Abstract
The Harriet Trudell Papers (1949-2006) document Trudell's activities as a Democratic Party advocate, feminist, Civil Rights activist, campaign advisor, and precinct organizer. Materials consist of correspondence, photographs, conference programs, election memorabilia, speeches, and newspaper clippings. There are also papers from the various organizations Trudell was involved in including The Feminist Majority, International Plans for Action, Americans for Democratic Action, and the Nevada Democratic Party.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Harriet Trudell Papers (1949-2006) document Trudell's activities as a Democratic Party advocate, feminist, Civil Rights activist, campaign advisor, and precinct organizer. Materials consist of correspondence, photographs, conference programs, election memorabilia, speeches, and newspaper clippings. There are also papers from the various organizations Trudell was involved in including The Feminist Majority, International Plans for Action, Americans for Democratic Action, and the Nevada Democratic Party.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials are in rough chronological order.
Biographical / Historical Note
Democratic Party advocate, feminist, and civil rights activist, Harriet Trudell was born in 1932 in St. Petersburg, Florida. She spent her childhood in both St. Petersburg and Mobile, Alabama. Her father was a plumber and a union organizer and in 1948, when Harriet was sixteen years old, she accompanied her father to the Democratic National Convention in Alabama. At this convention, Herbert Humphrey's speech on civil rights opened her eyes to the extensive racism that permeated the South. From this moment on, Trudell devoted her life to social change. She worked with the Florida branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) organizing unions while marching and protesting against injustice. During this period, Trudell was arrested several times. In 1962 she relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and children. Once in Las Vegas, she was an activist for social issues such as welfare rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Campaign for Choice. She also worked against nuclear waste and pushed for school integration. In local, state, and national politics, Trudell became an influential voice. She was in charge of the 1968 Presidential campaign of Herbert Humphrey in Nevada and she managed the Southern Nevada campaign for George McGovern. From 1974 to 1978 she was the Southern Nevada aide for Governor Mike O'Callaghan; between 1983 and 1986, she was the Foreign Affairs Aide in Washington D.C. for Congressman Harry Reid. Later, Trudell travelled across the country recruiting women to run for elected office. She has served on the National Board of the National Organization of Women (NOW) and in the 1990s Trudell worked for the Feminist Majority Foundation in Washington D.C. Trudell returned to Las Vegas in 2000 and worked in Democratic politics serving as the Political Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party in Clark County. Trudell passed away December 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Necada.
Source:
"Woman's Research Institute of Nevada". wrinunlv.org, http://wrinunlv.org/research/our-history-profiles-of-nevada-women/harriet-trudell/. Accessed 6/30/2015
Preferred Citation
Harriet Trudell Papers, approximately 1949-2006. MS-00540. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1gc88
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 2007 by Harriet Trudell; accession number 2007-031.
Processing Note
Materials were processed by Special Collections staff in 2007. In 2015, as part of a legacy finding aid conversion project, John Grygo revised the collection, describing it at the collection level. In 2017 Joyce Moore revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it up to current professional standards.