Luella Cotton collection
Collection
Identifier: L259
Scope and Contents
This collection includes correspondence, press releases, newsletters, newspaper clippings, buttons, invitations, tickets, programs, photographs, and publications from Luella Cotton in Montgomery County, Indiana and the United States, ranging from 1954 to 1974, regarding her political activities and involvement with the Democratic Party and its candidates.
The collection includes Cotton's correspondence with Indiana state politicians Larry Conrad, S. Hugh Dillin, Marie Lauck, Jack H. Mankin, Albert A. Steinwedel, and Matthew Welsh. She corresponded with Indiana's members of Congress Birch Bayh, Jr., John Brademas, Vance Hartke, and Andrew Jacobs, Jr. and with other Democratic leaders including Hubert H. Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Other letters of note received by Cotton are from Pauline Gore, wife of Albert Gore Sr., William H. Hays Jr., and Lester Hunt of the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
The collection includes Cotton's correspondence with Indiana state politicians Larry Conrad, S. Hugh Dillin, Marie Lauck, Jack H. Mankin, Albert A. Steinwedel, and Matthew Welsh. She corresponded with Indiana's members of Congress Birch Bayh, Jr., John Brademas, Vance Hartke, and Andrew Jacobs, Jr. and with other Democratic leaders including Hubert H. Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Other letters of note received by Cotton are from Pauline Gore, wife of Albert Gore Sr., William H. Hays Jr., and Lester Hunt of the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
Dates
- 1954-1974
Creator
- Cotton, Luella, 1903-1994 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Biographical Note
Luella Fay Goodhart was born March 31, 1903 in Orrville, Ohio to Ulysses and Orinda Jane (Shoup) Goodhart. She met and married Rev. James Harry Cotton (1898-1982) while attending Wooster College in Ohio and they had two daughters, Margaret Jane and Anne. Luella Cotton was active in the Democratic Party while living in Crawfordsville, Indiana in the 1950s-1961 and was the first woman in the state to serve as county chair for the party. Cotton was also the first woman to serve as principal clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives and she also served as secretary of the Indiana Senate. The Cottons moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1961 where Rev. Cotton taught at Harvard University but Luella Cotton continued her political work in Indiana, serving as vice-chairman of the Indiana Democratic State Central Committee in 1961 and chairman of the Women's Division. The Cottons lived in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (1973-1983), where Rev. Cotton died in 1982. Luella Cotton then moved to Duarte, California, living there until 1991 when she relocated to Rydal Park in Ablington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She died at the age of 91 on November 1, 1994 in Pennsylvania and is buried in Wooster Cemetery in Wooster, Ohio.
Sources:
Items in the collection.
Drill, Herb, and Bill Price. "Louella G. Cotton, Active in Politics." Philly.com. Last modified November 10, 1994. Accessed September 10, 2015. http://articles.philly.com/1994-11-10/news/25867904_1_lansdowne-polio-patients-nursing.
Findagrave.com. "Luella Fay Goodhart Cotton." Find a Grave Memorial. Accessed December 5, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198347276/luella-fay-cotton.
"Luella Cotton." Crawfordsville Journal Review, November 4, 1994, 2A.
"Welsh Bestows 'Sagamore' Title on Louella Cotton." Crawfordsville Journal Review, December 17, 1964.
Sources:
Items in the collection.
Drill, Herb, and Bill Price. "Louella G. Cotton, Active in Politics." Philly.com. Last modified November 10, 1994. Accessed September 10, 2015. http://articles.philly.com/1994-11-10/news/25867904_1_lansdowne-polio-patients-nursing.
Findagrave.com. "Luella Fay Goodhart Cotton." Find a Grave Memorial. Accessed December 5, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198347276/luella-fay-cotton.
"Luella Cotton." Crawfordsville Journal Review, November 4, 1994, 2A.
"Welsh Bestows 'Sagamore' Title on Louella Cotton." Crawfordsville Journal Review, December 17, 1964.
Extent
0.6 Cubic Feet (2 manuscript boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged by subject.
Custodial History
This collection was received by Rare Books and Manuscripts as a donation from Luella Cotton on 1979/01/02.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 2015/09/16 by Laura Eliason. EAD finding aid created 2015/09/16 by Laura Eliason. Collection reprocessing completed 2024/12/05 by Brittany Kropf. EAD finding aid revised 2024/12/05 by Brittany Kropf.
- Badges
- Bayh, Birch Evans, 1928-2019
- Brademas, John, 1927-
- Buttons
- Campaign literature
- Clippings
- Conrad, Larry Allyn, 1935-1990
- Correspondence
- Democratic National Committee (U.S.)
- Democratic Party (Ind.)
- Democratic Party (Ind.) State Convention
- Dillin, S. Hugh (Samuel Hugh), 1914-
- Gore, Pauline La Fon
- Hartke, Vance, 1919-2003
- Hays, Will H. (Will Harrison), 1915-
- Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978
- Hunt, Lester M.
- Indiana -- Politics and government
- Indiana -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Indiana. General Assembly. Senate
- Invitation cards
- Jacobs, Andrew, 1932-2013
- Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
- Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
- Lauck, Marie Theresa
- Mankin, Jack H.
- Montgomery County (Ind.)
- Newsletters
- Newspaper articles
- Politicians
- Politicians -- United States -- 20th century
- Politics and government
- Presidents -- Election
- Press releases
- Programs
- Steinwedel, Albert A.
- Tickets
- Welsh, Matthew E. (Matthew Empson), 1912-1995
Creator
- Cotton, Luella, 1903-1994 (Person)
- Title
- Luella Cotton collection
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository
Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671
