Barbara W. Moxon Papers

The Barbara Moxon Papers consist of 4 linear feet of material, 1964 to 2006, arranged in six series: General, Biographical, Topical Files, Speeches, Clippings, and Audiovisual. Much of the information in this collection is related to different organizations in which Mrs. Moxon participated. Documents provide information on the organizations’ missions and members, and include newsletters, supportive literature, meeting minutes, and letters requesting support of the designated organization’s cause.

Biographical files consist of résumés, Who’s Who award literature, and letters about her Newberry College honorary doctorate. The résumés give a detailed look at Moxon’s roles within the different organizations.

Topical Files form the bulk of the collection and touch on each of the primary organizations and causes in which Moxon was involved. The Advocates for Comprehensive Health Education files include House and Senate Journals, mailing lists of recruited supporters, activities logs, and letters to and from politicians such as Senators Strom Thurmond and Ernest F. Hollings. SC Coalition for Choice contains newsletters, fliers of related events, and meeting minutes. One flier advertises, “Learn the Truth about Reproductive Choice,” with guest speaker Judith Widdicombe, founder of Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis, Missouri.

A substantial portion of the topical files is comprised of papers relating to Equal Rights Amendment SC. ERASC files contain papers detailing the group’s strategies and actions, correspondence with legislators on the issue, meeting minutes, newsletters, brochures, bumper stickers, and other materials.

Most of Moxon’s speeches are filed under the relevant topical headings; however, the remainder are included in the folder “Speeches, 1973-1999.” This folder includes drafts of speeches that provide insight into some of Moxon’s views on Christianity, as well as her commitment to increasing people’s involvement in the democratic process and supporting the causes she believed in. The clippings include folders containing items about the organizations with which Moxon was involved. There are, in particular, a number of items relating to the Equal Rights Amendment. Other folders in this series contain items discussing broader, topical issues, such as abortion, education, sexual harassment, and feminism.

The audiovisual series is comprised of photographs, videocassettes, and film. There are three photographs in the collection: a posed photograph of Barbara Moxon and Mrs. Stondemayer holding an ERA sticker; a candid photo of Governor McNair at his desk proclaiming “League of Women Voters Week” in 1969 alongside Deborah Page, State P.R. Director, Barbara Moxon, State Organization Chair, and Keller Bumgardner, State President of the League of Women Voters; and finally, a 1917 shot of the Equal Suffrage League of Aiken County conducting the first suffrage parade held in South Carolina.

There are two VHS tapes in the collection, “One Woman One Vote,” and “In Search of the Savannah River Plantations,” as well as a ¾” videocassette titled “A Simple Matter of Justice with Jean Stapleton.” A film, titled “How We Got the Vote” is also present, and appears to have been used by ERASC.