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COLLECTION Identifier: A/C692

Papers of Deborah Ann Coleman, ca.1940-1951

Overview

Menus from the Passavant Memorial Hospital (Chicago, Illinois), where Deborah Ann Coleman's mother was a patient following her birth; instructions from the pediatrician regarding infant care and feeding; and a "Safety First Guarantee Certificate," a female consent form for sex.

Dates

  • Creation: 1940-1951

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Deborah Ann Coleman as well as 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 folder

The collection of Deborah Ann Coleman contains menus from the Passavant Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where her mother Gloria was a patient following her birth. There are menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; one menu for dinner features choices such as sauteed pork chop with applesauce, roast prime ribs of beef, buttered potato, and cherry tapioca pudding. The menus include notes and her mother's selections. The collection also contains forms from the hospital and Coleman's pediatrician, Sidney E. Epstein, providing instructions for her care and feeding, including amounts of formula and notes on breast feeding; necessary baby supplies like clothing and medicines; and checkup schedules. Several forms include notes by Coleman's mother or the pediatrician.

In addition, the collection contains a blank "Safety First Guarantee Certificate," which probably belonged to Louis Coleman. The form is for females to sign prior to consenting to sex: "This is to certify that I, the undersigned female, about to enjoy sexual intercourse with...I am of legal age of consent, and am in my right mind, and not under the influence of any drugs or narcotics. I am in no fear of him whatsoever, neither does he have to use force, threats, or promises to influence me. I do not expect to marry him, do not know whether or not he is married, nor do I care. I am not asleep or drunk, and am entering into this relation for the satisfaction which I expect. I am very willing to play a return engagement soon, and agree never to appear as a witness against him or to prosecute him under the MANN WHITE SLAVE ACT. Signed before jumping into bed this...."

BIOGRAPHY

Deborah Ann Coleman was born in 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis J. and Gloria (Bryskier) Coleman. She grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended Radcliffe College (BA, 1973) and Harvard Law School (JD, 1976). Coleman was the first female partner at the business law firm Hahn, Loeser & Parks, where she worked from 1976 until 2013. In 2013, she established her own firm, Coleman Law, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Coleman is married to Dan A. Polster, a United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of Ohio; they have three children. Coleman's father, Louis J. Coleman, attended high school in Chicago and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He served with the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, and was stationed at several Army Air Corps bases around the United States. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 2020-M141

The papers of Deborah Ann Coleman were given to the Schlesinger Library by Deborah Ann Coleman in November 2020.

Processing Information

Processed: March 2021

By: Paula Aloisio

The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.  Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was made possible by gifts from the Radcliffe College Class of 1957 Schlesinger Library Fund and the Gerard Schlesinger Library Fund.
EAD ID
sch01963

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.

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