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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 254

Papers of Helen Florence Humphrey, 1942-1963

Overview

Speeches, correspondence, etc., of Helen Florence Humphrey, lawyer and government official.

Dates

  • Creation: 1942-1963

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Helen Florence Humphrey 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

1.04 linear feet (2 + 1/2 file boxes)

The bulk of the Helen F. Humphrey Papers is speeches (1949-1963), with correspondence about those speeches, some drafts, and printed copies. Other papers and correspondence pertain to conferences in which she took part and to organizations and associations (especially the American Bar Association's Section on Labor Relations Law) to which she belonged. There are no papers of her early or personal life and almost no papers of her professional activities prior to 1947.

BIOGRAPHY

Helen F. Humphrey, attorney and government official, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 20, 1909, the daughter of D. Norman and M. Isabel (Scanlan) Humphrey. She majored in English at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), graduating magna cum laude in 1931. She then held jobs as map custodian at the William L. Clements Library and cataloguer at the law library at New York University. Believing that courses in law would be helpful, she studied at Brooklyn Law School, graduating in 1938.

In 1939 Humphrey went to Washington, D. C. to work for the National Labor Relations Board as an enforcement attorney responsible for preparing briefs and oral arguments before various Federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court. Except for one year (1942) as a trial lawyer in the National Labor Relations Board's New York office, Humphrey remained in Washington until 1944. From 1944 to 1946, Humphrey was chief law officer of the St. Louis regional office, the only woman chief law officer with the agency. She held the same post in Philadelphia (1946-1948) and New York City (1948-1951).

In March 1951 Humphrey accepted an assignment as chief of litigation for the Wage Stabilization Board of the Economic Security Agency, leaving after a few months (June) to become associate general counsel of the Economic Security Agency in charge of enforcement. In July she was named chairman of the newly-created National Enforcement Commission of the Wage Stabilization Board of the Economic Security Agency. This Commission acted as a final court of appeal and was empowered to enforce not only regulations of the Wage Stabilization Board, but also the Railroad and Airline Wage Board and the Salary Stabilization Board. In November 1952 Humphrey entered private practice with Robert Denham, former general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, in Washington, D. C. She formed the firm Humphrey and Young, Washington, D. C., with Quentin O. Young in 1962, a partnership which continued until her death from cancer on August 24, 1963. Humphrey is buried at Dunedin, Florida.

Physical Location

Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 56-54, 918

The Helen F. Humphrey Papers were given to the Schlesinger Library by Helen Humphrey in February 1956 and Quentin O. Young in August 1965.

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Box 1: 1-27
  2. Box 2: 28-40
  3. Box 3: 41-47

INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS

This index is a selected list of writers and recipients of letters. Information about individuals is not indexed; nor are subjects. The numbers refer to folder numbers.

  1. Allen, Florence Ellinwood - 4
  2. Bell, Alexander M. - 4
  3. Biggs, John - 4
  4. Cropley, Charles Elmore - 4
  5. Cullinan, E. P. - 4
  6. Denham, Robert N. - 4
  7. Doyle, Richard S. - 39
  8. Evans, Evan A. - 4
  9. Garrecht, Francis A. - 4
  10. Hall, Doris T. - 13
  11. Halliday, Malcolm F. - 4
  12. Hand, Learned - 4
  13. Humphrey, Helen F. - 3-5, 7-10, 12-14, 16, 18, 19, 22-45
  14. Keller, Leonard A. - 36
  15. Kleinbard, Joseph S. - 4
  16. Koretz, Robert F. - 28
  17. Kross, Anna M. - 4
  18. Lamfrom, Leon B. - 5, 22
  19. Langsdale, Clif - 4
  20. McGhee, Paul A. - 23, 24
  21. McGranery, James P. - 4
  22. McNulty, G. A. - 4
  23. McRoberts, Robert H. - 4
  24. Madden, J. Warren - 4
  25. Mathews, Robert E. - 8, 42
  26. Matthews, Daniel E. - 5
  27. Maxey, George W. - 4
  28. Miller, Wilbur K. - 4
  29. Moore, Edith - 9
  30. Morgan, John W. - 32, 33
  31. Morse, David A. - 4
  32. Phillips, Orie L. - 4
  33. Poole, Calvin - 5
  34. Previant, David - 32, 33
  35. Roberts, Benjamin C. - 27
  36. Schube, Elizabeth - 9
  37. Segal, Robert M. - 34
  38. Seitz, Reynolds C. - 22
  39. Sellin, Henry - 25, 26, 27
  40. Sibley, Samuel H. - 4
  41. Stein, Emanuel - 27
  42. Stone, Kimbrough - 4
  43. Sturm, Jerome Y. - 4
  44. Summer, Clyde W. - 32, 33
  45. Vencill, Genevieve - 9
  46. Wiper, Donald W., Jr. - 45

Processing Information

Processed: October 1977

By: Madeleine Bagwell Perez

Title
Humphrey, Helen Florence, 1909-1963. Papers of Helen Florence Humphrey, 1942-1963: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
The collection was processed under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (RC-24669-76-987).
EAD ID
sch00643

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:
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