May Thompson Evans (b. 1901) Papers, PC.1466
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- May Thompson Evans (b. 1901) Papers
- Call Number
- PC.1466
- Creator
- Unknown
- Date
- 1871-1979
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Collection Overview
Papers of Mrs. Evans, high school and college teacher, president of the Young Democratic Clubs of N.C. (1933-1934), Democratic Party administrator, federal and state government administrator, including papers of the YDC, 1932-1934 (minutes, committee reports, correspondence, membership lists, financial data, speeches, programs) and the Senate Committee on Revision of the N.C. Constitution, 1932-1933. Most of collection pertains to her administrative work in the party and in government, and consists of correspondence, reports, memorandums, statistical data, speeches, conference proceedings, and publications for various agencies: National Reemployment Service (later the N.C. Employment Service), 1933-1937; Women's Division, Democratic National Committee, organizing local and regional support, 1937-1941; Office of Civilian Defense, supervising the Civilian Volunteer Service, 1941; Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration, organizing programs and volunteers to fight inflation, 1941-1942; War Manpower Commission, with special duties concerning recruitment and equitable hiring of women and planning postwar programs, 1942-1945; U.S. Employment Service, producing newsletter, supervising planning and budgets, serving as liaison to women's groups and Congress, 1945-1949; and Federal Security Agency (later the Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare), working with Field Services and Public Health Service as liaison with regional offices and the public, information officer, and editor of newsletter, 1949-1964; President's Committee on Consumer Interest, creating public forums for consumers, 1964. Noteworthy are large amount of campaign literature and information on the 1940 presidential campaign; data about women in government and in the war effort; debate over national health insurance and the Public Health Act of 1949; and interest in having Mrs. Evans appointed assistant secretary of labor by President Truman, 1949. Also separate files of speeches and articles by Mrs. Evans; subject files, especially on the state and national Democratic party, the South, and women; memorandum on morale by Margaret Mead (May, 1941); photographs; and recordings of interviews with Mrs. Evans and speeches by President and Mrs. Roosevelt. Personal papers concern her education, marriage to lawyer W. Ney Evans (1930), their log house in High Point and farm in Chatham Co., alumnae association (Westhampton College, University of Richmond), the Washington Self-Help Exchange (1938-1939), the Maret School in Washington, D.C. (1946-1950), International Association of Personnel in Employment Security (1943-1950, 1968), and National Council on Senior Citizens (1976-1977). Correspondents in the collection include R. Mayne Albright, Georgia Neese Clark, Beatrice Cobb, Mary W. Dewson, Harriet Elliott, Luther H. Hodges, Kermit Hunter, Mary (Mrs. W. Kerr) Scott, Capus Waynick, J. Wallace Winborne, with notes from Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, and many governors, senators, and other Democrats. Papers of W. Ney Evans consist of personal correspondence; a few papers relating to his work with U. S. Maritime Commission (1936-1942) and as commissioner, U. S. Court of Claims (1942-1968). Also genealogy for Alcotts and Thompsons.