Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MC 410: M-134: T-102

Papers of Jennie L. Barron, 1911-1969

Overview

Correspondence, clippings, photographs, etc., of Jennie Loitman Barron, lawyer and Municipal Court judge.

Dates

  • Creation: 1911-1969

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Access. Unrestricted. Folders #39, 41-49, and 51o were discarded and are available on microfilm M-134, reels 1-2. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Jennie L. Barron 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

4.59 linear feet (11 file boxes) plus 2 folio folders, 1 folio+ folder, 3 oversize folders, 6 audiotapes, 2 reels of microfilm (M-134)

The collection primarily documents Jennie L. Barron's public and professional life, largely through clippings and correspondence. Although there is some family correspondence, the bulk of the correspondence relates to her public speaking engagements and her charitable and civic activities. The papers are arranged in three series:

Series I, Family and personal (#1-113), includes photographs, resumes, articles about Barron, awards and certificates, family and general correspondence, datebooks and travel diaries, programs of events at which Barron spoke, speeches and notes for speeches, two audiotapes, and clippings. General correspondence contains letters from government and university officials, judges, lawyers, and other prominent people, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Clippings and scrapbooks are available only on microfilm.

Series II, Professional (#114-178at), includes photographs, some legal correspondence and other documents, courtroom notebooks, most of Barron, and three audiotapes.

Series III, Volunteer activities (#179-200), contains correspondence, photographs, and an audiotape; there is also considerable correspondence documenting her volunteer activities in the general correspondence in Series I.

BIOGRAPHY

The daughter of Morris Loitman and Fannie (Castleman) Loitman, Jennie (Loitman) Barron was born in Boston, Mass., on October 12, 1891. She attended Boston University (A.B. 1911, LL.M. 1914, honorary LL.D. 1959) and had a private law practice in Boston, 1914-1918, with her husband, Samuel Barron, Jr., 1918-1937. During this time she was elected to the Boston School Committee (1926-1930). The first woman in Massachusetts to present evidence to a Grand Jury and the first to prosecute major criminal cases, Jennie L. Barron in 1937 was also the first woman judge appointed for life to the Municipal Court in Boston, and in 1959 to the Superior Court in Massachusetts. She had married Samuel Barron, Jr., in 1918; they had three daughters: Erma (Barron) Wernick, Joy (Barron) Rachlin, and Deborah (Barron) Blazar, who died in 1956.

An organizer and first president of the Women's Suffrage Association of Boston University, Barron spoke at suffrage rallies in three states, was active with the League of Women Voters, and worked for the passage of laws to enable women to serve on juries in Massachusetts, and to provide equal guardianship rights for mothers. She was a delegate from the National League of Women Voters to the National Conference on Uniform Laws Regarding Marriage and Divorce (1930), and to the Mid-Century White House Conference on Child Welfare (1950). She lectured widely, in the United States and abroad, on juvenile delinquency and crime, and in 1960 was chosen to deliver the Independence Day Oration in Boston.

Barron was active in numerous professional, charitable, and civic organizations, including Beth Israel Hospital, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, American Association of University Women, Hadassah, and Boston University. She was the recipient of many awards and citations, including National Woman of the Year (Boston Business and Professional Women's Club, 1954) and National American Mother of the Year (American Mothers Committee, 1959).

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in three series:

  1. Series I. Family and personal (#1-113)
  2. Series II. Professional (#114-178at)
  3. Series III. Volunteer activities (#179-200)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 621, 80-M171, 92-M31, 92-M72, 99-M57, 2009-M227

These papers of Jennie (Loitman) Barron were given to the Schlesinger Library by Jennie L. Barron in July 1963 and by her daughter, Erma (Barron) Wernick, in July 1980. A photograph was given by Linda Morrison in October 2009.

MICROFILM OF SCRAPBOOKS AND CLIPPINGS.

  1. Many of the clippings were mounted by the processor to facilitate microfilming. All clippings were discarded after microfilming.
  2. Scrapbook pages were microfilmed in the order in which they were found; clippings in the scrapbooks were discarded after microfilming.
  3. Items from scrapbooks not discarded after microfilming can be found in #50 and 52o.
  4. Some of the clippings in the scrapbooks were difficult to film: many items overlapped, much of the newsprint was brittle and no longer intact, and many of the articles were folded. Many pages had to be filmed more than once due to the presence of folded, overlapping, and/or multiple-paged items.
  5. Scrapbook pages were numbered by the processor to aid the microfilmer, the proofreader, and researchers.
REEL GUIDE
  1. M-134, reel 1: #39, 41-49
  2. M-134, reel 2: #51o

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Box 1: Folders 1-13
  2. Box 2: Folders 14-34
  3. Box 3: Folders 35-69v
  4. Box 4: Folders 70-80
  5. Box 5: Folders 81-94
  6. Box 6: Folders 95-106
  7. Box 7: Folders 107-119
  8. Box 8: Folders 120-142v
  9. Box 9: Folders 143v-160
  10. Box 10: Folders 161v-180
  11. Box 11: Folders 181-197

Processing Information

Reprocessed: March 1992

By: Anne Engelhart

Title
Barron, Jennie L. (Jennie Loitman), 1891-1969. Papers of Jennie L. Barron, 1911-1969: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
The papers were processed with a grant from Clara Goldberg Schiffer.
EAD ID
sch00176

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.

Contact:
3 James St.
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
617-495-8540