Virginia R. Stallings Papers

MS-38

• Introduction
• Access and Use
• Access Points
• Scope and Content
• Biographical Sketch
• Container List
  

INTRODUCTION:

Size: 3.76 linear feet

Span Dates: 1927-2004, undated                    Bulk Dates: 1985-2000

Accession Number(s): NKU2006-501

Donor: Dr. Frank Stallings

Creator(s): Stallings, Virginia R.
Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
Fourth District, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
National Federation of Democratic Women

Summary: This collection contains organizational records such as meeting minutes, financial reports, newsletters, and photographs for several Democratic Party women’s clubs in which Virginia Stallings served as a member or officer. Focusing especially on the northern Kentucky region, the records document the work of the women’s clubs to promote and support the goals of the Democratic Party. These are not the official records of the organizations but they do present a sense of the nature of the organizations, their activities, controversies, and constituents.

The collection also includes invitations, programs, correspondence, and news clippings from Stallings’ service as a delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City. It also has personal papers related to her interest in women’s causes, politics, and the public relations field.
 

ACCESS AND USE:

Access Restrictions: There are no access restrictions.

Use Restrictions: Copyright was not transferred to the archives and remains with the donor’s estate.  The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, US Code) governs the reproduction of copyrighted material. The User assumes full responsibility and any attendant liability for the fair use of materials requested in total compliance with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) that may arise through the use of any requested materials.

Preferred Citation: [Box #, Folder #], MS-38 Virginia R. Stallings Papers, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.

Related Materials: Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky Records, 1928-1955, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville.

Processing Information: processed by Anne Ryckbost, 2015.
 

ACCESS POINTS:

Subject(s):
Democratic Party (Ky.)
Political clubs--Kentucky--Archives
Political conventions
Publicity
Public relations
Women in politics
Women--Societies and clubs--Archives

Person(s):
Bauman, Ruth
Beiting, Rose
Bowlds, Wilma
Bradley, Clayton E., 1929?-2011
Cantrell, Sharon
Collins, Martha Layne, 1936-
Miller, Jonathan, 1967-
Patton, Paul E., 1937-
Roberts, Laura
Stallings, Virginia R.
Turner, Charity

Organization(s)/Corporate Body(ies):
Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
Campbell County Democratic Executive Committee
Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
Fourth District, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
National Federation of Democratic Women
Northern Kentucky University

Geographic Location(s):
Campbell County (Ky.)
Frankfort (Ky.)
New York
 

SCOPE AND CONTENT:

The collection is comprised of four series. The first series contains records from Democratic clubs and the rest of the series relate to personal activities and interests of Virginia R. Stallings.

Series I, Women’s Democratic Clubs (1981-2004, undated), contains five subseries. It is arranged by administrative unit, from national level, to state level, to district level, and down to county club level. The National Federation of Democratic Women is the national level. The Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky is the state club and reports to the national. It was established in 1927 to promote “the principles of the Democratic Party in all communities throughout the state in order to reach every voter before Election Day.”² The district and county clubs report to the state club.

The records were either created or collected by Stallings in the course of her various board and officer positions and as a result of her general interest in documenting each club’s history. The files are therefore incomplete in reflecting the entire operation of each club. Many of the files contain single or scattered items. They do reflect the original organizational scheme Stallings used to arrange her papers.

Subseries 1, National Federation of Democratic Women (NFDW) (1981-1994), has resolutions, correspondence, annual convention programs, newsletters, and leaflets.

Subseries 2, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky (DWCK) (1991-2002), is the largest subseries in this series. It contains material on the operation of the state club and its relationships with other organizations, including local clubs that were associated with it.  

The subseries is organized according to the following groups: board materials, administrative files, committees and special projects, events, publications, and memorabilia.

The board materials include correspondence from DWCK presidents to board members about upcoming meetings, and executive and general board meeting agendas and minutes. They have scattered club activity reports that were made by local clubs to the state level DWCK. They also include an officer installation pledge and a 1998 membership list of the Kentucky Democratic State Central Executive Committee on which the DWCK president sat.

Administrative files contain records that document the club’s administration, including a club handbook (2003) and a new club information packet (1984-1986). The files include correspondence to members from external parties. Topics include political campaign support requests and expressions of gratitude for support. There is also correspondence (1987-2004) from the DWCK board to the general DWCK membership mostly regarding annual convention information. There are also financial statements for 1997-1998.  

Committees and special projects form major working groups that conduct club business, plan events, and explore a variety of issues both internal and external. DWCK has the following committees in addition to an executive and regular board: handbook, constitution and by-laws, credentials, awards, scholarship, ways and means, legislative, resolutions, rules, hospitality, elections, public relations, convention site, advisory, and journal. This subseries contains scattered records from the Club Historian, the Constitution and By-Laws Committee, the Journal Committee, the Newsletter Committee, and the Public Relations Committee. Since Stallings worked on the club history, and served on the newsletter and public relations committees, these files are more robust in their documentation of committee work. The Club Historian special project materials include research notes and news clippings that Sharon Cantrell first collected when writing the club history in 1994 and then passed along to Stallings around 2003-2004. The Newsletter Committee files contain photographs and press releases that local clubs submitted to Stallings for the DWCK newsletter when she was editor.

The subseries also contains material from DWCK’s annual conventions. It has convention tickets, minutes, fliers, and programs. Files are arranged chronologically by year beginning with the 1987 Convention held at the Drawbridge Inn, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. 

The subseries has publications, including the Democratic Women’s Journal, the majority of which are reproductions that were most likely reproduced in 1995 when Sharon Cantrell was Club Historian, and an incomplete run of the club’s newsletter. There are also news clippings about club activities and newsletters and leaflets on various Democratic Party issues. The memorabilia consists of United States flag stickers and notepad cases with the logo of DWKC.

Subseries 3, 4^th District, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky (1993-2001, undated), contains material about the operation of the Democratic Women’s Club at the district level. The 4^th district currently encompasses Shelby, Oldham, Trimble, Carroll, Henry, Owen, Gallatin, Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Grant, Pendleton, Harrison, Mason, Bracken, Robertson, Lewis, and Greenup counties. In 2001, it also included Rowan County. The subseries includes lists of county presidents and a district map as well as meeting agendas and minutes, account books, and a photograph of district officers (2000).

Subseries 4, Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club (CCDWC) (1973-2005, undated), is the second largest group of records in the collection, reflecting Stallings’ significant personal involvement in this club’s leadership. Some of the records in this subseries originate from Stallings’ service as club president and newsletter editor. The CCDWC is part of the 4^th District of the Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky. Its committees include Membership & Good Cheer, Publicity/Journal, Program/Community Service, Ways & Means/Finance, Auditing, Nominating, and Parliamentary/Constitution & By-Laws. For an idea of the club’s size, there were 60 dues-paying members in 1996.

The records include constitution and by-laws, lists, meeting agendas and minutes, and treasurer’s reports and budgets. There are committee lists that include descriptions of committee responsibilities and general membership lists. There is also outgoing and incoming correspondence, mainly from the presidential tenures of Laura Roberts (1990, 1994-1995). The correspondence addresses such topics as the NKU Foundation Ray A. Beiting Memorial Scholarship Fund, meeting organization, and thank you messages from speakers and donation recipients. There is one folder of scattered materials (invitations, announcements, and meeting minutes) from the Campbell County Democratic Executive Committee, in which the Women’s Club and its members were heavily involved.

The subseries also contains club newsletters, event programs and invitations from the club’s annual Jefferson Day Dinner, and committee project files. It has blank club stationary and news clippings about club events. The subseries includes photographs of club members at unidentified events.

Subseries 5, County Clubs (1990, 1996), has lists of officers for the Daviess and Hardin county clubs (1996), and a program for the Kenton County club’s Jackson Day Dinner (1990).

Series II, Democratic National Convention (1992), includes correspondence, invitations, programs, schedules, memorabilia such as her delegate badge, and news clippings from Stallings’ service as an at-large delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City. As an undecided delegate, Stallings received form correspondence from candidates and their campaign staff, most notably the Bill Clinton campaign which won the Democratic nomination. Of special mention are the letters written by students from Woodfill Elementary School (Fort Thomas, Ky.) thanking Stallings for visiting their class and telling them about her convention experience. The letters came in an envelope decorated on the outside with a crayon drawing of the American flag and campaign signs featuring each of the 1992 presidential candidates.

Series III, Personal Papers (1997-2005, undated), contains her biographical information, and publications, leaflets, direct mail (junk mail), and fliers that document her interest in women’s causes, politics, and the public relations field. Included are materials from Stallings’ employment at NKU such as course syllabi from the Department of Communications, and publications she worked on. The ephemera includes leaflets, fliers, business cards, and pamphlets about political issues and candidates, including several leaflets related to Paul E. Patton’s campaign for governor in 1995. It also has a poster titled “Our Voting Heritage.”

Series IV, Photographs (1983-2000), includes photographs of Stallings at various political events. It has 2 photographs (2000) of Stallings with Jonathan Miller, who served two terms as Kentucky State Treasurer (1999-2007). There are photographs from the inauguration of Martha Layne Collins as Kentucky Governor in 1983 as well as photos of Paul E. Patton, Kentucky Governor from 1995-2003, and unidentified individuals at an event circa 1997. It also has one folder that contains photographs of groups of women at events. These may be related to the Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky or the Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club. The series also includes a photograph of Stallings at her NKU retirement party.
 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Virginia R. Stallings was raised in Michigan and worked for the Western Michigan News, a labor news press in Muskegon, Michigan, after graduating high school. She worked there for thirteen years as a reporter, advertising manager, photographer, and in public relations during the 1950s and 1960s. Stallings moved to Frankfort, Kentucky in 1974. Her first husband passed away shortly after the move. In 1980, she married Frank Stallings, Jr., an English professor at NKU, and moved to Northern Kentucky.¹

Stalling joined the Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club and the Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky in 1982. She later became involved in the club at the district level (4^th district).

Timeline of select offices Stallings’ held:

• 1984: Jefferson Day Committee (publicity and program), Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
• 1987: Newsletter Editor, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
• 1988-1989: Recording Secretary, Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
• 1993: Newsletter Editor, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky
• 1994: Second Vice President and Newsletter Editor, Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
• 2002-2004: President, Campbell County Democratic Woman’s Club
• 2003: Chair and Newsletter Committee, Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky

In June 1992, Stalling was named a delegate-at-large (uncommitted) to the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Stallings also actively worked on several successful political campaigns, including Frances Jones Mills (Secretary of State), Steve Beshear (Lieutenant Governor), and Martha Layne Collins (Governor, 1982). She was nominated for the Personnel Board of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2002-2004.

Virginia Stallings retired as a staff member in the Department of Communications at NKU. She had also worked as a secretary (1985) for the now-defunct Women’s Center. While at NKU, she served on Staff Congress, including a term as president in 1991-1992, the Women’s Association, and on the Outstanding Women of Northern Kentucky Committee.³ In addition, Stallings taught a class on basic office procedures for non-traditional female students in order to enhance their full or part-time employment opportunities. This course was offered by the NKU ReEmployment Center. NKU continues to offer the Frank & Virginia R. Stallings English Scholarship for undergraduate, Kentucky-resident students majoring in English.

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¹Virginia R. Stallings, Bio and Resume, Box 4, Folder 4, MS-38 Virginia R. Stallings Papers, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.

² “History,” Democratic Woman’s Club of Kentucky, 2012, accessed at http://www.kydemocratwomen.com/about/

³ Virginia R. Stallings, Bio and Resume, Box 4, Folder 4, MS-38 Virginia R. Stallings Papers, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.
 

CONTAINER LIST:

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