Overview
Speeches, photographs, writings, etc., of Percy Maxim Lee, President of the National League of Women Voters.
Dates
- Creation: 1942-1971
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Percy Maxim Lee is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
1.42 linear feet ((l carton, l file box) plus l folio+ folder)This collection consists of: clippings, photographs, writings, and speeches by Percy Maxim Lee on League of Women Voters affairs; minutes, reports, and correspondence of the Farmington, Connecticut, and United States Leagues, l942-1971; and records of the League of Women Voters Overseas Education Fund and the Consumer Advisory council, l962-1969.
BIOGRAPHY
Percy Maxim Lee, political and civic volunteer, was born on July 6, l906, in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Josephine (Hamilton), a suffragist, and Hiram Percy Maxim, an inventor and early automobile designer. In l926 she married John Glessner Lee, a Connecticut industrialist, choosing to marry and raise a family rather than go to college.
Lee was president of the League of Women Voters of Farmington, Connecticut, 1938-1942, of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, l942-1949, and of the League of Women Voters of the United States for four terms, 1950-1958. She was trustee of the League of Women Voters Education Fund, president of the League's Overseas Education Fund, l959-1963, and president of the Overseas Education Fund's Leadership Institute. She served on the Ford Foundation and chaired the Capital Region Planning Agency in Hartford. She was appointed to the Consumer Advisory Council by President Kennedy in l962, and served as its chairman, l963-1967. She also served on the board of Connecticut College for Women and as national consultant for Radcliffe's Women's Archives, (later the Schlesinger Library), 1957-1960. Lee received honorary degrees from Cedar Crest College and Rutgers University (l956), from Hillyer College (l957), and from Drexel Institute, Philadelphia.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 74-160
These papers were given to the Schlesinger Library by Percy Maxim Lee in July l974.
CONTAINER LIST
- Carton 1: 2-26v
- Box 2: 27-31
Processing Information
Preliminary inventory: March 1986
By: Lucy Thoma
- Title
- Lee, Percy Maxim, 1906-2002. Papers of Percy Maxim Lee, 1900-1970: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch00700
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.