The Catherine Conroy Papers reflect her active participation in numerous labor and women's organizations. Unfortunately, the collection only suggests these efforts without providing any substantive documentation of the nature of her activity and influence. Furthermore, the documentation (except for photographs) dates almost entirely from the period after her return to Wisconsin in the early 1970s.
The papers are arranged as PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL and ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS. Within each series the files are alphabetically arranged.
The PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of newspaper clippings, miscellaneous correspondence, genealogical and personal miscellany, income tax forms, photographs, and a transcript of a 1976 oral history. This interview, which was conducted as part of the Twentieth Century Trade Union Woman Project of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, is the best source of information on Conroy's early career in the collection. An excellent interview subject, she spoke at length about her youth, her early experiences as an employee of the telephone company in Milwaukee, and her developing interest in the union movement. CLUW was also discussed, as was, to a lesser extent, her involvement in the organization of NOW. The clipping files contain copies of several other informative interviews conducted by Wisconsin journalists. Apparently a consistent “saver” only of financial records, Conroy's collection includes a very complete file of her state and federal income taxes. In addition to documenting her employment history, the income tax returns are also useful for the lists of her charitable contributions which are occasionally appended. The general correspondence contains several letters which suggest her support for and association with Governor Anthony Earl.
Also listed with the personal material is a large file of photographs which document her family life and her involvement with CWA, the School for Workers, and other labor and women's organizations. Unfortunately, many of the pictures in the collection are unidentified.
The ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS are arranged alphabetically by organizational name. Some of these files contain only mementos of her involvement. For example, the NOW file consists largely of material associated with her recognition as NOW Feminist of the Year in 1976, and the CWA file contains the scrapbook (now disassembled) compiled to honor her retirement. Other files are largely comprised of letters congratulating her on her appointment to governmental positions or other honors she received.
Most useful among the organization records are the files on the Wisconsin Women's Network and the Coalition of Labor Union Women. Although material in the Conroy Papers which duplicated national CLUW records in archival collections elsewhere has been weeded the remaining documentation contains some unique information about CLUW in Wisconsin. Present are Wisconsin membership lists, correspondence, and information on state conventions of labor union women. Among the documentation saved by Conroy about Wisconsin Womens Network are annual reports, by-laws, minutes, financial records, policy statements, and the slides and script for a slide show prepared by the Mediawatch Task Force.
Other documentation of special interest in the series is correspondence, legal documents, and research material concerning the sex discrimination suit she brought against CWA in 1974 when a man less experienced than she was appointed state director of the union. Also important is a file of minutes of the Milwaukee Board of Election Commissioners, a public agency for which no other records had been received by the State's Archives at this writing (1993), and information on her strong support of the nursing Ph.D. degree at the University of Wisconsin.
