Lucile P. Pfleeger Papers
Collection
Identifier: MSS 006
Scope and Contents
This collection, which spans from the 1960s to the early 2000s and is made up of three boxes and one flat box. Among the documents are political memorabilia in support for Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, letters to and from politicians about a variety of social justice issues, newsletters from different activist organizations, newspaper clippings related to Ms. Pfleeger and her work, event fliers for social justice issues, magazines from women's organizations, Ms. Pfleeger’s personal papers and notes, documents related to NOW (National Organization for Women) both on a national and local level, information from different social justice organizations, the biographies of Lucile and Clarke Pfleeger’s lives, and miscellaneous papers. The most abundant materials are the Equal Write newsletters and documents from NOW. The Equal Write newsletters begin in 1983 and continue until 2004. The documents from NOW begin in the 1970s and go as far as the early 2000s.
Dates
- Created: 1964-2006
Biographical or Historical Information
Lucile and Clarke Pfleeger's social justice work began with civil rights issues, both on campus and in the community. They served on the committee that developed the Educational Opportunity Fund at Gloucester State College. They were already very much involved in the anti-poverty program. Lucile served on the Glassboro Community Action Committee, the Area Council of SCOPE, and the Head Start Operations Committee. In all three organizations Lucile was elected to be secretary and typed up numerous minutes of meetings.
Both Lucile and Clarke belonged to the Gloucester County Human Relations Council and received the Brotherhood Award in 1969. Lucile and Clarke also formed a Glassboro Human Relations Committee with the reverend of the church they belonged to, and Lucile served as secretary. The Pfleegers also served on the Boards of Economic Development for Minorities during the Anti-Poverty movements. Both served on the Fair Housing Commission, and participated in testing housing for discrimination against African-Americans throughout South Jersey. Clarke served on the Gloucester County Fair Housing Council for many years. Both belonged to the NAACP and attended meetings in Glassboro and Woodbury.
The Pfleegers joined the Migrant Health program from South Jersey Migrants, as well as the South Jersey Health Systems Agency to which Clarke was appointed to the Board. Lucile began her women's rights work with PASA (People Against Spouse Abuse) and joined its board in its early stages. She also served on the Board of Family Planning for Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland counties for two three-year terms.
In the 1970s, Lucile decided she needed to get involved in an organization to fight for women's rights. Ms. Pfleeger had met Gloria Steinem who suggested she join NOW, and later on met other feminist leaders like Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan. In 1981, the Pfleegers joined the Alice Paul chapter of NOW, and within a year of retiring Lucile was persuaded to become the chapter Co-Coordinator. When her term was up, Lucile became the Legislative Chair of the chapter. Clarke became the Membership Chair, and until he became ill, he sat at the Program Meeting sign-in table where he became acquainted with all the members and guests.
The Pfleegers attended every annual NOW conference until Clarke became ill. They attended conventions in Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Buffalo, Chicago, New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco, as well as many Mid-Atlantic Regional Conferences and the annual NOW-NJ State Conference. Lucile along with South Jersey NOW, provided escorts to the Cherry Hill Women's Center on King's Highway, with Ms. Pfleeger acting as Clinic Defense Coordinator. The volunteers and staff faced violent attacks from protestors, and were denied by then Mayor of Cherry Hill, Maria Barnaby Greenwald, when they asked for police intervention. Eventually, they did receive some assistance from the following mayor, Susan Bass Levin.
Ms. Pfleeger along with other members of South Jersey NOW formed a Lesbian Rights Task Force for the organization. She also worked with the state gay and lesbian organization for Domestic Partnership legislation. Lucile also worked for ten years on a bill that would prevent discrimination against state employees on the basis of sexual orientation. Lucile also joined the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and been appointed to be concerned with the welfare of the residents of both the family and elderly housing. She was also the commissioner who pushed to have a social service person employed to assist all the tenants. Ms. Pfleeger served for several years on the Glassboro Juvenile Conference Committee. They heard first offenses of Juveniles in Need of Supervision (JINS), a program instituted to keep young people out of the court system.
For seven and a half years, Ms. Pfleeger wrote a weekly newspaper column called, "A Citizen Concerned" which was published in the Glassboro Enterprise. She wrote on any topic she chose and was never censored by the newspaper and never had trouble finding a topic to write on.
Ms. Pfleeger served for several years on the Board of the Gloucester County Assault Prevention Program (CAP). The goal of the program was to teach children how to be safe, and conducted workshops with young children in all of the public and private schools in the county.
Many years ago, the Pfleegers were asked by the President of the Visiting Homemaker Home Health Aide Board to join the board. The board provided moderately priced healthcare to Gloucester County residents.
The Pfleegers in their younger years participated in many marches and demonstrations. As part of the Anti-Poverty movement, they joined the Poor People's March in Washington D.C., as well as participating in two or three protests against the war in Vietnam. The couple also marched in a Candlelight Parade for Medgar Evers on his death. They also participated in every march at the national NOW convention. When they became too old to actually stand or march, the Pfleegers would bring foldable chairs and watch the events. Ms. Pfleeger writes, "In the last few years, I have donated money so young people could go in my place".
Note written by Lucile Pfleeger
Note written by Lucile Pfleeger
Extent
3.25 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Pfleeger Collection contains the papers and letters of Lucile Pfleeger, an important social justice activist from South Jersey. There are three series in the collection: the first contains personal letters to and from Ms. Pfleeger regarding different issues; the second is the largest made up of newsletters and papers from a variety of organizations; the third contains miscellaneous papers including event fliers. Lucile Pfleeger worked with a large number of organizations and has worked on social justice issues since the 1960s. Ms. Pfleeger's work mentioned in the collection begins in the 1960s and continues into the early 2000s. The scope and content note mentions how many boxes are in the collection and how many folders each box contains. The arrangement note describes which papers are in which series and that they are arranged chronilogically. The biographical note is about Lucile Pfleeger's life and work that is associated with the collection. The historical note describes the significance of the collection as well as people of note mentioned in the documents including United States presidents, presidential candidates, other politicians, and famous women's rights activists.
Arrangement Note
Series 1 contains personal letters to and from Lucile Pfleeger, letters to and from politicians addressed either to or from Ms. Pfleeger, and letters to Pfleeger from the Feminist Majority. The contents of these letters include the Pfleegers work with social justice organizations, grievances that Ms. Pfleeger had regarding different issues, editorial columns written by Ms. Pfleeger and correspondences with friends. The letters to and from politicians concern legislative changes and reforms the Pfleegers sought to make, and the politicians ranged from local government officials to President Bill Clinton. These dates of these letters ranged from 1988 to 2002. The personal notes of Lucile Pfleeger are made up of names, voter regristration information, mailing addresses, notes on different organizations, and phone numbers of people to call. Series 2 is made up of and autobiography written by Lucile Pfleeger, and a biography she wrote on her husband Clarke, newsletters from different organizations, meeting minutes and agendas for organizations that Ms. Pfleeger sat on the committee for, newspaper articles and clippings related to social justice issues the Pfleegers were involved in, and plans for different organizations and events. Series 3 contains miscellaneous papers from the collection as well as event fliers for social justice causes.
- Title
- Archon Finding Aid Title
- Author
- Brigher, Samantha
- Description rules
- Other Unmapped
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- und
Repository Details
Part of the Rowan Archives Repository