Summary Information
Marion C. Neprud Papers
1914-1966
- Neprud, Marion C., 1897-1965
Mss 222
2.0 cubic feet (5 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Marion C. Neprud, an administrator of federal public housing projects and a coordinator of public and private programs in community services, adult education, and housing management. The papers include personal and professional correspondence, reports, speeches, minutes, newsletters, press releases, and other materials. They document Neprud's work as state organizer for the League of Women Voters of Ohio; as director of the International Institute of Milwaukee, a housing referral, cultural, and adult education center; and as the administrator for the Farm Security Administration during the Depression of various homestead projects and of a training school for community managers. The correspondence includes letters from Monsignor L.G. Ligutti recording his impressions of social conditions in South America, and from Charl Ormond Williams regarding her travels to Denmark, Greenland, and the Soviet Union. Records concerning formation of the National Association of Community Managers are present as are papers from Neprud's work in New England in 1919 for Community Chautauquas Inc. of New York.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00222 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Marion C. Neprud was an administrator and manager of federal public housing projects and coordinator of public and private agency programs, community services, and facilities for low income families in public housing. During her long association with the federal government, she held a series of jobs in the housing management, training, adult education, and community services fields. She was particularly active in encouraging and coordinating government and private agencies to work together to serve tenant families who were mutual clients.
What follows is a brief chronology of Neprud's life.
| 1897 |
Marion Catharine Neprud born in Coon Valley, Wisconsin, daughter of Karl and Anna Neprud.
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| 1918 |
Received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin.
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| 1919, Summer |
Advance agent in the New England area for the Community Chautauquas Inc. of New York.
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| 1920 |
Received a master's degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin.
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| 1920-1922 |
Student Pastor at the Luther Memorial Church in Madison, Wisconsin.
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| 1922-1924 |
Lived in China where she taught English, journalism, and public speaking in Chinese universities in Nanjing and Beijing.
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| 1924-1932 |
State organizer for the Ohio League of Women Voters.
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| 1932-1935 |
Director of the Milwaukee County International Institute, a housing referral, cultural, and adult education center.
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| 1935-1942 |
Employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Resettlement Administration to perform managerial work in connection with rural education, cultural, and housing projects. (In 1937, the Resettlement Administration became part of the Farm Security Administration (FSA).
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| 1942-1944 |
Employed by the Federal Public Housing Authority (FPHA) as a Regional Housing Management Training Advisor. In 1942, FPHA assumed housing activities from FSA following a government reorganization.
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| 1944-1946 |
Joined the WAVES and was named Coordinator of Navy Housing Operations in Washington, D.C.
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| 1946-1965 |
Employed by the Public Housing Authority (PHA), formerly known as the FPHA.
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| 1962 |
Named Chief of Community Services Program.
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| 1965 |
Retired from government service.
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| 1965, December 26 |
Marion C. Neprud died.
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Scope and Content Note
The Marion C. Neprud Papers include correspondence, reports, speeches, writings, clippings, minutes and agenda, newsletters, membership lists, job bulletins and descriptions, notes, press releases, pamphlets, publications, and other miscellaneous material. The bulk of the collection relates to her professional career, particularly her activities regarding housing, management, and community services. It is organized into six series. Four of these correspond to employers--the Community Chautauquas Inc., the Ohio League of Women Voters, the International Institute of Milwaukee, and the Farm Security Administration. There is also a correspondence and a general subject series. Notably absent from the collection are materials on her job as a student pastor, her residence in China, and her activities as a WAVE.
The general correspondence, 1914-1966 (primarily 1923-1966), contains information about Neprud's personal and professional life. It includes routine personal correspondence with family and friends and business correspondence which relates to the activities she performed during her various jobs. Much of the nusiness correspondence focuses on her work in the housing field, and one segment of it traces the formation and early development of the National Association of Community Managers, an organization for which Neprud was secretary-treasurer. The specific correspondence is composed of travel letters documenting the overseas trips of two of her friends: Monsignor L.G. Ligutti, a priest interested in the problems of low income families, who recorded his impressions of social and economic conditions observed abroad particularly in South America and Italy; and Charl Ormond Williams, former president of the National Education Association, who detailed her trips to England, Denmark, Greenland, and Russia during which she met with Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, and Madame Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin. This entire series is arranged chronologically.
The Community Chautauquas Inc. series give a brief account of her activities for that organization, and includes correspondence and reports of advance advertisers with lists of those who signed contracts.
The Ohio League of Women Voters' files include study programs, fact sheets, press releases, correspondence, and miscellaneous other materials. They contain information on their various study programs on political, educational and social topics and their techniques and efforts to communicate these to the general public; on their internal organizational assignments and duties; and on their general activities.
The International Institute of Milwaukee files contain membership lists, minutes, reports, writings, and other miscellaneous material. They document activities such as nationality months and plays and also reveal the Institute's interest in adult education. There is also a large amount of membership lists for the various nationality clubs, councils, and women's groups which were involved with the Institute.
The Farm Security Administration series is incomplete and does not document all of Neprud's activities in that organization. Rather, it focuses on two specific, though related, programs: the training school for community managers and the FSA-sponsored homestead projects. Included is a reference manual for community managers containing general information on organizing, developing, and managing a community. The bulk of this series pertains to various homestead projects, which were housing settlements managed as non-profit corporations under FSA guidance until such time as settlers could manage and purchase their own property. Reports, memoranda, newsletters, and other miscellaneous materials document their operation and administration. Several of the monthly reports include lists containing a demographic breakdown of those persons living on the projects.
The bulk of the remainder of the collection pertains to Neprud's work in the housing field and includes information on the maintenance, management, and community services provided for federal government housing projects. Rather than attempt to follow the several government reorganizations and file similar materials under each agency, all this material has been combined in one general subject file. It includes agenda and minutes, clippings, newsletters, notes, pamphlets and publications, press releases, reports, speeches, writings, and some miscellaneous material and is arranged alphabetically by subject. Also included is a folder of biographical information.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. C.J. Otjen, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 28, 1971; July 30, 1973; and June 9, 1975. Accession Number: M71-104; M73-218; M75-269
Processed by Chris Rongone, September 2, 1975.
Contents List
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Mss 222
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Series: Correspondence
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Correspondence, General
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Box
1
Folder
1
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1914, 1919-1920, 1923-1933
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Box
1
Folder
2
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1934-1941
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Box
1
Folder
3
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1942-1958
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Box
1
Folder
4
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1959-1966, undated
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Correspondence, Specific
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Ligutti, Monsignor L.G., 1948-1950
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Williams, Charl Ormond, 1953, 1956
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Series: Community Chautauquas Inc.
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Series: Ohio League of Women Voters
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Box
2
Folder
1
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General information, 1921-1922, 1925-1929, 1931, 1934, undated
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Study programs, 1923, 1925-1928
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Township and county government, 1927, 1929, undated
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Series: International Institute of Milwaukee
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Adult education, 1933-1935, undated
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Box
2
Folder
5
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General information, 1926, 1929-1937, undated
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Membership lists, 1933-1935, undated
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Minutes, 1935
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Organizational information, 1933-1936, undated
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Reports, 1932-1935
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Writings, 1932-1933, undated
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Series: Farm Security Administration
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Homestead projects
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Box
2
Folder
11
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Decatur, 1936, 1941-1942, undated
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Granger
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Box
2
Folder
12
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General information, 1931, 1937, 1939-1941, undated
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Reports, 1936-1937, 1940-1941
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Lake County
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Box
3
Folder
2
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General information, 1939, 1941, undated
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Newsletters, 1940-1942
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Reports, 1937, 1940-1941
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Ohio, 1935-1936
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Osage, 1936-1939, undated
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Box
3
Folder
7
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Scioto, 1932, 1936-1937, 1939, undated
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Southeast Missouri
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Box
3
Folder
8
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General information, 1938-1939, 1941, undated
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Box
3
Folder
9
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Reports, 1936, 1938-1939, undated
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Wabash-Deshee
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Box
3
Folder
10
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General information, 1937-1939, undated
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Box
3
Folder
11
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Reports, 1933-1939, undated
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Box
3
Folder
12
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Valley Farms, 1936
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Box
3
Folder
13
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Miscellaneous projects, 1934, undated
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Box
4
Folder
1
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Miscellaneous reports, 1934-1939, undated
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Management training
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Box
4
Folder
2
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Library reference material
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Box
4
Folder
3
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Reports, 1935-1941, undated
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Series: Subject File
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Box
4
Folder
4
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Agenda and minutes, 1935-1965, undated
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Box
4
Folder
5
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Biographical information and clippings
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Box
5
Folder
1-4
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Job descriptions
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Box
5
Folder
5
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Miscellany, 1926-1942, undated
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Box
5
Folder
6
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Notes, undated
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Box
5
Folder
7-9
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Reports, 1934-1964
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Box
5
Folder
10
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Speeches and writings by Neprud
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