Title: Martha Ragland Collection

Date/Date Range :   1948

Extent: 1.5 linear feet

Abstract:

The collection contains a file of newspaper clippings, personal correspondence, and campaign literature covering the 1948 primary and general election of Estes Kefauver's first Senate campaign. Along with this is a scrapbook kept by Martha Ragland while she was chairman of the State Women's Division for the 1948 primary and general election. In it is a memo written in January, 1977 describing her involvement in the campaign and her memories of it. A button collection of various Kefauver campaigns is also included. These papers are a valuable addition to the political records of Estes Kefauver.

Call number: MS-0883

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Martha Ragland donated her file of materials relating to the 1948 primary and general election of Estes Kefauver to the United States Senate on May 26, 1977.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Martha Ragland Collection, MS-0883. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of one box.

Martha Ragland lived in Knoxville for ten years on Cumberland Avenue and then on Frances Street. Both of her children were born in Knoxville. During the time of the 1948 Kefauver campaigns she lived in Chattanooga where she was a prominent and dynamic leader in civic, church, and political affairs. She resigned from her leadership role in the League of Women Voters to take on the chairmanship of the State Women's Division after being asked to serve by Estes Kefauver. Her husband, Tom Ragland, was president of Mountain City Mills. Following her education at Vanderbilt University, where she earned her A. B. and M. A. degrees, she did research work and co-authored a book with Professor Ellsworth Huntingdon of Yale University, entitled After Three Centuries.

The collection contains a file of newspaper clippings, personal correspondence, and campaign literature covering the 1948 primary and general election of Estes Kefauver's first Senate campaign. Along with this is a scrapbook kept by Martha Ragland while she was chairman of the State Women's Division for the 1948 primary and general election. In it is a memo written in January, 1977 describing her involvement in the campaign and her memories of it. A button collection of various Kefauver campaigns is also included. These papers are a valuable addition to the political records of Estes Kefauver.

• Kefauver, Estes, 1903-1963.
• Ragland, Martha.
• United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.
• Political campaigns -- United States.