Nuclear Disarmament Discussion in LWV Newsletters

While working on the Maine Women’s History Collection, Paul noticed that the newsletters of the League of Women Voters of Maine covered an impressive variety of topics to help voters make informed choices, including topics in the 1980s on nuclear disarmament.  These included the details of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in January, 1988, and the “Phases of a Typical Ballistic Missile” later that July.  Maine’s National Security Chair, Ethel Schwalbe, made it a point to share with readers that the graphic included with the article, prepared by the Center for Defense Information, “is not really complicated and, Don Regan to the contrary, CAN be understood by women!”

The newsletters of the League of Women Voters records were one resource selected to be digitized and added to the Maine Women’s History Collection, a new section of DigitalCommons@UMaine that consists primarily of records and publications of Maine women’s organizations. The materials date from the late Nineteenth Century to the present, chronicling the public discourse and organized public activities of women in Maine during this period.

This favorite contributed by: Paul Smitherman, Library Specialist