The League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area has played a role in every local, state, and federal election since its incorporation in 1945. It is an affiliated chapter of the League of Women Voters, a national organization dedicated to educating the public about voting and government policy issues.
The League of Women Voters began as an outgrowth of the National Women Suffrage Association, one of the primary organizations in the suffrage movement of the nineteenth century. For many in the movement the passage of the Nineteenth amendment granting women the right to vote was, by itself, insufficient if that vote could be manipulated. The League's founder, Carrie Chapman Catt, believed that without an educated and independent female electorate a woman's vote might merely become an extension of her father's or husband's own political philosophies. The organization soon included advocating for policy issues alongside education. Catt declared that the League that "its first object was merely to teach the new voters the mechanics of voting. From this simple beginning the League has grown until now it maintains a broad platform and active list on the national, state, and local levels."
Administratively the League is organized into a National office supported by independent state and local chapters working at the grassroots level. The League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area began as a splinter of the Morris County League. The County League had by the mid-1940's become too ungainly and its Board too unproductive thus forcing several smaller regional groups of the League to file for independent status. In a letter dated January 15, 1945 the Morristown League of Women Voters asked for and received independent affiliation with the New Jersey State Chapter of the League of Women Voters. The League began with 28 official members.
The Morristown League immediately went to work instituting the National office's policies. By hosting guest speakers and debates, producing publications and working directly with Town and Township officials the League sought to educate and advocate for Morristown's citizens. The League was organized into committees that provided a more efficient system of self-governance. Committees included Labor, Foreign Policy, Health and Economic Welfare. Board members and general members participated in workshops and talks given by the State and National chapters.
In the late 1960's the Morristown League seeking to acknowledge its regional membership and the contributions from residents from Morris Township and Morris Plains altered its name to the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area.
As the League gained in experience and numbers they sought ever more sophisticated methods of educating voters and initiating programs to increase voter participation in the election process. The Morristown League also began an earnest campaign of cooperating with other local Leagues to implement state and national agendas. The League involved itself in local administrative issues including among other items supporting the effort to rebuild the High School, providing support to the Morristown Library, and the consolidation of Morristown and Morris Township.
By the end of the Twentieth Century the Morristown Area League had become a well established institution in County politics with influence in all aspects of municipal operations as well as providing education and assistance to voters during elections. Its members offer counsel on major and minor elements of governance while offering politicians the opportunity to speak directly to their constituents. The League's contribution to Morristown politics include nonpartisan services such as Candidate's Night, distribution of nonpartisan "candidate and issues" voter information, voter registration drives, monthly information meetings, Women's Issues events, and a bi-monthly Bulletin.
The Records of the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area are a strong resource for researchers interested in the history of the League as well as the elections and politics of the Morris County area. Four of the series; Administrative, Newsletter, Issues and Advocacy and Voter Registration, provide details of chapter initiatives, the group's involvement with the community and the League's focus on public policy education. Documents included in this collection include executive board meeting minutes, annual reports, publications, correspondence, newspaper articles, chapter newsletters and some financial documents.
The League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area is organized into twelve series. The arrangement details the administrative structure and history of the League, and contains a great deal of information about the State and National Leagues.
The series contains many of the administrative records of the League. The majority of the records come from the Presidents' files from the mid and late 1990's though there are records dating to the creation of the Morristown Area League. The records detail the organizational, logistical, and budgetary decisions and events. This is the largest series in the collection and contains the by-laws, Board communications, correspondence, calendars, schedules, newspaper articles about the League, financial ledgers and budget reports. The Annual Reports found in this series provide executive board reports for the prior year as well as calendars and information pertaining to the upcoming year.
This series contains the records of the monthly, annual, and special board meetings from the state and local League. The minutes are not complete, with a large gap in the 1980's.
As a non-profit organization the League needed to utilize fund-raisers to meet those operating expenses not covered by dues or other traditional forms of income. There is one fund raiser represented in this collection referred to as the Very Silent Auction. This series has correspondence requesting donations for the auctions, records of donated items, and bids for said items and one remaining gift certificate from the 1996 auction.
Monthly newsletters published by the Morris Area league highlighted pertinent information and events. Included are the
The League's non-partisan policy did not prohibit either the chapter or individuals from having, stating, and advocating for agreed upon positions the policy strictly meant that the organization would not support or endorse one party or candidate. This series contains written reports, strategies, and initiatives undertaken by the League. One such position was environmental or natural resources advocacy. The environmental issues file folder contains information collected by the League in brochures and pamphlets that detail various environmental concerns.
The League of Women Voters for Morristown Area participated in a regional group called the Inter League Organization. It is a federation of local leagues however the group has no real authority to make consensus decisions unlike the actual chapters. The ILO's biggest initiative present in the collection is the establishment of a Morris County Commission on the Status of Women.
The League's primary mission was to educate voters about candidates and issues and to do this the League provided a variety of resources to the citizens such as biographies and platforms of the candidates. This series has both the Morristown league and state league produced materials. The New Jersey League items include pamphlets titled "Election Facts and Issues" and a more substantial report titled "Voters Guides". The League published a great deal of material in order to inform voters of policies, records, and views of nominees. Voter's Guides are published listings of all candidates in a race containing biography, political party, and typically answers to questions asked of each candidate by the League.
As a local chapter it was important for the League to be knowledgeable about the actions of local government. By attending open meetings and collecting information they sought to inform their members of the county and municipal's initiatives and goals. This series contains publications on county infrastructure and administrative reports from Morristown and Morris Township.
As a charter member of the New Jersey League the Morristown Area League received and gave reports and information to the state chapter. The State league also provided logistical and practical support to the Morristown Area League. Additionally the Morristown League worked to promote the state and national platforms and this series provides the evidence of this reciprocal relationship.
Along with providing a national platform and agenda The League of Women Voters United States provides grass roots support for leadership and organization for the local chapters in a myriad of ways including financial, logistical, and by organizing initiatives. The President's packet provides examples of this leadership.
The Education Fund is an initiative of the League that provides research, publications, and forums on public policy issues and disseminates information and training. Titles include "How Americans Talk About Medicare Reform The Public Voice", "Get Out And Vote, Encouraging Voter Participation in your Community", "Mr, Justice Brennan, A Discussion Guide", "Creating Communities of Inclusion", "Coping With Conflict, Reproductive Choices and Community Controversy", "Getting Into Issues Your Guide to the 1996 Elections", "Wired for Democracy: Using Emerging Technology to Educate Voters", Understanding Economic Policy, A Citizen's Handbook, "Impact on Issues 1996-1998, A Leader's Guide to National Program", "A Citizen's Guide to Community Education On Global Issues", Empowering Citizens, A Guide to Influencing Public Policy". The League of the Morristown Area also published items and the collection contains one such item "This is the Morristown Area". Non-bound items have been housed with the file folders. Bound items have been stored in flat boxes.
The League collected publications from various political organizations on a wide variety of topics and across the political spectrum. Titles include "Government is too Big and It's Costing You", "The People and the Power Game with Hedrick Smith", "New Jersey at the Crossroads of Migration" published by the New Jersey Audubon Society, "The Responsibilities of a Director of a New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut Non-profit Corporation" published by the Volunteer Urban Consulting Group, "What Would You Do With 11,000,000 Tons of Garbage?" published by the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
This material is open for research without restriction under the conditions of the North Jersey History Center archives access policy. Records may be copied for use in individual scholarly or personal research, however, as with all materials in the History Center, researchers are responsible for obtaining copyright permission to use material from the collection. Material in the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area Records may be photocopied, but because this material is a permanent part of the History Center's collections, researchers are advised to photocopy with care, using only the edge copier for bound material.
The records of the League of Women Voters were donated to the North Jersey History Center of the Morristown and Morris Township Library by the Morristown Area League.
League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area Records, 1945-1998. North Jersey History Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Library.
Arranged by Lawrence T. Greene, Fall 2005. EAD encoding updated and revised by Mary McMahon Dawson, Summer 2007.