toward garnering anti-war support during the same period as the Bipartisan Caucus.
These files all relate to her book about the New Century Club of St. Paul. They include member and officer directories, book committee directories, background research, illustrations, and chapter drafts.
These files represent the third of Stuhler's books published by the Minnesota Historical Society. Included are critiques and research comments by the Society's publications staff and background research regarding Clara Ueland and her family. The files also include materials pertaining to the planning, development, and dedication of a permanent exhibit in the office of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota that commemorates Clara Ueland and Minnesota suffrage history.
Drafts, citation notes, background research, related correspondence, and
a published copy of an article appearing in the spring 1990 issue of
These files contain background materials and draft articles on a number
of Minnesota men who influenced American foreign policy and who were not
included in Stuhler's book
Published in 1986 by Braemar Press,
An article published in the fall 1972 issue of
An article published in the fall 1995 issue of
Published in 1973 by the Minnesota Historical Society, this book examined
the influence of Cushman B. Davis, Charles A. Lindbergh, Harold Knutson,
Henrik Shipstead, Frank B. Kellogg, Joseph H. Ball, Harold E. Stassen,
Walter H. Judd, Hubert H. Humphrey, and Eugene McCarthy on the four
principal ideologies (imperialism, isolationism, internationalism, and
interventionism) that guided American foreign policy during the 70-year
period between the Spanish-American War and the Vietnam War. Included
are files on five of the men covered in her book that contain
correspondence, interview summaries, and research notes. Additional
materials include speech texts,
Includes speech texts dated 1939-1967.
Speech texts and other printed materials generated by McCarthy's Senate office.
Contains questions and notes from Stuhler's interview of Ball's campaign manager during the 1942 and 1948 senatorial primary elections. The interview focused on Malkerson's perception of Ball's support for Roosevelt, his opposition to the European Recovery Program, and his relationship with Stassen.
As well as correspondence and speech texts, the file also includes materials concerning Stuhler's participation with Stassen in a 1981 series of regional meetings about Minnesota governors that focused on Stassen's shift from isolationism to internationalism.
Includes draft articles and an epilogue that were not included in the book as well as speeches that were made following the book's publication.
This book was published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1977 and was co-edited by Stuhler and Gretchen Kreuter. Included are materials related to Stuhler's chapter on Fannie Fligelman Brin, a peace activist who represented the National Council of Jewish Women at the United Nations charter conference, as well as materials related to an unpublished chapter by Virginia Lanegran on Eugenie Anderson, first American woman ambassador (1949-1953, Denmark). Additional materials include biographical data and sketches, news clippings, and printed materials that Stuhler loaned to Patricia Harpole for her compilation of brief sketches of influential business women, educators, lawyers, physicians, and politicians. Most of the women in this file were not included in Harpole's compilation. Other materials are related to the book's promotional publicity and to Stuhler's speaking engagements immediately following the book's publication. A revised edition of the book was published in 1998 with the addition of an afterword written by Stuhler and Kreuter. Some of the research used in the revised edition can be found here.
Drafts and research notes for a history of the St. Paul YWCA that was not published.
Chapter 3 contains notes only.
A report of a survey of seminar participants conducted by William Rogers and Barbara Stuhler of the University of Minnesota World Affairs Center in conjunction with Robert W. And Carolyn P. Hattery of the Extension Division at the University of Wisconsin. Includes a copy of the report and correspondence concerning its distribution.
This file consists of correspondence, research, and documentation regarding the official designation of the Handicraft Guild Building in Minneapolis.
Of all her various activities and organizational memberships, Stuhler was probably most committed to the League of Women Voters. She served three terms from 1958 through 1964 on its National Board and was the foreign policy chairman from 1960 through 1964. From 1964 through 1968 she served on the Board of Directors of the Overseas Education Fund and headed a visiting delegation to the U.S.S.R. in 1967. From 1968 through 1970 she was a director of the League of Women Voters Education Fund and chaired a series of conferences on national security. She also helped with the Education Fund's Vision 2000 campaign, which worked to increase civic involvement in local communities by using the latest technology. In addition to these activities Stuhler also drafted numerous articles for the League's newsletter; prepared informational pamphlets on foreign policy, development assistance, trade, and economics; served as the League's representative to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO; and worked with an advisory committee to design an exhibit on the League's history.
The files in this set document her service on the National Board, her involvement with conference planning, and some of the articles and speeches she wrote. The files also document the programmatic and educational focus of the League during the mid-twentieth century. Additional materials reflecting Stuhler's League activities are included within the speech and publications series as well as within the files of the Minnesota branch that follow. Files from her trip to the Soviet Union are included within the section of trip and conference files contained within the files pertaining to her world affairs activities.
Contains conference program material and Stuhler's closing remarks as national conference chairman for conferences held in Columbus, Ohio; Racine, Wisconsin; and Issaquah, Washington.
File contains correspondence, reports, and notes.
Files contain information on meetings, promotions, and strategy.
Includes Stuhler's reports as a member of the National Board specifically reporting on her visit to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (August 1958), her attendance at state conferences held in North Dakota (1959), Nebraska (1959), and Oklahoma (1963), and her participation in foreign policy workshops held in Iowa (1959) and Milwaukee (1963).
Includes information on the National Conference on Youth and Community Involvement and Phase II.
Includes information on a memorial and a reunion.
Includes correspondence, articles, and informational materials.
Includes nomination, election, and retirement information; correspondence from President Ruth S. Phillips to National Board staff; committee and directories, and President Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins visit to Minnesota.
Includes correspondence, drafts, and copies of issued newsletters pertaining to articles Stuhler wrote about India; the common market; agriculture; and the Atlantic Alliance.
Includes correspondence regarding a 1961 informational pamphlet that Stuhler prepared for the League, correspondence regarding the League's opposition to import marking legislation, and materials pertaining to Stuhler's remarks at a conference sponsored by the U.S. State Department for representatives of non-governmental organizations.
Correspondence and printed material pertaining to Stuhler's appointment as League representative on the Commission.
Correspondence, mock-ups, and printed material regarding a traveling exhibit designed by the Education Fund to commemorate the League's 75th anniversary. Stuhler served on the advisory committee responsible for the exhibit's design and also helped coordinate a showing of the exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Regarding Stuhler's consultation with the League to revise and expand a traveling exhibit on Minnesota woman suffrage owned by the Minnesota Historical Society.
File consists of correspondence, news clippings, and other information regarding the League.
Contains information both on and for former board members.
Includes correspondence and oral remarks pertaining to Stuhler's receipt of the award in 1960 as well as information regarding her participation in ceremonies honoring those who won the award between 1975 and 1986.
File consists of correspondence and news clippings regarding the League.
Stuhler co-chaired the steering committee with Harriette Burkhalter
for the League's 75th-anniversary celebration of woman suffrage. The
steering committee planned a year-long series of events to
commemorate both the 19th amendment and the founding of the League.
August 26, the anniversary date of the amendment's ratification,
coincided with the State Fair and a day of fair activities was
scheduled. These included a flag-raising, a parade, and a showing of
the
Includes copies of the Minnesota branch newsletter that contain articles either written by Stuhler or about her League activities.
File includes correspondence and donation information.
Includes Stuhler's responses to an attitudinal survey on career development and leadership.
Files contain information regarding the fund dedicated to helping Minnesota women get elected to public office. The fund offered both financial and administrative assistance to candidates, helping to fundraise and promote on their behalf.
Includes materials pertaining to the development of a feminist model for the organization's structure. Also includes a history of the Consortium.
File contains information on the Education Council's 52 Minnesota women playing card sets that were for sale. Includes selection documents, photograph requests, and other information relating to the project.
This set of files pertains to the activities of a legacy committee formed from the 19th Amendment Celebration Committee of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. This committee, also co-chaired by Stuhler and Burkhalter, coordinated interest, conceptual ideas, fund raising, and legislation for a permanent memorial to commemorate woman suffrage on the grounds of the state capitol. After legislation for the memorial was passed in March 1996, the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board began to oversee design and construction activities. Input from the originating legacy committee was continued by project representation of committee members Stuhler, Arvonne Fraser, and Susan Gross. A competition for design submissions was announced in June 1996 and a proposal submitted by a design team composed of Loom (architect), Steffan/Larson Associates (landscape architects), and Carroll, Franck and Associates (structural engineers) was selected. The Upper Midwest Women's History Project acted as a fiscal agent to raise matching funds and to work with an advisory group on ideas for an educational component of the memorial. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 26, 1998.
Due to problems with plant selection and design, the landscaping crew was not able to maintain the original garden and it became a wild space shortly after it opened. Stuhler and the League of Women Voters of Minnesota then reestablished the legacy committee and worked to redesign a similar but easier to maintain memorial, which then opened in 2004.
File contains correspondence regarding the repairs and continued maintenance of the memorial following its time as a wild space.
Contains the winning design proposal, and materials regarding project management by the Capitol Area Architecture and Planning Board.
Files contain grant requests sent to Bigelow, General Mills, and Honeywell.
Regards Stuhler's participation as a reporter in one of five regional forums sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Contains materials that are primarily related to local Twin Cities area conferences including a 1975 Fund For Peace conference held in Wayzata and a 1982 conference on the medical consequences of nuclear weapons held by Physicians for Social Responsibility. Also included are correspondence pertaining to membership in the Minnesota Council for the United Nations and materials pertaining to Stuhler's participation in a 1983 radio program concerning US-USSR citizen exchange.
Stuhler was appointed to this committee in May 1964. The committee was formed by Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman to investigate the impact of foreign imports upon the American livestock industry and to make recommendations concerning U.S. exports, import limitations, grading, emergency loans, and producer incentives.
Includes correspondence and literature regarding various women's campaigns for local school board and county commission elections. Also includes a 1972 draft report of the McGovern Panel on National Security with Stuhler's annotations.
Primarily contains incoming correspondence from representatives Donald Fraser and Joseph Karth and senators Hubert H. Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Eugene McCarthy, Rudy Boschwitz, and Dave Durenberger concerning foreign aid appropriations (1963), the Suez Canal crisis (1967), campaign contributions (1968), Nixon's economic policies (1973), the sale of AWACs to Iran (1977), and additional arms control issues (1979-1986).
Contains membership lists of a local dinner meeting-discussion group sponsored by the Council of Foreign Relations and formed in 1941. Stuhler was one of the first two women invited to be a member.
Stuhler was the first woman as well as one of the first eight Americans to be invited to attend this conference sponsored by Wilton Park and held near Brighton, England. She attended the 35th program which was focused on the European Economic Community and Berlin. Included are correspondence concerning her invitation, conference program materials, Stuhler's report to the League of Women Voters, and reports from other League women who attended later conferences.
Stuhler toured the Soviet Union September 27-October 18, 1967 as leader of a four-member delegation from the Overseas Education Fund of the League of Women Voters. The trip was part of an exchange program with the Women's Soviet Committee arranged by the Interchange Foundation. Included are correspondence, itineraries, press releases, news clippings, and reports and articles written by Stuhler and the other League delegates. Included within the correspondence are letters and Christmas greeting cards sent by some of the Soviet women Stuhler met.
Stuhler participated on a tour of European security sites by U.S. women leaders as part of NATO's observance of International Women's Year. The trip included tours of NATO headquarters and the Allied Forces central command center in Brussels, a visit to the Ministry of Defense in Bonn, a bus trip along the Rhine, and observations of tank operations at W�rzberg and the border patrol at Fulda. Stuhler's trip papers include itineraries, program schedules, souvenir brochures containing maps and historical information, notes from briefings and site tours, photographic snapshots, trip reports, evaluations, and talking points from speeches Stuhler gave about the experience.
Contains correspondence, program materials, and news clippings regarding Stuhler's service as chair of St. Paul celebratory activities commemorating the 36th anniversary of the United Nations charter.
In May of 1968 Secretary of State Dean Rusk appointed Stuhler to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO as a representative from the League of Women Voters. Stuhler served two consecutive three-year terms from 1968 through 1973. During those terms she served on the nominating and public liaison committees and chaired the membership and program committees. In 1970 she was elected one of UNESCO's three vice chairmen and served in that capacity until her representation ended in 1973. Included within this set are files documenting commission meetings, committee activities, the formulation of policy statements, conferences in which Stuhler participated, and printed materials regarding observances of the Human Rights Year and the International Education Year.
Includes drafts of a 1973 statement on American support for UNESCO and reports from the U.S. delegation to the Secretary of State regarding UNESCO general conferences.
Includes information regarding the observance of the United Nations Human Rights Year (1968), the ratification of the Genocide Convention by the United States (1970-1971), and an international workshop on racism and discrimination (1971).
Included are correspondence, conference planning materials, agendas, participant lists, and proposals regarding annual workshops and conferences for secondary social studies teachers on global education sponsored by the UNESCO Committee of the United Nations Association of Minnesota.
Includes materials pertaining to regular meetings of the board as well as information regarding lunch programs that Stuhler and Reatha King (president of Metropolitan State University) held for women employees of the bank and materials regarding Stuhler's involvement in planning celebratory programs for the introduction of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Includes 1980 reports on community development and individual rights by the Committee's Social Policy Task Force.