The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections The University of Toledo

Finding Aid

Mary Boyle Burns Papers, 1935-1977

(bulk 1935-1940; 1945-1950)

MSS-034

Size:  1 linear ft.         

Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Snyder of Toledo donated the papers of their aunt Mary Boyle Burns to the Ward M. Canaday Center of the University of Toledo Libraries in 1981.

Access: Open

Collection Summary: Five scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings from three Toledo newspapers: the Blade, Times, and News-Bee. Most concern Democratic Party affairs, Toledo elections, and political issues such as relief payments and federal aid to Toledo (1935-1937); aid to parochial schools (1935-1936); property tax (1937); payroll income tax (1946); city government reorganization (1946); and township incorporation and annexation in the postwar years. The collection includes some photographs and pamphlets.

Subjects: Politics and Government, Women

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by:  Paul M. Gifford, April 1987.

Reformatted: Arjun Sabharwal, May 2009; last updated: June, 2014.

Introduction

This collection consists primarily of scrapbooks, dating from 1935 to 1950, containing clippings from Toledo newspapers. Subjects covered include the Democratic Party organization of Lucas County and Ohio; elections; and local political issues. The collection would be useful to persons interested in Lucas County Democratic Party history as well as the political history of Toledo during the Depression and postwar years.

Biographical Timeline

1892	Born
no date	Married John P. Burns
1930-1968	Member, Ohio Democratic Party State Central Committee
mid-1930s	Secretary to William E.  Galvin, clerk of Lucas County Board of Elections
1938-1968	Vice-chairman, Ohio Democratic Party
1945-1968	Vice-chairman, Lucas County Democratic Party
1945-1971	Deputy Clerk, Lucas County Board of Elections
1948, 1952	"Favorite daughter" candidate for vice-president at national Democratic Party conventions
1950	Clerk, Lucas County Board of Elections
	Life member, state vice-chairman, recorder and treasurer, Federated Democratic Women of Ohio
1977	Died in Toledo on November 3

 

Scope and Content Note

The Mary Boyle Burns Papers consist primarily of five scrapbooks which contain clippings from the Toledo Blade, Times, and News-Bee. Most clippings concern Democratic Party affairs and Toledo elections. In those areas, the clippings are rather comprehensive in their coverage, at least for the years covered, 1935 to 1940 and 1945 to 1950. Political issues also are well documented. These include relief payments and Federal aid to Toledo, from 1935 to 1937; aid to parochial schools, 1935 to 1936; property tax, 1937; payroll income tax, 1946; city government reorganization, 1946; and township incorporation and annexation in the postwar years.

As her job and offices implied, Mrs. Burns's major task was to get the voters to the polls on election days. Clippings consequently reflect this concern. Also significant here are a number of photographs of Toledo Democratic headquarters during elections and a photograph taken with Presidential candidate Harry S. Truman.

The other material in the collection worthy of mention is a guest register and pamphlet relating to a dinner in honor of Mrs. Burns in 1968. The pamphlet describes local women's Democratic organizations, and the guest register lists women locally active in the Party at that time.

Container List

Folder	Description
1	National Democratic convention alternate-at-Iarge certificate, 1956 2
2	Testimonial dinner, 1968
*	Resolution, 1977
3	Photographs
4	Newspaper clippings
	Scrapbooks
		1935-1936
		1936-1938
		1938-1940
		1939-1940, 1946-47
		1949-1950