Lucinda O. Wanner Collection (Glen Ellyn)

Collection

Identifier: RHC-RC-163

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Lucinda O. Wanner Collection arrived at The Dirksen Center in no apparent order. After repeated sorting, the processing staff concluded that the best arrangement system would be based on the following series of documents and artifacts: Audiovisual, Certificates, Correspondence, Memorabilia, Miscellany, Personal, Photographs, and Reference. All the series except Memorabilia and Reference are arranged chronologically. The Memorabilia series consists of two boxes of loose artifacts and elephant figurines, and the Reference file comprises numerous alphabetically-arranged subseries. Each series is more completely described in a series description. The Wanner Collection contains several significant series. The Correspondence series includes letters to and from Lucinda Wanner and others concerning personal, business and political interests. Some form letters were left in the series, but many boxes of unsolicited form letters were discarded. The Correspondence series most directly reflects Mrs. Wanner’s interests and beliefs. The Personal file comprises three subseries: Church, Financial, and Miscellany. The Church file contains mostly printed material on two Congregational churches to which Mrs. Wanner belonged; Financial contains bills, receipts, cancelled checks, and other material, arranged by year. The Miscellany subseries includes various items of a personal nature, like Christmas card and gift lists, family history, and vacation records. The Reference file is the largest and most complex series in the Wanner Collection. The processing staff based the arrangement of the series on Lucinda Wanner’s subject files. Mrs. Wanner collected printed material, form letters, clippings, correspondence, notes, and other documents on topics, issues, people, and organizations that interested her. The staff organized the bulk of the subject files into six chronologically arranged sub-series: Campaigns, Clippings, Newsletters, Notes, Politics, and Public Statements. Files that did not fit into any of the subseries were arranged alphabetically by subject along with the six larger subseries. The staff left related papers together under the subject files instead of transferring them to appropriate files like Correspondence, Notes, or Clippings. Exceptions were Photographs and Certificates. Item disposition sheets mark places in the files where photos or certificates were removed. The Politics subseries contains the largest group of papers in the Reference series and is further divided into files on Cook County, DuPage County, Illinois, Kane County, Kendall County, Lake County, National, Putnam County, Will County, and Winnebago County. The files for DuPage County, Illinois, and National politics are further subdivided into files on various political organizations. The Politics subseries reflects Lucinda Wanner’s wide span of interests in the Republican party.

Dates

created: 1900-1976
Other: Date acquired: 00/00/1983

Biographical or Historical Information

Lucinda Obermeyer was born June 19, 1899 in Chicago. After attending public schools, she graduated from Chicago’s Senn High School in 1916 and Lasell Seminary, now a junior college, in Auburndale, Massachusetts in 1918. She later attended the University of Chicago where she studied institutional management and nutrition in the home economics department. On April 23, 1921, Lucinda Obermeyer married Arthur Lewis Wanner. Mr. Wanner joined Belden Manufacturing Company in 1916 and held the positions of vice-president and treasurer. He became executive vice-resident after retiring. The Wanners were the parents of two children–Richard Lewis, born in 1924, and Mary Lucinda, Mrs. Richard Kasperson, born in 1928. The family resided at 278 Merton Avenue, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, from 1925 until Lucinda Wanner’s death on April 9, 1976. She was preceded in death by her husband, who died on December 8, 1964. Mrs. Wanner became an active volunteer in 1926 when she and others founded an infant welfare society in Glen Ellyn. Her activities were numerous. She served as a Girl Scouts leader and the first president of the local Council of Girl Scouts. Mrs. Wanner was active in the Congregational Church; she taught Sunday school and served on the board of trustees and the board of religious education. Work with the local Parent-Teacher Association led to several elective offices in the Association and membership on the board of the Illinois Congress of Parents and Teachers. In 1946, Lucinda 0. Wanner was appointed precinct #14 committeewoman for Milton Township, DuPage County, Illinois, and embarked on a 30-year career as a "professional volunteer" in the Republican party. Mrs. Wanner remained a committeewoman until 1954 when she was elected committeeman, a post she would hold for 22 years. Two years prior to her election, in 1952, the DuPage County Republican Central Committee appointed Mrs. Wanner county chairwoman. The Central Committee sought Lucinda Wanner’s service on the finance committee, with fund-raising activities, and on numerous other committees. In 1952, DuPage County formed a jury commission and Lucinda Wanner was the first woman appointed to the commission. She served as its chairman and continued working on the jury commission until 1976. State politics attracted Lucinda Wanner, also. From 1958 until 1962, Mrs. Wanner served as Illinois State Republican Central Committeewoman from the 14th district, then comprising DuPage, Kane, and McHenry counties. In 1962, the district lines were redrawn, making DuPage and Will counties the district boundaries. Mrs. Wanner continued as committeewoman and in September, 1963, the State Central Committee named her assistant vice-chairman. During those years, Lucinda Wanner also acted as vice-chairman of the United Republican Fund. Beginning in 1954, she was active in Republican state conventions and often served on platform and resolution committees. Lucinda Wanner served as an elected delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1952, 1964, 1968, and 1972. She worked for many presidential elections, including organizing Illinois Bob Taft Clubs from January to July, 1952, and serving as downstate chairman for the Republican presidential campaigns of 1956, 1960, and 1968. Although Mrs. Wanner held no position within the Republican National Committee, she worked closely with its committeemen and attended conferences sponsored by the RNC. In addition to her involvement in the regular Republican organization, Lucinda Obermeyer Wanner also worked in women’s Republican clubs at all levels: the Glen Ellyn Women’s Republican Club; the DuPage County Federation of Republican Women’s Clubs; the Illinois Federation of Republican Women; the National Federation of Republican Women. In all of the organizations, Mrs. Wanner took on numerous responsibilities, from board positions to committee chairs. Mrs. Wanner’s service in the Republican party was recognized when she was named "Woman of the Year" by the DuPage County Young Republicans and "Senior Citizen of the Year" in Glen Ellyn.

Note written by

Extent

37.00 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement Note

Custodial History

Mrs. Wanner disposed of many personal papers after the death of her husband, Arthur L. Wanner, in 1964. Few papers remain to document Mrs. Wanner’s early interests: the local Parent-Teacher Association and the Illinois Congress of Parents and Teachers, on whose board she served in the early 1930s; the Girl Scouts of America; the Infant Welfare Society founded by Lucinda Wanner and others in Glen Ellyn in 1926; and the Congregational Church in Glen Ellyn. Mary Lucinda Kasperson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L. Wanner, donated her mother’s papers to The Everett McKinley Dirksen Congressional Leadership Research Center in 1979. The Collection arrived at The Center in almost 100 various size containers, many containing bound volumes, unsolicited and unopened mail; and large amounts of duplicate items. According to the contract between The Center and Mrs. Kasperson, all unwanted items were to be returned to the donor. About half of the collection was returned. The Dirksen Center accepted the Wanner Collection in the belief that a significant portion of the papers would relate to Everett Dirksen’s political career. Subsequent archival processing yielded a rich collection of information about women in politics, volunteer political organization, and local history. Unlike The Center’s other collections, however, the Wanner papers contained virtually no material about Dirksen or Congress. In cooperation with the donor, the Center sought a permanent repository for the Wanner Collection with more complementary collections. As a result, the collection was transferred to the Regional History Center at Northern Illinois University at DeKalb in 1983.