Subject and Personality Files

Series

Identifier: CAC_CC_014_6_0000_0000_0000

Staff Only

The Douglas Collection covers the former congresswoman's life from her early stage career until her death in 1980. Because the bulk of the materials document her years in Congress, the collection is especially rich in covering events and issues central to the immediate post-World War II era. Due to her service on the Foreign Affairs Committee, there is a large amount of material on the earliest years of the Cold War and the establishment of the new world order. Other topics of note include the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, the European Recovery Act (Marshall Plan), the Korean War, and the creation of the state of Israel. There is also a significant amount of documentation covering the nation's readjustment after the war. Issues dealing with the Office of Price Administration, the Taft-Hartley Act, housing, migrant labor and veterans' concerns are but a few of the myriad topics found in the collection. In addition, there are multiple materials related to the changing roles of women and African-Americans in the post-war years, including those related to the Douglas/Nixon campaign of 1950 and the infamous “Pink Sheet”. The collection also contains excellent insight into the personality of Douglas through the variety of correspondence with Hollywood stars and political elite, her poetry, programs and scripts of earlier plays, and genealogical records.