Ruth Backes Papers, 1864-1865, 1882, ca.1900-2001
General International Standard for Archival Description
Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Patricia J. Albright. 2006-02-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Ruth Backes Papers
Creation of Ruth Backes Papers
Time of Creation of Ruth Backes Papers
Backes, Ruth, 1918-
Biographical History for: Ruth Backes Papers
Biographical Note Ruth Backes, a consultant, professor and psychologist, was born in Mount Vernon, New York on August 25, 1918 to Harriett Crofut Emerson and Robert Stewart Emerson. She graduated from New Rochelle High School (1935) and New York University (1939). She later earned a M.Ed. (1978) and Ed.D. (1985) from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts. She married Frederick Tregonning Backes and had three children. Backes worked in the fields of mental health, human services and education, both as a volunteer and professional, all of her adult life. Her professional life included nine years with the Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. and the United Service Organization (U.S.) (Baltimore, Maryland, New Haven, Connecticut, and Newfoundland, Canada); ten years with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Yale University (Meriden and New Haven, Connecticut); and six years as a part-time faculty member at Antioch/New England Graduate School (Keene, New Hampshire). For more than twenty years she had a small private practice in Amherst, Massachusetts, assisting mid-life working women with family, self-esteem, and employment issues. This work triggered her interest in researching the life of Frances Perkins, United States Secretary of Labor in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the first woman to hold a position in a presidential cabinet. Backes began her research concerning Perkins in 1991 and completed it in 2000. During that period, she was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College (1991-1993) and a Research Associate at the Five College Women's Studies Research Center at Mount Holyoke College (1993-1994). Backes served as a member and board member of many community and professional organizations and as a consultant to numerous hospitals, mental health centers and schools. She was a founding member of the National Committee for Mental Health Education. Her publications include many journal, magazine, and newspaper articles as well as a 1989 book about bookstores in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Ruth Backes Papers consist of correspondence, writings, research material, publications, oral history material, and photographs. Most of the material in the collection dates from 1934-2001 and relates to Backes's research for a biography of Frances Perkins. Correspondence (1990-1996) includes letters that she exchanged with Perkins' grandson, Tomlin Coggeshall, and letters to and from Allan David Bloom, Maurice F. Neufeld, and others who knew Perkins. Other letters concern talks that she gave about Perkins. Writings (1990-2001) contain a personal journal that Backes kept during the course of her research as well as her book proposals and drafts, a bibliography of her sources, the texts of her talks about Perkins, and a chronology that she prepared of Perkins' life. Research Material (1864-1865, circa 1900-1997) concerns both Perkins' personal life and her professional activities, particularly her service as United States Secretary of Labor from 1933-1945. Most of this series consist of photocopies of original documents that are in the collections of Columbia University, the Library of Congress, Cornell University, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and other repositories. These items include copies of correspondence, articles, speeches, and reports written by Perkins between circa 1926-1965 concerning topics such as unemployment insurance, labor laws, women and children in the workplace, and occupational and industrial diseases. Of particular note are copies of her annual reports as Secretary of Labor, 1933/34-1944/45, and her Report to the President on Ten Years' Achievements in Labor and Social Improvements, 1943. Other documents in this series relate to Perkins' family, childhood, and education. Publications in the collection chiefly consist of books dating from 1934-1995 that Backes collected during her research. Most of these items concern Perkins, Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, or labor-related issues. Oral History Material (1951-1955, 1989-1994) contains lists, notes, correspondence, excerpts, and typed transcripts relating to oral history interviews conducted by Backes. Allan David Bloom, Alice Hanson Cook, Trude W. Lash, Carol Riegelman Lubin, Maurice F. Neufeld, Peter A. Poole, Richard Strassberg, and Perkins' daughter, Susanna Coggeshall, were among the individuals whom Backes interviewed. This series also contains an incomplete copy of the typed transcript of the Reminscences of Frances Perkins, based on oral history interviews conducted by Dean Albertson for the Columbia Oral History Research Office between 1951-1955. In addition, Backes's detailed notes concerning these interviews are part of this series. Rounding out the collection are photographs dating from 1990, 1992, and 1995 that were taken at The Brick House, Perkins' former home in Newcastle, Maine. These photographs are of Backes, Tomlin Coggeshall, and the house and grounds.
Women politicians--United States--Biography.
lcsh
Women social reformers--United States--Biography.
Women cabinet officers--United States--Biography.
Labor policy--United States-History.
New Deal, 1933-1939.
United States. Dept. of Labor--History.
Biography as a literary form.
lcnaf
Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.
Coggeshall, Susanna, b.1916.
Coggeshall, Tomlin, 1954-
Bloom, Allan David, 1930-
Cook, Alice Hanson.
Lash, Trude W.
Lubin, Carol Riegelman.
Neufeld, Maurice F.
Poole, Peter A.
Strassberg, Richard.
Perkins family.
aat
series
Correspondence
Creation of Correspondence
Time of Creation of Correspondence
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Grant-in-Aid Program 1990-1992
F. Howe and others 1990-1993
With Tomlin Coggeshall 1990-1995
Frances Perkins at Cornell 1991-1992
Related to FP matters 1991-1996
Writings 1990-2001
Journal 1990-1991
Journal 1991-1992
Journal 1992
Journal 1993-1994
Bibliography circa 1990-1996
Chronology circa 1990-1996
Assessments of Frances Perkins circa 1990-1996
Notes and jottings circa 1990-1996
Book proposals and tables of contents circa 1990-1996
Prologues, synopses, notes circa 1990-1996
Early chapter drafts circa 1990-1996
Drafts of chapters circa 1990-1996
Drafts of seamens strike chapters circa 1990-1996
Drafts of seamen's strike chapters circa 1990-1996
More drafts of seamen's strike circa 1990-1996
Chapter 8 - Longshoremen's strike circa 1990-1996
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 circa 1990-1996
Chapters 5, 6 circa 1990-1996
Chapters 7, 8 circa 1990-1996
Chapter 9-2 parts circa 1990-1996
Research Material 1864-1865, circa 1900-circa 1997
Addresses of contacts circa 1990-circa 1996
All Saints Convent circa 1994-1995
Annual Reports by Perkins as Secretary of Labor 1933/34-194243
Annual Reports by Perkins as Secretary of Labor 1943/44-1944/45 and her ten-year report 1943
Articles by Perkins 1926-1934, circa 1936
Articles by Perkins 1939-1941, 1943, 1965
Biography writing circa 1982-1995
Butler Dearden Collection and other Worcester, Mass. material circa 1900, 1916, circa 1947-circa 1994
Church of the Resurrection circa 1968-circa 1997
Columbia University: holdings on Perkins circa 1990-1991
Columbia University: copies of and notes about Perkins' correspondence 1910, 1927, 1931, 1932, 1938-1945, 1991-1992
Cornell University: research notes and copies of portions of Perkins' lectures 1957-1965, 1991
Cornell University: publications, notes, and recollections circa 1965-1995
Critiques of Backes's work circa 1993-circa 1995
Department of Labor: research notes, publications, and Perkins postage stamps circa 1980-1995
Early years: family histories, Worcester, Lincoln Academy, genealogy 1864, 1865, circa 1900, circa 1948-circa 1996
Excerpts from Al Smith by Matthew Josephson, and Frances Perkins by Lillian Mohr 1969, 1979
Excerpts from All For One by Rose Schneiderman, and clippings 1934, 1967, 1969, 1995-1996
Excerpts and notes from readings: Susan Ware, Thomas Eliot, Richard O'Connor and others circa 1949-circa 1996
Excerpts from readings, articles, clippings, notes, and copy of letter about Perkins 1933-1934, circa 1980-1996
Harvard Law School Library: research notes and copies of Charles Wyzanski, Jr., Perkins, and C. C. Burlingame correspondence and documents 1934-1949, 1984, 1991
Impeachment of Perkins, her rebuttal, and dismissal of charges 1939, circa 1951-1955, circa 1990-1996
International Labor Organization: copy of Perkins' speech, notes, clippings, and excerpts from Social Justice for Women 1923, 1990-1996
Library of Congress: Maurice F. Neufeld Papers 1956-1965, 1976, 1991
Longshoremen's strike: Columbia Oral History excerpts and other material 1934-1937, circa 1951-1955, 1970, 1990-circa 1991
Longshoremen's strike: notes, articles, excerpts, and other material 1934-1942, 1964, 1970, 1977, 1990-circa 1991
Longshoremen's strike: report of the National Longshoremen's Board, clippings, notes, and other material 1927, 1934-circa 1942, circa 1990-circa 1996
Longshoremen's strike: report of the National Longshoremen's Board, clippings, notes, and other material 1950, circa 1990-circa 1996
Mount Holyoke College: notes, excerpts, and drafts 1971, circa 1990-circa 1996
Mount Holyoke College: notes, excerpts, and drafts 1940, circa 1990-circa 1996
Mount Holyoke College: Student papers about Perkins 1992, 1996
National Archives: research notes and copies of correspondence 1933, circa 1936, 1990
New England Labor Association meeting 1994, 1995
Newspaper clippings, articles, and notes 1910, 1927-circa 1935, circa 1976-circa 1993
Quotations of Perkins 1934, 1946, circa 1951-circa 1955
Radcliffe College Conference on Biography Writing 1979, 1983, 1989-1990
Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY: research notes and copies of letters by and to Perkins 1933-1945, 1990
Schlessinger Library: research notes 1990
Speeches by Perkins 1929-1936
Speeches by Perkins 1937-1939, 1944
Publications 1882, 1934-1995
Bernstein, Irving. The lean years: a history of the American worker 1902-1933 1960
Brecher, Jeremy. Strike! 1972
Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: the lion and the fox 1956
Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: the soldier of freedom 1970
Cantarow, Ellen, and others. Moving the mountain: women working for social change 1980
Challenge feminist biography: writing the lives of American women, ed. by Sara Alpern and others 1992
Colman, Penny. A woman unafraid: the achievements of Frances Perkins 1993
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt (Volume One 1884-1933) 1992
Cushman, David Quimby. The history of ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle 1882
Davis, Kenneth S. FDR: The New York years 1928-1933 1985
Dulles, Foster Rhea. Labor in America: a history 1955
Ewen, Elizabeth. Immigrant women in the land of dollars: life and culture on the Lower East Side, 1890-1925 1985
Foner, Philip S. Women and the American labor movement: from World War I to the present 1980
Gersuny, Carl. Work hazards and industrial conflict 1981
Hoff-Wilson, Joan and Lightman, Marjorie, eds. Without precedent: the life and career of Eleanor Roosevelt 1984
Ickes, Harold L. The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes: the first thousand days 1953
Kendall, Elaine. Peculiar institutions: an informal history of the Seven Sister colleges 1976
Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin 1971
Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor: the years alone 1972
Martin, George. Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins 1976
Mohr, Lillian Holmen. Frances Perkins: that woman in FDR's cabinet 1979
Montgomery, David. Workers' control in America 1979
Mount Holyoke College. The centenary of Mount Holyoke College 1937
National Labor Relations Board. A guide to basic law and procedures under the National Labor Relations Act 1978
Observer, Unofficial. The New Dealers 1934
Perkins, Frances. The Roosevelt I knew 1946
Perry, Elisabeth Israels. Belle Moskowitz: feminine politics and the exercise of power in the age of Alfred E. Smith 1987
Roosevelt, Eleanor. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hyde Park: personal recollections of Eleanor Roosevelt 1949
Roosevelt, Eleanor. This I remember 1949
Roosevelt, Elliott and James Brough.1973. The Roosevelts of Hyde Park: an untold story 1973
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The coming of the New Deal 1958
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The coming of the New Deal. (American Heritage Library ed.) 1988
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The imperial presidency 1973
Showalter, Elaine, ed. These modern women: autobiographical essays from the twenties 1989
Sklar, Kathryn Kish. Florence Kelley and the nation's work: the rise of women's political culture, 1830-1900 1995
Watkins, T.H. The great depression: America in the 1930s 1993
Wertheimer, Barbara Mayer. We were there: the story of working women in America 1977.
Work in America. Report of a Special Task Force to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1973
Writing lives: feminist biography and autobiography 1992
Oral History Material 1951-1955, 1989-1994
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: introduction and tables of contents 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book I 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book II 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book III 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book IV 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book V 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book VI 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: index to Book VII 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.1-75 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.76-150 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.151-225 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.226-300 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.301-375 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book I, pp.376-444 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.1-75 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.76-150 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.151-225 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.226-300 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.301-375 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.376-450 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.451-525 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.526-600 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.601-675 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book II, pp.676-731 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.1-75 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.76-150 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.151-225 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.226-300 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.301-375 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.376-450 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.451-525 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.526-600 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book III, pp.570-654 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book IV, pp.1-125 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book IV, pp.126-302 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book IV, pp.303-457 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book IV, pp.458-563 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book V, pp.1-100 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book V, pp.101-217 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book V, pp.218-427 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book V, pp.428-578 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VI, pp.16-200 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VI, pp.200-329 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VI, pp.330-541 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VII, pp.6-345 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VII, pp.346-492 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VII, pp.493-646 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Book VII, pp.647-911 (incomplete) 1951-1955
Reminiscences of Frances Perkins: Excerpts from and notes concerning 1989-circa 1990
Oral history interviews: lists, notes, article 1990-1994
Oral history interview of Allan David Bloom 1992
Oral history interview of Douglas Butler 1991
Oral history interviews of Susanna Coggeshall (Perkins' daughter) 1990-1992
Oral history interview of Guy Cohen 1991
Oral history interview of Alice Hanson Cook 1991
Oral history interview of Trude W. Lash 1990
Oral history interview of Carol Riegelman Lubin 1991
Oral history interview of Maurice F. Neufeld 1991
Oral history interview of Peter A. Poole concerning his grandmother, Margaret Van Dyne Poole 1994
Oral history interview of Gerard Denis Reilly 1991
Oral history interview of Richard Strassberg circa 1991
Photographs 1990, 1992, 1995
Photographs of Backes, Tomlin Coggeshall, and the house and ground at
the Brick House, Perkins' home in Newcastle, Maine 1990, 1992, 1995