Women’s votes count! That is what the League of Women Voters is all about! The League of Women Voters was founded in 1920 – the same year that women’s suffrage, the legal right for women to vote, was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution with the passage of the 19th Amendment.
The League of Women Voters was created from the merger of two then existing organizations – the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Council of Women Voters (NCWV). NAWSA had long been a champion of Women’s suffrage. The original organization was established in 1890 and was led by Susan B. Anthony until she retired in 1900. NCWV was envisioned as an organization to follow NAWSA once women had received the right to vote. At the 1919 National Convention of NAWSA, a motion was made to merge the two organizations into a new organization called “The League of Women Voters.” The merger officially took place on January 6, 1920. The League of Women Voters filled the role originally seen for NCWV and in doing so distanced itself from more radical figures within NCWV. This decision set the tone for the League of Women Voters to become a non-partisan organization embracing women from across the political spectrum.
The League of Women Voters is a non-profit organization. Its original goal was “to educate women on election processes and lobby for favorable legislation on women’s issues.” The modern League works “to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation in government” as well as “to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy.”
While the League of Women Voters is non-partisan, they often do take stands on political issues. Before taking stands or offering positions on political issues, they first study these issues and develop a consensus of members. They support many progressive positions. They support health care reform and believe that “Every U.S. resident should have access to affordable, quality health care, including birth control and the privacy to make reproductive choices.” They believe that we should protect the environment. They support counting all citizens in our national Census. They believe in fair immigration policies that “promote the reunification of immediate families, meet economic, business, and employment needs, and [are} responsive to those facing political persecution or humanitarian crises.” They are against racial and partisan gerrymandering of voting districts and support a “fair and transparent process that produces the most representative maps.” They are against big money, special interests, SuperPACS, and dark money in American politics and for greater transparency regarding campaign finances. They are against voter suppression whether the suppression of women, People of Color, the disabled, or other marginalized groups. They are for responsible gun control. The League of Women Voters has also done studies and taken stands on the Equal Rights Amendment, domestic violence, sexual harassment, green space, affordable housing, civil rights restoration, and many other issues.
The League of Women Voter’s helps women take action on many of these issues by creating Action Guides, pamphlets, and by offering tips on lobbying and writing one’s legislators. At the organization level, national, state, and local Leagues advocate for legislation on these issues and even take up litigation in support or opposition of certain issues and causes.
In addition to their studies and positions, the League of Women Voters actively works to register voters. They provide voting information to voters; create non-partisan voting guides; survey the opinions and platforms of political candidates; moderate candidate debates; and even monitor elections.
The League of Women Voters includes the national organization, state-wide boards, and local groups. Each of these levels has its own newsletters, conventions, meetings, and other events.
There had been a chapter of the League active in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1930s. That chapter had disbanded at the beginning of World War II. In 1957, a new League chapter was founded in Norfolk. In the early 1960s, the League gained additional membership from Virginia Beach when Princess Anne County merged with the city of Virginia Beach. In 1964, the Norfolk and Virginia Beach membership merged to become the League of Women Voters of Norfolk-Virginia Beach. In 1994, the local League was renamed League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads.
by Madeline Dietrich, Music Special Collections and Research Specialist
Founders of the Archive of Virginia Composers Audrey Hays and Fred Strong
ODU Special Collections and University Archives is currently processing a collection of musical compositions from the mid-20th century known as the Archive of Virginia Composers. Back in 1975 a project was undertaken to collect the musical works of Virginia composers into a single repository for the purpose of promoting the work and preserving it. The idea was the brainchild of former ODU music major Fred Strong. He had been recording interviews with local composers to air on the radio and decided to donate these recordings to the Norfolk Public Library, where he met Audrey Hays, head of the Feldman Fine Arts and Audio-Visual Department. Between the two of them the idea of creating an archive of Virginia composers developed, and in 1976 funds were secured and the project proceeded.
According to an official statement, “The Archive of Virginia Composers was begun by a matching grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and Humanities and the Norfolk Public Library System for the purpose of accumulating biographical, historical, and musical information on all serious Virginia composers (living and deceased), so that we may act as a reference source to the public at large. By doing this, we hope to spur an abundance of interest toward their music which could result in more performances, commissions, etc., thereby making their livelihood more rewarding, and their value more substantial.” Strong adds, “The criteria used for selecting composers for inclusion in the archive is basically very simple. He or she must be a noted composer of serious music and must reside within the state.”
Undaunted by the prospect of collecting written and recorded music from every person in Virginia who considered themselves a composer of “serious” music, Strong and Hays began by compiling a list of composers gathered from colleges and universities, church ministries, and word of mouth. They then sent a questionnaire asking for information about where a person studied composition, who they studied with, where their music had been performed, and what their current occupations were. Out of over 100 questionnaires sent out, they received around 50 responses, though not all were accepted. One person wrote in saying, “I have composed a good many songs (words and music) …” to which Strong replied “The archive is open to include composers who write music of a serious caliber (symphonies, opera, concertos, etc.). I sensed from your letter, however, that your music may be in a somewhat different class.”
From those composers who passed muster Strong and Hays requested a list of items including biographical data, a recent photograph, and a list of compositions. They also requested copies of scores (sheet music) and recordings. The idea was to collect two of everything, one copy to secure in the archive and the other to circulate among library patrons wishing to check the materials out.
Image of a score from the Archive of Virginia Composers Collection
Not every composer was eager to participate. One such individual wrote, “From my vantage point…there is no desire to be ‘encased’ in the Norfolk Library System – if my compositional efforts are worthy, I have little doubt that it will be necessary to expend other energies to make them available to future generations – if they are not worthy, then they should be allowed their natural demise.” Regardless, most composers contacted willingly submitted materials.
Fred Strong’s interest in interviewing composers continued. Between 1976 and 1978 he drove across the state visiting composers and recording one to two hour interviews on cassette tape. Back at the library over 500 scores were collected and processed by Audrey Hays and her staff, along with more than 75 audio recordings. The effort culminated in a grand opening on Saturday, May 13, 1978, at the Kirn Memorial Library and a public concert performance of select compositions was held the next day at Norfolk’s Center Theater. In recognition of the event, Governor John Dalton declared the week of May 8-14 as Virginia Composers’ Week.
Following these events collecting efforts virtually ceased with no new material being added to the archive after 1979, though a backlog of previously collected materials continued to be processed into the early 1980s. Years later the archive was taken out of active circulation and placed in storage, where it remained until ODU SCUA agreed to take it in 2019.
In receiving the Archive of Virginia Composers from the Norfolk Public Library, SCUA inherited a musical time capsule from the 1970s. The archive as received was in unusable condition and needed to be rearranged and processed for use by today’s researchers. The work involves moving each item into a new storage container and recording the details into a database which will serve as the foundation for a searchable finding aid to be made available to users online.
While there is no doubt of the enthusiasm behind the original project and the tremendous amount of work that went into it, the archive ultimately fell short of the stated goal of collecting compositions and materials from “all serious Virginia composers (living and deceased).” In fact, the archive is limited to just 34 composers, though there is an extensive amount of material included for those represented, including of biographical information, taped interviews, audio recordings on vinyl discs, open reel and cassette tapes, copies of published works, original and photocopies of manuscripts (including sheet music), photographs, programs, newspapers, and magazine articles. Additionally the collection includes extensive correspondence relating to the history and development of the archive.
Audiovisual materials from the collection
Most of the composers represented were unknown to the average Virginian in the late 1970s and remain so today except perhaps to those engaged in the narrow field of mid-20th century music composition. Nevertheless a few names stand out, including Tom Rice, F. Ludwig Diehn, Walter Ross, and Johan Franco.
The music itself consists of chamber works, major works for large ensembles, and sacred works (typically single-movement pieces intended for a church choir). Of these, the majority are representative of conventional styles, with some dating back to the 1930s. Perhaps of more interest to the scholar are the many examples of works featuring exploratory compositional techniques of the 1970s. By preserving this music, at this time, is to take a collection of genuinely obscure music from the mid-20th century and bring it to the attention of current researchers.
But what would it take for this music to be heard again? To perform it live, a person organizing the concert would need to secure performance rights from the publisher (or the entity who holds the rights to a given work). Then they’d need to arrange for a venue and hire the necessary musicians. Only the conductor’s score is available for most of the works in the collection so if individual parts are needed, they would have to be acquired elsewhere. If live performance is not feasible, there are recordings in the collection representing ten to fifteen percent of the works in the archive, but for widespread listening to be possible steps to preserve the audio recordings would need to be taken which involve digitizing the recorded content and making those audio files available online. The decision to take such steps would be based on projected demand for the content, something that ultimately will require demonstrated interest on the part of the public and of researchers. Suffice to say that for this music to be heard again a considerable expenditure of time and funds will be required. For now, our job in SCUA is to store the materials in a safe environment and make their existence known to the public. From there it is up to interested parties to make the music come alive once more.
Florence Crittenton Home’s Time Capsule, Norfolk, Virginia
While filling out a recent research request in the archives, I noticed a box in the stacks that read “ODU Time Capsule.” Being an inquisitive (“nosy”) archivist, I decided to take a look and see what was inside. Up to this point, I hadn’t heard of any active time capsules on campus. The box was a part of a recent transfer from the office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance, which oversees the grounds and landscaping on campus. In the box were a few early histories of the William & Mary Norfolk Division, the predecessor to Old Dominion University (ODU), and a copper tube with one of the ends open.
Discovering what is inside the copper box
Inside the tube were old publications, news clippings, artifacts, and other material related to the Florence Crittenton Home for Unwed Mothers, which operated in Norfolk from the 1890s to the 1970s. The home was last located in the Larchmont area of Norfolk overlooking the Lafayette River. The home’s mission was to aid unmarried women during their pregnancies. One might ask “How did a time capsule with material from the Florence Crittenton Home come to ODU?” It may be a surprise to some people, but ODU and the Florence Crittenton Home have had a relationship going back 45 years. In 1977, the house and the records of the Florence Crittenton Home were given to ODU, with the records being house in Special Collections and University Archives. From the 1970s to the early 2000s, the Florence Crittenton Home was the location for ODU’s Center for Coastal Oceanography (CCPO) before the facility was torn down to make room for new housing. One would suspect that the time capsule was found during the demolition of the building and given to the Vice President for Administration and Finance office.
Inventory of the time capsule
As to the time capsule itself, it appears to have been placed during the cornerstone laying ceremony on October 15, 1949. Included in the time capsule are a copy of the cornerstone laying program and the charter of Florence Crittenton Home; clippings from local newspapers about the groundbreaking ceremony and the new facility; manuals from the local Masonic Lodge; a brief history of the home; a travel edition of the New Testament Psalms and Proverbs; samples of dirt from the area; and two coins, one a quarter from 1948, and the other is a half dollar commemorating the 250th anniversary of Norfolk from 1936. Since the time capsule is important to the history of the Florence Crittenton Home, it will fit better to be a part of the home’s records.
Corner-Stone Laying Program
Dirt from the site of the Norfolk Florence Crittenton Home was included in the box
A small copy of the New Testament was included in the box
From summer 2017 to December 2019, I worked on the digitized news reel collection from local television station WTAR (now WTKR). During this time, I viewed and edited footage, as well as entering metadata to describe these digitized news reels and clips dating from the 1940s-1980s. A good portion of these digitized reels had no audio to accompany them. In order to create a more detailed narrative for these silent stories, I had to find the “who, what, and where” regarding them. In order to do this, I entered or “Googled” street names, names of places, and even names of people if featured. I even looked in the city directories located in the third-floor stacks, to find information. In some cases, I came up empty handed. In others, I found a trove of information, some it very interesting and fascinating. I have one example of a silent digitized clip in which I did some sleuthing and entered, or should I say “Googled” a name found on a residential mailbox and was very surprised to find who this person was.
Here is the back story-somewhere in 2018, I first viewed a brief 45 second clip that was filmed in December of 1960, in which I saw a group of men paying a visit to a suburban ranch house where the family of P. A. Jensen, Jr. resided (the family’s name is on a mailbox). Opening the door, is presumably Mrs. P. A. Jensen, Jr., who is all smiles. The visitors come with a holiday present for Mrs. Jensen, she even poses for a picture with the visitors whose identities are unknown. I needed a better description than “footage of Mrs. P. A. Jensen, Jr. receiving a holiday gift from unidentified visitors,” so I decided to do some sleuthing. At first, I went out in the third-floor stacks area to look at the Hampton Roads city directories, to find out the full name of P. A. Jensen, Jr. and possibly his wife, as well as where he lived. From looking at the 1959 and 1960 Norfolk city directories, I found the full name for P. A. Jensen, Jr., which was Pierce A. Jensen, Jr., who lived in the Princess Anne County area, now Virginia Beach, Virginia. Next, I returned to my workstation and typed in (Googled) “Mrs. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr.” and I was very surprised to find the results-very surprised. It turns out that Mrs. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr. was Patricia Priest Jensen, who is a very famous and well-known person. She was the daughter of Ivy Baker Priest who was Treasurer of the United States from 1953-1961. Patricia was the first International Azalea Festival Queen (crowned in 1954), but she was better known for her role as Marilyn Munster on the cult comedy television show “The Munsters.”
Patricia Priest as the Azalea Queen of 1954, Norfolk, VA
In 1955, Patricia Priest married Naval officer Mr. Pierce A. Jensen, Jr. and resided in the Bayside area of Princess Anne County, until 1962 when her husband was transferred to California. It was there that she gave acting a try, using the name of Pat Priest. After several small roles on television and a few commercials, she got the part of Marilyn Munster, the teenage niece in a family of monsters. She was the second actress to play Marilyn, replacing Beverly Owen, and starred on the series from 1964-1966. After the “The Munsters,” Priest continued to appear on television and film into the late 1960s and 1970s, including “Easy Come, Easy Go” with Elvis Presley, but she retired from acting in the 1980s and currently resides in Idaho.
One of the most memorable collections I’ve worked on since I’ve worked in ODU Special Collections has to be the George Conoly Phillips Papers. It was one of my early collections and may have even been the very first archival collection I ever organized.
Conoly Phillips was extremely active in politics, religion, and civic organizations in Norfolk, the Tidewater region, and Virginia, but in my opinion, those aren’t the most interesting parts of his collection. To me the most interesting parts of his collection relate to Conoly Phillips’ car dealership.
In 1956, Conoly and his brother Tench opened the Phillips Brothers Automoville used car dealership in Norfolk. The following year they entered into an agreement with Ford Motor Company to sell imported Ford vehicles. By 1960, the brothers had also acquired a franchise with Rambler and formed “Phillips Brothers Rambler.” After much business success, Tench negotiated with the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors to open an Oldsmobile franchise in Norfolk. The franchise was awarded under the condition that Tench divest of his interests in Phillips Brothers Rambler, and his separate Oldsmobile franchise was begun in early 1965. For his part, Conoly moved on from the Rambler business and became an authorized dealer for Ford Lincoln’s and Mercury’s in 1967. The dealership initially held the name “Tench Brother’s Lincoln-Mercury.” By the 1970s, the business became known as “Conoly Phillips Lincoln-Mercury.” Conoly retired from the daily management of the business in 1999. At that time, his company merged with Freedom Automotive, and Conoly Phillips remained a partner in the company.
The materials in Conoly Phillips papers relating to the car dealership include contracts, financial statements, correspondence, board minutes, policy and procedure manuals, and a host of other business materials. They also contain advertising and marketing materials, artifacts, and scrapbooks from the dealership.
Among the marketing and advertising materials are newspaper advertisements; yellow pages ads; press releases; and scripts for radio and television commercials. Phillips also took part in promotional events such as the 1972 Mid-Atlantic Auto Show at the Norfolk Scope. The collection contains information on several models of cars including the Rambler, Capri, Cougar, Fiat, Daimler, Lincoln, and Mercury. There’s even a children’s coloring book with pictures of 1969 Ford car models to color in.
Artifacts include Phillips Brothers emblems and stickers, some promotional pens for the business, an auto show emblem, aerial photos of the Lincoln-Mercury dealership, a license plate, and a set of Phillips-Lincoln Mercury keys.
Scrapbooks feature newspaper clippings about the dealership, advertisements, an overview of the business for the 1964 Rambler Retailer of the Year contest, and a plan for a Women’s Automotive Resource Center.
Conoly Phillips graduated Maury High School in Norfolk with honors in 1949 and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia in 1953. He also served for two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Later, Phillips earned his MBA from Old Dominion University in 1976. Conoly married Charlotte Baird Ferebee and the two had three children together.
Conoly was involved in a number of civic and community organizations for business, personal, religious, and philanthropic reasons. These included the Better Business Bureau, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, the Norfolk Symphony, the Norfolk Rotary Club, the United Community Fund, the Union Mission, the United Drug Abuse Council, and many others.
Phillips was a religious person belonging to First Presbyterian Churches in Norfolk. Phillips served on the Norfolk City Council from 1976 to 1980 and was reelected to the Norfolk City Council in 1986. In 1978, he ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat.
George Conoly Phillips passed away, April 22, 2020, at the age of 88.
Collection Guide for the George Conoly Phillips Papers: https://archivesguides.lib.odu.edu/repositories/5/resources/307.
Photo Captions:
Phillips Brothers Automoville, 1st Military Highway location at corner of Johnston Road, 1961 (MG 15, Box 33, Folder 8)
1971 Billboard. “A very simple business” was the dealership’s advertising slogan in the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 4)
Phillip Bros Cougar Girl Coloring Book from the early 1970s. (MG 15, Box 1, Folder 1)
In December 1977, the Norfolk Unitarian-Universalist Gay Caucus (UUGC) undertook what may have been the first survey of the LGBT community in Hampton Roads. The survey was not intended to be a complete profile of the local gay community as those surveyed tended to be either bar goers or those active in the local Gay and Lesbian community. Questions pertaining to the local Trans community were virtually non-existent. Surveys were distributed in local gay bars including the Cue, the Nickelodeon, the Late Show, the Ritz, and at UUGC meetings. The results of the survey were released in the January, February, March, and April 1978 issues of Our Own Community Press. The January issue gave an overview of results. The February issue featured the results as they pertained to women / Lesbians who took the survey. The March issue shared results pertaining to gay and bisexual men. The April issue highlighted comments made by survey respondents.
According to the February 1978 issue of Our Own, “The typical woman who filled out one of the UUGC questionnaires… is between 18 and 24 years old, lives in Norfolk, is registered to vote, Protestant, makes between $5-10,000, rents, has some college education, considers herself exclusively gay, attends a gay bar once a week, and always feels good about her sexuality.” A total of 86 women responded to the survey.
Older women were not well represented in the survey. 69% of the women surveyed were under the age of 24, and an additional 29% were between the ages of 25 and 34. Only 2% of the women were over the age of 34. Half of these respondents were from Norfolk, and the rest were from other cities in Hampton Roads with ten respondents from outside the area. Two thirds of these women were registered to vote. Political affiliation was not reported, but religious affiliation was. Nearly half of the respondents identified as Protestant. Nearly a third were Catholic. A smaller number identified as Jewish, not religious, or other (including two who identified as witches). 48% of respondents had an annual income between $5,000-10,000, 29% had an income less than $5,000 a year. Very few respondents made over $15,000 a year. Only 14% of these women owned their own home; 68% rented, and 18% lived with parents, with a lover, or had other living arrangements. Only 14% of these women had college degrees, 43% had completed some college, 35% had only graduated high school. A very few women had advanced degrees or had not completed high school at all. The highest number of these women (20%) worked in service and blue-collar industries. 17.5% of respondents were students and another 17.5% worked in government jobs. Other jobs included healthcare, education, management, clerical jobs, merchandising, and artists. Very few women surveyed were lawyers, journalists, engineers, or housewives. 8% of those women surveyed were unemployed.
Of the women surveyed, 8% claimed to be exclusively heterosexual, 44% considered themselves exclusively homosexual, and others claimed varying degrees of bisexuality. Most of these women (84%) always or usually felt good about their sexuality. 14% had mixed feelings about their sexuality, and only one woman usually felt bad about her sexuality. No one claimed to always feel bad about their sexuality. 36% of the women surveyed went to gay bars once a week, 28% went to bars only once a month, and 25% went to gay bars more than once week. Only 22% of these women belonged to gay organizations, while 28% belonged to social groups; 20% to professional groups; 15% to political groups; 38% to special interest groups; and 13% to religious groups. 26% of the women surveyed did not belong to any organization at all.
Popular LGBT publications among women were Our Own Community Press, The Advocate, Gay Blade, and Gay Community News. Only a small number read Lesbian publications such as Lesbian Connection or Lesbian Tide.
A total of 440 men answered the survey. This was over five times the response rate for women. The typical profile for men answering the survey was very similar to that of the women. The typical man answering the survey lived in Norfolk, was between the ages of 18 and 24, was registered to vote, rented their housing, had some college education, was Protestant, had an annual income of $5,000-10,000, considered themselves exclusively gay, and always felt good about their sexuality.
While the “typical” snapshot of respondents was similar, actual percentages varied and there were some differences between the men and women surveyed. The typical male (49.2%) went to gay bars more than once a week whereas the largest number of women (36%) only went to bars once a week. There was a larger number of men than women over the age of 24 who responded to the survey. There were more men over the age of 35 and even some over the age of 50. Men were less likely to have a religious affiliation at all, or if they did – to have a non-Christian affiliation (Jewish, Humanist, Buddhist, Moslem, B’ai H’ai, etc.). Twice as many men than women had completed college, and men generally had higher incomes. Women were slightly more likely be registered voters. Men were more likely to consider themselves “exclusively” homosexual than women, but women tended to overall to feel better about their sexuality. Men were more likely to belong to a gay organization or conversely to no organization at all than were women.
As for men’s statistics, 51.5% of men lived in Norfolk. 34.5% lived in other Hampton Roads cities. The remainder came from other places in Virginia, Washington DC, or from out of state. 54% of men were aged 18-24; 34% were 25-34; 9% were 35-49; and 1.5% were over age 50. 45% of male respondents identified as Protestant; 25.5% as Catholic; 15.0% as none; 7.0% as other; and 4.5% as Jewish. The highest percentages of men worked in either government or service jobs (16.2% and 16.4% respectively). Other higher percentage occupations included students (9.7%); management (7.7%); healthcare (7.4%); merchandising (7.4%); and other professionals (7.0%). Only 4.9% of men surveyed were unemployed. 65% of male respondents were registered to vote. 37% of those men surveyed had annual incomes between $5,000-10,000; 23.3% had annual incomes of $10,000-15,000; 17% had incomes over $15,000; and 20% had incomes under $5,000. 29.8 percent of the men surveyed had college degrees; 35.6% had some college; 27.8% had only graduated high school; and 5.9% did not have a high school diploma. 52.5% of men rented their housing; 21.0% owned their own home; and 23.5% had other living arrangements.
Of the men surveyed, 43.6% identified exclusively homosexual; 1.6% claimed to be exclusively heterosexual; and the rest claimed varying degrees of bisexuality. 79.6% of the men always or usually felt good about their sexuality; 18.7% felt both good and bad about their sexuality; and only 1.1% usually or always felt bad about their sexuality. Nearly half the men surveyed (49.2%) visited gay bars more than once a week; 25.5% visited gay bars weekly; 18.2% visited gay bars once a month or less; and of these only .7% never visited gay bars. 26% of the men surveyed belonged to gay organizations; 37.3% belonged to no organizations at all. Men also took part in professional organizations (27.3%), social organizations (26.2%), political organizations (14.1%), religious organizations (18.0%), and special interest groups (24.4%).
Popular publications among men included Our Own Community Press, The Advocate, In Touch, Gay Blade, Blueboy, Cruise, Gay Community News, Christopher Street, Gay Times, Eagle, GPU News, Drummer, Mandate, Playgirl, and After Dark.
While the demographics created a snapshot of LGBT bar goers and those active in the local LGBT community in 1977, the most revealing and sometimes entertaining portion of the survey were open-ended responses to the questions “What do you see as the greatest need of the lesbian/gay community of Tidewater?” Overall themes to these questions included the need for unity and a sense of gay community; gay and straight education on gay issues; politics and legislation for gay rights; acceptance and understanding; more and better bars; and social outlets other than the bars.
Comments included practical suggestions for the community – a Lesbian bar, live gay/lesbian music events, a gay military organization, a gay bookstore, a gay business association, an organization for aging gay men, a gay community center, and a gay church. All of these things have come to pass in Hampton Roads (at least at some point) since the 1977 survey. Some comments were idealistic like this one. “For them to learn to live together. To be friends no matter what color the person’s skin might be or what sex the person might be. To be openminded with everything, because being gay is hard enough without fighting each other.” Other idealistic responses included developing a unified gay/lesbian political philosophy, or ending division and labels within the community. Some comments focused on educating the public on gay/lesbian issues, helping gay and lesbian folks to feel better about themselves, and helping folks come out of the closet. There were also a few colorful comments by folks who obviously weren’t comfortable with segments of the gay/lesbian community at the time. “The flaunting of homosexuality is the major problem. The super “fags’ and ‘butch’ are what gives the rest of us bad names.” Another respondent suggested, “More Gay Bars!… Make anyone over 40 stay out! And have a special bar just for trolls.”
Since 1977, hopefully at least some things have changed for the better in the Hampton Roads LGBT community. Gay bookstores have come and gone, as have Lesbian bars. LGBT military organizations have formed, especially at the height of the gay military ban and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” We have an organization for aging Gay men, an LGBT business organization, and an LGBT community center. There’s an LGBT church, and even room at the annual Pride month Interfaith event for non-Christians and LGBT folks involved in non-traditional religions such as Wicca and Paganism. We have an LGBT Pride organization, an annual Pridefest, a Pride Boat Parade, and even a whole month of local Pride events. While not well represented in the 1977 survey, we now have organizations and events for Trans folks in our community too.
While we may have lost some things this past year or more due to Covid, this Pride month consider all that we have gained and learned since the early days of the Hampton Roads LGBT community. What will the Hampton Roads LGBT community be like 44 years from now?
You can browse the issues of Our Own Community Press mentioned in this blog post, as well as all other issues of Our Own, in our digital collections: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/ourown
The Records of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in the Old Dominion University Library’s Special Collections and University Archives document the history of the Virginia Symphony from its first concert in 1921 up to the present day. These records include concert programs from that first concert through 2019. Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings; newsletters; marketing; fundraising and membership campaigns; finances; correspondence; contract information; board of directors and executive committee information; meeting agendas and minutes; and by-laws. Multimedia are also included in the collection. These include audio cassettes, CD’s, VHS tapes, and DVD’s of various concerts, interviews, and promotional materials. There are even Betamax tapes, audio reels, old film reels, and other media. There are also photos, slides, scrapbooks, posters, and other memorabilia. New programs and other materials are periodically added to the collection.
Over the years, the Symphony played at number of local venues. These venues have included the Armory auditorium, Blair High School Auditorium, Norfolk Center Theater, Harrison Opera House, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk Scope, Virginia Beach Pavilion Theater, Portsmouth Performing Arts Center, the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, the Ferguson Center for the Arts at Christopher Newport University, and the Norfolk State University Performing Arts Center, among other venues. The Blair High School Auditorium was chosen in the 1930s to help save costs during the Great Depression. The Symphony played at the newly created Center Theater beginning in 1943, and this became a regular venue for Symphony Performances beginning in 1947. The Center Theater was renovated and renamed the Harrison Opera House in 1993. The Symphony moved performances to Chrysler Hall in 1972 and this has become its permanent home.
Early conductors for the Symphony included Walter Edward Howe, W. Henry Baker, Bart Wirtz, Arthur Fickenscher, and Frank L. Delphino. In 1934, Henry Cowles Whitehead, son of Symphony founder, Dr. Robert C. Whitehead, became conductor. After Henry Whitehead’s death in 1948, Edgar Schenkman became conductor from 1948 until 1966. In 1966, Edgar Schenkman resigned as conductor of the Norfolk Symphony in order to devote his full attention to the Richmond Symphony which he’d also conducted since 1957. In 1966, Russell Stanger came on as conductor and he held the position until 1980. Richard Williams, previously conductor of the Cedar Rapids Symphony, replaced Stanger as conductor from 1980 to 1986. Winston Dan Vogel conducted from 1986 to 1990. JoAnn Falletta was appointed conductor in 1991 and she remains with the Virginia Symphony 30 years later in 2021. Falletta is stepping down at the end of the current season in May.
The Symphony has performed under several names over the years and its history has included mergers with other local symphonies, choral associations, and other musical organizations. The Symphony started out under the name Norfolk Civic Symphony Orchestra in 1920. The Norfolk Civic Symphony Orchestra became the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra in 1930. In 1949, the Orchestra merged with the Civic Chorus and became the Norfolk Symphony and Choral Association. Other mergers in the late 1970s included mergers with the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and the Virginia Beach Pops Symphony Orchestra. For a time, the group was known as the Virginia Orchestra Group, the Virginia Philharmonic, and a few other names, before finally settling on the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 1990.
Besides the Symphony proper, a number of supporting groups and organizations formed over the years. The Civic Orchestral Association organized in 1921, but was not chartered until 1931. The Norfolk Orchestral Association was formed in 1922. The Women’s Committee of the Orchestral Association was formed early in the Symphony’s history. This committee organized the first Symphony membership campaign in the mid-1930s. The Women’s Committee was later renamed the Women’s Auxiliary of the Norfolk Symphony and Choral Association in 1953. It became the Norfolk Symphony Association Auxiliary in 1977. Later supporting groups include the Virginia Symphony Foundation and the Virginia Symphony League which hold fundraising activities to help fund the Symphony. The Virginia Symphony Society of Greater Williamsburg encourages support and enjoyment of the Symphony in the Williamsburg area. The Virginia Symphony regularly collaborates with other arts organizations including the Virginia Opera, the Virginia Arts Festival, and the Richmond Ballet.
The milestones and notable achievements of the Symphony are many.In May 1924, the Orchestra performed their first choral work, Mendelssohn Symphony, No. 2, Lobgesang. The Orchestra began charging admission to concerts in 1929, and it is believed that no musicians were paid before that time. The cost of admission in 1929 was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. The first Young People’s Concert was performed in 1936. These concerts continued until 1942, when they were interrupted by World War II. Youth concerts resumed a few years after the war, and in 1953 the Women’s Auxiliary founded a Youth Orchestra. The Symphony published the book “Song in their Hearts, 1920-1960” in 1961. The book was written by Grace Shepherd Ferebee. The year 1966 brought racial integration to the Symphony. James M. Reeves, a bass player, became the first Black orchestra member. Reeves went on to become a faculty member at Norfolk State University in 1974, and he served as head of the music department from 1979 until he retired int 1984. In 1979, the Symphony performed under Russell Stanger with pianist Shura Cherkassky at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 1997, the Symphony performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City under the direction of JoAnn Falletta.
The Virginia Symphony has grown and changed over the last 100 years – from a small group of amateur and professional players into an organized, full-time, professional organization supported by yet other organizations. It has thrived during good times and survived challenges. Here’s hoping for another great 100 years of the Virginia Symphony!
by Kathleen Smith, Special Collections Metadata Specialist
Interview with Norfolk music teacher Leah O’Reilly who became disabled due to being stricken from polio. The interview also includes a tour of her home which has been designed to accommodate her disability: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/wtar/id/647/rec/4
Today the world has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected millions of people world-wide. Scientists are exploring the origins of this virus and what causes it to thrive in order to develop vaccines or even develop forms of treatment (i.e. plasma therapy). Until there is a cure or a way to treat COVID-19, measures such as vaccination, washing hands, wearing masks, practicing social distancing, is the only way to fight it.
There was a similar deadly virus which killed and crippled people-mostly young worldwide, this virus was known as poliovirus which caused a disease known as poliomyelitis or called by its shorter form-polio. Poliomyelitis was an infectious disease that was spread through contaminated food and water, causing varying damage to the muscles of the head, neck, and diaphragm, as well as spinal damage. Paralysis, muscle deformities, and breathing difficulties were the effects left on those who were infected.
Even though poliomyelitis existed back into ancient times, the first reports of polio were recorded in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, which included an on outbreak in Vermont infecting 132 people and killing eighteen. In the summer of 1916, a major polio epidemic broke out in the United States, starting in Brooklyn, which infected 27,000 across the United States, along with 6,000 deaths (2,000 of the deaths were in New York City). As a result, affected families and individuals were quarantined, movie theaters and swimming pools were closed, public gatherings were a rarity, and young people were told to avoid drinking from water fountains and to not to go to the beach. After the 1916 outbreak, there would be a polio epidemic each summer with the most serious cases occurring during the 1940s and 1950s. The worst known outbreak was in the United States was in 1952 with 57,628 cases which resulted in 3,145 deaths and 21,269 with mild to severe paralysis.
“Polio and Children,” features children being treated at DePaul Hospital and the hospital’s campaign to fund those treatments. In the segment one can see a very ill young man being treated in a “rocking bed” in order to improve his breathing and a very young girl in an iron lung to help her breathe: https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/wtar/id/1988/rec/1
Over the years efforts would be made, such as improvement of sanitation practices, trying to finding a vaccine, as well as an developing an array of treatments to treat the effects of the virus such as the iron lung, the rocking bed, antibody serum treatment, splints, and hot compresses. A breakthrough came in 1952 medical researcher Jonas Salk developed an injectable vaccine containing a dose of killed poliovirus. The vaccine was put in use worldwide in 1955. The number of polio cases went down dramatically in the United States: 35,000 in 1953; 5,600 in 1957; 161 in 1961. An equally successful oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin in 1957 and licensed in 1962, used a live but weakened virus, and gradually replaced the Salk vaccine due to it being easier to administer and less expensive in cost. Today there are fewer than 1,000 cases in the United States and the world. I hope the same can be done for COVID-19.
In the 1950s polio greatly affected the local Hampton Roads population young and old. A news show airing on the fledgling television station WTAR-TV, called “Tidewater Viewpoint” featured stories/segments on those who were affected by polio in Hampton Roads. These segments are part of the WTAR News Collection in the ODU Libraries Digital Collections.
by Madeline Dietrich, Music Special Collections and Research Specialist
I am pleased to announce the publication of a new digital exhibition, Russell Stanger: Portrait of an American Conductor, and I’d like to take a moment to offer some background on the project. It began in 2018 with the charge to identify correspondence and photographs from the Russell Stanger Papers documenting Maestro Stanger’s friendship with Leonard Bernstein in celebration of the latter’s 100th birthday. It turns out the collection contains only a few items directly relating to Stanger and Bernstein’s relationship, however, as I pored through the collection it became clear that there was more than enough material to create an exhibition focused solely on Russell Stanger.
The Russell Stanger Papersis a large collection, consisting of over 75 linear feet of materials including manuscripts, conducting scores, original works, photographs, correspondence, sound recordings, and ephemera from Stanger’s long career as an internationally known conductor and composer. Due to the constraints of the physical space designated for the exhibition I selected only visual materials (photographs, newspaper clippings, program covers) and omitted any multi-media objects (sound recordings, video footage). Further, I wished to target a general audience and thus I avoided inclusion of esoteric materials (for example, items consisting of notated music).
The physical exhibition was installed in the Diehn Building at ODU during the fall of 2018 and remained in place for 18 months. It was arranged chronologically and covered Stanger’s young adulthood through the time he was hired by the Norfolk Symphony Group in 1966 and was intended to showcase Stanger’s credentials as a conductor and why he was hired to lead the Norfolk Symphony as music director. At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic it was decided to digitize the exhibition and expand it to include Stanger’s entire career through his retirement in the late 2000s, and this online exhibition is the result.
In keeping with the original intent, the exhibition focuses solely on Stanger’s professional life, omitting materials relating to Stanger’s personal life and focusing on visual materials. Additionally, there is little attention in the exhibition relating to Stanger’s significant contributions as a composer. Despite these omissions it is my sincere hope that the items displayed here are sufficient to give at least a basic account of Russell Stanger’s career as conductor, orchestra-builder, and Maestro.
As a resident of the Hampton Roads area I have always been fascinated by the region’s rich history. It’s been home to many important historical events, towns, buildings, and people. Jamestown and Williamsburg were some of the first successful colonial settlements. The first enslaved Africans believed to be brought to the Americas were deported on the coast of Point Comfort, not more than thirty miles from where I live. My own home town was the site of a battle in the Revolutionary War, where Virginia rebels pushed out British forces and helped secure key points in the area. The great city of Norfolk is home to the largest Navy base in the world and has long been an important city in America’s history. One aspect of my local history, however, that I have largely overlooked has been the fight against racism. We all know of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and others that fought so famously against segregation and racial oppression. We all know of the March on Washington, the events on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the many other great examples of the fight for justice. But so often do we forget the smaller victories against racism, so often do we not realize the local impacts these events have on us.
Granby Street late 1960s
The Importance of Archives in Preserving Local History
Thanks to my experiences as an intern with the Special Collections Department at Old Dominion University, I have had the privilege of seeing some of this history firsthand. I was able to watch several videos from different news outlets from the 1960’s and 70’s. The videos included several interviews, statements, and images on desegregation, and many were focused on the city of Norfolk specifically. I saw President Eisenhower give a statement on desegregation and the closing of schools in several cities such as Norfolk. I saw the Virginia General Assembly issue a response to the Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court, and their plans to implement the Massive Resistance policy to prevent desegregation. I also saw several videos of activists fighting for the desegregation of schools and other public buildings, such as the YMCA. Each video captured the feelings of Norfolk citizens at the time, and how the changes in government, such as the Brown vs. Board decision and the implementation of Massive Resistance, caused them to react. The fight against racism and segregation in Norfolk was captured and documented in these archives, and I of all people was given the opportunity to observe and organize them. I had never before now truly appreciated the rich history of Norfolk and its citizens who fought against racism. Norfolk and the rest of Hampton Roads has had a long and deep history, filled with ordinary people doing great things.
Protest over the Norfolk YMCA’s segregation policies
Everyday Deeds
Until recently, I did not consider the area of Hampton Roads, and Norfolk specifically, to be of some importance in the fight against segregation. We are always told to study the big events and the people who had the most impact on the world. The people and events involved in the local history of Hampton Roads may not have been as memorable or had as large of an impact as other occurrences in their times, but their efforts were still felt and preserved in history. The civil rights movement in Norfolk may not have been the most noticed or impactful of efforts in America, but it nonetheless changed the city and its citizens for generations to come. This look into local history reminded me that even the smallest things can have large impacts. It was thanks to the cumulative efforts of ordinary people that the schools in Norfolk were reopened, desegregation was implemented, YMCA buildings and other facilities were opened to people regardless of color, all because the citizens of Norfolk and others willed it. When observing history in such a way, I can’t help but be reminded of the words of a famous grey wizard: “Some believe that it is only great power that can keep evil in check. But I have found that it is the small every-day deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay”. Despite what many may think history is not just made of people or events of major significance. Its foundations lie with the efforts of everyday people in everyday towns, creating a cumulative structure filled with local history and local people, of which we should strive to preserve and learn from.
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