Arrangement: alphabetical by file title.

Letters, memos, expense account statements and receipts,lists of attendees at various meetings, and other materials relating to the workings of the Democratic National Committee inthe 1930s and 1940s; coverage is strongest for the years1941-1947, when Tillett was its vice-chair. These files seemto be Tillett's own office files, rather than those of the Democratic National Convention.

Among the correspondents are many of Tillett's Women's Division co-workers, such as May Thompson Evans, Mary W. (Molly) Dewson, and Lorena Hickok, who was the Women's Division's executive secretary while Tillett was director. Others are prominent women politicians, such as Wyoming's Nellie Tayloe Ross (1876-1977), the first woman governor in the United States; and California Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas (b. 1900). The letters often combine personal news with discussions of Democratic National Convention activities on national, state, and local levels, political campaign efforts, the scheduling of speakers and meetings, personnel changes, and other matters.

See also volumes 3 through 10.

Arrangement: chronological by one- to three-year span, then alphabetical by state (with a few exceptions).

Copies of outgoing letters to other Democrats, mostly women, who were involved in county and state party activities. Topics discussed are mostly such routine matters as scheduling speakers and fund-raising events. There is also correspondence concerning subscriptions and submissions to the Democratic Digest, the magazine published by the Democratic National Convention's Women's Division.

Arrangement: by subject.

Lists of people who delivered campaign speeches for Franklin D. Roosevelt and other Democratic candidates, and on behalf of New Deal reforms; correspondence with and about speakers; application blanks filled out by prospective speakers; and handwritten, typed, and mimeographed copies of some speeches. Many speeches are by Tillett herself; others are by such prominent Democrats as Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins and Vice-President Henry Wallace.

See also Volume 7.

Mostly correspondence with state and county organizers of Democratic Women's Day, an annual fund-raising event held each September, sponsored by the Democratic National Convention's Women's Division. There are also press releases and texts of speeches concerning the occasion.

Correspondence, speeches by Tillett and others, press releases, newspaper clippings, political campaign fliers, and other informational literature. The materials are grouped first by decade, then by format, then chronologically.

Items from the 1930s and 1940s relate mostly to the work of the Democratic National Convention's Women's Division, and include correspondence with Molly Dewson and Lorena Hickok. Topics of the letters, as well as of the speeches and press releases, are similar to those in Subseries 1.1 and 1.3. See also Volume 11.

While Tillett was no longer vice-chair of the Democratic National Convention in the 1950s and 1960s, she continued to be active in Democratic Party politics. During the 1960 presidential campaign, when John F. Kennedy's religion became a controversial topic in the South, Tillett made a number of appearances addressing that issue. A copy of her speech, "Religious Freedom and the Ballot Box," is in folder 805. Correspondence reacting to it is also included (folder 801).

Tillett remained a participant in political affairs into the 1970s. In one of her last speeches, delivered at a regional Democratic Party conference in 1972, she called for a Women's Plank, featuring a demand for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, in the National Democratic Party Platform. (folder 818).

Letters, speeches, promotional literature, and other items relating to the founding of the United Nations, to United Nations conferences and seminars in which Tillett participated, and to Tillett's overseas travels on United Nations business.

Letters and memos to and from Tillett and other United Nations representatives, members of Congress, State Department officials, and private citizens. Topics discussed include United Nations programs and projects, and such related activities as the establishment of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial Foundation. There are also requests for Tillett to speak on the United Nations before various groups, including the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Council of Negro Women.

Handwritten, typed, and mimeographed copies of speeches by Tillett (folders 893-932) and by others (folders 933-947), presented during United Nations sessions, concerning the Commission on the Status of Women, or before more general audiences, promoting the work of the United Nations.

Readers should note that many of these items are incomplete, and that in some cases attributions of dates and authorship of the speeches are tentative.

Notices, agendas, and minutes of meetings, itineraries for overseas travel, informational literature, and other items relating to Tillett's United Nations responsibilities.

Arrangement: by format.

Correspondence, lists of people to contact, including those compiled by the all-female Committee of Two Thousand, speeches and press releases, news articles, and political advertisements relating to Graham's unsuccessful campaign against Willis Smith for the Democratic Party's nomination for United States senator in the spring of 1950. Gladys and Charles Tillett and their daughters, especially Gladys Tillett Coddington, worked vigorously for Graham; much of the correspondence is addressed to the daughters.

Of particular interest are materials pertaining to the defamatory rhetoric and use of innuendo that Smith's supporters directed against Graham. Items in folders 993 through 996, for example, are mainly speeches and research notes refuting the suggestion that Graham was a Communist and other accusations. There are also pro-Smith and pro-Graham fliers and newspaper advertisements.

Letters to, from, and about Graham, mostly of a personal nature; speeches and statements by and about him; and printed matter concerning him. See also Volume 13.

Correspondence, press releases, informational literature, and other materials relating to the activities of the national and North Carolina League of Women Voters organizations. Gladys Avery Tillett founded North Carolina's first county-wide chapter of the League of Women Voters in the early 1920s and became a state president of the organization in 1934.

Materials in this subseries from about 1950 on are mostly printed documents prepared by the League of Women Voters, such as non-partisan voter information, and literature urging passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Correspondence, speeches by Tillett and others, clippings, newsletters, brochures, and other materials concerning efforts toward the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Tillett was president of North Carolina's E.R.A. United in 1974 and 1975, and made many public appearances in support of the amendment.

See also Volume 12.

Correspondence, speeches and writings by Tillett and others, clippings, and materials from organizations and agencies with which Tillett was affiliated. These items pertain to the changing status of women in such areas as employment opportunities, politics, and religion.

Letters, speeches, lists of party officials and precinct workers, campaign literature, and other materials that pertain to the activities of the North Carolina Democratic Party, of which Tillett was vice-chair from 1934 to 1936, and to the political campaigns of Democratic candidates in numerous state and local elections.

folders 1062 through 1129 are files of Annie Land O'Berry (d. 1944), who preceded Tillett as state party vice-chair. These folders contain mostly copies of letters written in 1932 by O'Berry to party members in various counties. Items in folders 1130 through 1148 are Tillett's; they arrived in no particular order, and arrangement was imposed on them during processing.

Correspondence, brochures, newsletters, minutes of meetings, and other materials concerning the University of North Carolina systems. Tillett graduated from the North Carolina College for Women (which later became the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in 1915 and from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in 1917, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Consolidated University from 1952 to 1961. folder 1153 contains Tillett's correspondence with Harriet Elliott (1884-1947), her influential teacher, long-time friend, and fellow Democratic Party worker.

Correspondence, speeches, informational literature, financial materials, and other items that document Tillett's participation in such state and local organizations as the North Carolina Women's Political Caucus and the Charlotte Y.W.C.A.

See also Volume 1.