Title: Clara L. Proudfit Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1917-1924

Creator:

• Proudfit, Clara L.

Call Number: Mss 658

Quantity: 0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Proudfit, a Madison, Wisconsin civic leader concerning her involvement in three Dane County women's organizations: the Women's Committee of the Dane County Council on Defense (1917-1918), which sought to involve Madison women in the war effort during World War I; the Dane County Community League (1919-1920); and the Public Opinion Committee (1922-1924). Included are correspondence, lists, minutes, brochures, reports, and numerous clippings concerning the interest of the Public Opinion Committee in dance hall regulation and the passage of the Ridgeway Law.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00658

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Madison civic leader Clara Liscomb Proudfit was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Although the date of her birth is uncertain it is known that she came to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1883 after her marriage to Andrew Ellis Proudfit, a prominent local businessman. Like her husband, Mrs. Proudfit was involved in many civic organizations. She was a charter member of the Madison Woman's Club; chairman and organizer of the Madison Orchestral Association; and a member of the Juvenile Protective Association, the Colonial Dames, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. During World War I she was chairman of the speaker's bureau and a member of the executive board of the Woman's Committee of the Dane County Council of Defense. Through its various working committees on health, recreation, and food conservation, the woman's committee sought to involve women in the community in the war efforts. When the woman's committee reorganized on May 22, 1919 as the Dane County community League in order to continue its wartime cooperative activities, Mrs. Proudfit served as a member of its executive board. In 1922 she was an organizer and subsequently the chairman of the Public Opinion Committee, an organization dedicated to betterment of the community. The majority of the work of the Public Opinion Committee was devoted to the problem of unregulated public dances. As a result of concern for the situation which surrounded these dances especially in rural areas, the Public Opinion Committee was partially responsible for the passage of the Ridgeway Law which permitted Wisconsin counties to regulate dance halls.

Clara Proudfit died in 1943.

The Clara L. Proudfit Papers consist entirely of records on three organizations in which Mrs. Proudfit was involved: the Woman's Committee of the Dane County Council on Defense (1917-1918), the Dane County Community League (1919-1920), and the Public Opinion Committee (1922-1924). There are no personal papers in the collection.

The files are arranged by organization and thereunder alphabetically by subject.

The DANE COUNTY COUNCIL OF DEFENSE WOMAN'S COMMITTEE activities are documented through membership lists, correspondence, reports, and publications. The reports and other records of the individual committees within the woman's committee are particularly useful for understanding the scope of women's war work during World War I. Many of these files actually document the efforts of Mrs. William S. Marshall, chairman of the organization, and it is not entirely clear why these papers were in the custody of Mrs. Proudfit. The records of the DANE COUNTY COMMUNITY LEAGUE are much less extensive. They consist of lists, correspondence, and notes primarily pertaining to luncheons held by the League. The records of the PUBLIC OPINION COMMITTEE contain minutes, correspondence with committee members and dance hall proprietors, drafts of local and state legislation, and clippings concerning the statewide dance hall situation and the various county laws enacted to remedy the problem.

Acquisition Information

Presented July 1, 1947, by an unknown donor.

Processing Information

Processed by Todd Daniels-Howell (FGH class), 1985, and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1986.

	Series: Dane County Council of Defense Woman's Committee, 1917-1918
Box   1 Folder   1	Membership and organizational material
Box   1 Folder   2	Executive Board minutes
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3	General
Box   1 Folder   4	Americanization Committee
Box   1 Folder   5	Child Welfare Committee
Box   1 Folder   6	Food Conservation Committee
Box   1 Folder   7	Industry and Women Committee
Box   1 Folder   8	Information and Publicity committees
Box   1 Folder   9	Liberty Loan and United War Work Fund
Box   1 Folder   10	Recreation Committee
Box   1 Folder   11	Relief Committee
Box   1 Folder   12	Reports of drives
Box   1 Folder   14	Speaker's Bureau
Box   1 Folder   15	State Council of Defense Woman's Committee
Box   1 Folder   16	Student nurse reserve recruitment
Box   1 Folder   17	Series: Dane County Community League, 1919-1920	⇧
	Series: Public Opinion Committee, 1922-1924	⇧
Box   1 Folder   18	Membership lists, minutes, and organizational miscellany
Box   1 Folder   19	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   20	Dance hall legislation
Box   1 Folder   21	Theater Committee
Box   2	Clippings