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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 270

Papers of Eunice Lundbeck Mannheim, 1926-1961 (inclusive), 1948-1960 (bulk)

Overview

Correspondence, minutes, appointment calendars, etc., of Eunice Lundbeck Mannheim, member of the Amherst, Mass. Board of Selectmen and civic reformer.

Dates

  • Creation: 1926-1961
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1948-1960

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Eunice Lundbeck Mannheim is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. 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) plus 1 oversize folder, 1 folio+ folder)

The bulk of this collection covers Eunice Lundbeck Mannheim's work on the Amherst Board of Selectmen and with various organizations. It contains correspondence and other papers related to her political campaigns; correspondence (1954-1960) and minutes (1958-1960) of the Amherst Board of Selectmen; appointment calendars (1951-1953, 1955, 1956); correspondence and printed material from a variety of organizations in which Mannheim was active, including the Amherst Council of Social Agencies, the League of Women Voters of Amherst, and the Massachusetts Conference of Area Mental Health Centers; general correspondence and unidentified speeches and notes; photographs; and newsclippings. There are no early papers, with the exception of a 1926 school yearbook; there are only two folders of personal letters, one of which contains letters of condolence to her family after her death.

BIOGRAPHY

Eunice (Lundbeck) Mannheim, member of the Amherst (Mass.) Board of Selectmen, was active in community, civic, political and church affairs. Born July 31, 1907 in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of Dr. Charles J. and Emma H. (Detlefsen) Lundbeck. She attended public school in Brooklyn, spent two years (1924-1926) at the Packer Collegiate Institute, and finished her undergraduate degree at Adelphi College in 1928. Before her marriage to Robert Mannheim in 1930 she taught school in Brooklyn. The Mannheims had three sons: Charles, John, and Paul. They lived in New York City, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Prior to their move to Amherst in 1946, Mannheim traveled throughout the United States explaining the Dumbarton Oaks proposal and promoting the adoption of the United Nations charter. She also worked with the League of Women Voters in Rhode Island on behalf of the successful effort to enact direct-primary legislation.

Mannheim was a member of the Amherst town meeting for eight years before becoming the first woman elected to the Amherst Board of Selectmen in 1954. She had previously worked for the change to the town manager form of government for Amherst, and was a member of the town manager charter committee. The 1954 Board was the first to serve under the new plan. Mannheim was twice re-elected to the Board, and elected chairman in 1960. She also served as the Hampshire County Selectmen's Association's delegate to the executive committee of the Massachusetts Selectmen's Association.

Also active in Republican politics statewide, Mannheim ran in the 1956 and 1958 primaries for the Governor's Council. Although successful in the 1958 primary, she was defeated by her Democratic opponent in the general election. In 1960 she won the Republican nomination for state representative from the 4th Hampshire district, but was again defeated by the opposing Democrat.

Involved in a variety of community and civic activities, Mannheim served as president of the League of Women Voters of Amherst, financial chairman of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, vice president of the Amherst Woman's Club, president of the Area Mental Health Centers Association, chairman of the Massachusetts Conference on Mental Health Centers, and president of the Associated Speakers Clubs of Western Massachusetts. She headed fund drives in Amherst for such causes as the American Cancer Society, the Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and the cerebral palsy campaign. Mannheim belonged to a variety of other organizations, including the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, for which she was a speaker.

She died suddenly on December 13, 1960, less than one week after receiving the Citizen of the Year award from the Amherst Chamber of Commerce for "outstanding community spirit and service."

Physical Location

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

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 75-129

The papers of Eunice Mannheim were given to the Schlesinger Library in April 1975 by her husband L. Robert Mannheim.

SEPARATION RECORD

The following articles have been removed from the collection:

  1. "The Political Ideas of the Puritans," Herbert L. Osgood, Political Science Quarterly, Vol. VI, March and June, 1891
  2. "The Need for Excellence," Gilbert Chapman, address delivered at 117th annual commencement, Roanoke College, Salem, Va., May 31, 1959
  3. "Ethics and the Politician," Stephen K. Bailey, c.1960, The Fund for the Republic, Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
  4. "Puritanism, Revivalism, and Democracy," Clinton Rossiter in Seedtime of the Republic, Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, n.d.

The following magazines have been removed from the collection:

  1. The Progressive, June 1953
  2. U.S. News and World Report, June 26, 1953

The following magazine has been removed from the collection and added to the Schlesinger Library periodical collection, August 1978:

  1. National Business Woman, May 1959

Printed materials (mailings, etc.) from the following organizations have been removed from the collection and donated to Swarthmore College, November 1978:

  1. Citizens Committee on Displaced Persons
  2. Natl. Comm. for a SANE Nuclear Policy
  3. United Nations

Printed materials (mailings, etc.) from the following organizations have been removed from the collection:

  1. Civil Liberties Union of Mass.
  2. Foreign Policy Association

Printed material (mailings, etc.) from the following organization has been removed from the collection and deposited in the Schlesinger Libary files, August 1978:

  1. League of Women Voters

Printed materials (mailings, etc.) from the following organizations have been removed from the collection and donated to Littauer Library, October 1978:

  1. Mass. Federation of Taxpayers Association
  2. Mass. Selectmen's Association

Printed material (mailings, etc.) from the following organization has been removed from the collection and deposited in the Schlesinger Libary files, August 1978:

  1. U.S. Government (re: women)

The following items have been removed from the collection and returned to the donor, November 1978:

  1. "The Basic Assumptions of Democracy as Presented to German Prisoners of War," Edwin Casady, reprinted from Conflicts of Power in Modern Culture, ed. by Lyman Bryson et al., Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion, Harper & Bros., New York, 1947
  2. "The Reorientation Program for PWs at Fort Eustis, Virginia," by Edwin Casady, reprinted from The American Oxonian, July 1947

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Box 1: 1v-27
  2. Box 2. 28-63
  3. Box 3: 64-80.

Processing Information

Processed: August 1978

By: Katherine Gray Kraft

Title
Mannheim, Eunice Lundbeck, 1907-1960. Papers of Eunice Lundbeck Mannheim, 1926-1961 (inclusive), 1948-1960 (bulk): 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 with funds provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
EAD ID
sch00717

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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