Elva Norman ‘Theta Sigma Phi’ Collection

Accession Number: MA 01:02
Location: Compton
Dates: 1931-1990; bulk of collection 1951-1988
Physical Size: 8 boxes; 4.30 cu. ft.
Creator/Collector: Collected by Elva Kuykendall Norman
Acquisition info: Donated by Thomas Norman (son) in July 2001.
Accruals: Further accruals are possible, but not expected.
Custodial history: Collection assembled over time by Elva Norman.  
Language: English
Processed by: Collection initially processed by Media Archives volunteers, 20012003; processed by Jean Gosebrink, 2008; reprocessed by Kristina Impastato, February 2018.  
Conservation notes: All items placed into acid-free folders within archival boxes. Metal fasteners removed and replaced with vinyl-coated paper clips.
Scope and Content:

The Elva K. Norman ‘Theta Sigma Phi’ Collection ranges 19311990 with the bulk of the materials from 1951-1988.  The collection consists of correspondence, reports and other materials relating to her membership and work in Theta Sigma Phi, the St. Louis chapter of Theta Sigma Phi, and the organization under its later name Women in Communications, Inc.  There also are files on other organizations that Norman was involved with:  American Women in Radio and Television, Citizenship Education Clearing House, Delmar Baptist Church, Delta Kappa Gamma, Psi chapter, Industrial Press Association of Greater St. Louis, Journalism Foundation of Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri Press Women, Inc., National Federation of Press Women, Sigma Delta Chi, the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the YWCA.  There is a small amount of personal correspondence and information.

Elva Kuykendall Norman(1911-1993) was born in Waxahachie, Texas.  She earned a bachelor’s degree from Mary Hardin-Baylor University, which named her Outstanding Alumna in 1981.  In Texas, she worked as a reporter for the Mineral Wells Index.

Coming to St. Louis in 1931, Norman worked for the Community Chest, forerunner of the United Way.  In the 1940s, she conducted the public relations campaign for the bond issue that established the St. Louis County Library system.  She served as public relations director for the St. Louis Metropolitan YWCA and assistant executive director for the St. Louis Suburban Teachers Association and editor of its Suburban Educator, a publication for teachers in St. Louis and St. Charles County.  

Norman was active in several public relations, journalism and other community organizations.  She became the second woman in St. Louis accredited by the National Public Relations Society.  She served four times as president of the St. Louis chapter of Theta Sigma Phi, later Women in Communications.  She also was national public relations director of Theta Sigma Phi, a national women’s journalism fraternity, and chair of its 1955 St. Louis convention.  During the 1959, 1960 and 1962 national conventions, Norman served as Public Relations chair.  She was a long-time member of the National Federation of Press Women, the parent organization of Missouri Press Women, and the first woman member of the St. Louis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.  Norman received many awards, among them the Quest Award from the Missouri Press Women and the Spirit of the YWCA Award.  She was cited for her educational publications and for her “Teacher-In-Politics” campaign, which encouraged political activity by teachers.

Norman wrote scripts for radio and television programs.  She was the author of Biography of a Church, the history of the early St. Louis Baptist community 1817-1877, and Delmar Baptist Church which emerged from it, 1877-1977 (1978).  She also wrote And lived to tell the tale, an unpublished account of her 1979 journey to Nepal and trek in the Himalayas.

Norman lived in University City enjoyed a long career in public relations in St. Louis. She was married to Isaac D. Norman, a food broker, who died in 1976.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into six subseries:

Series 1:  Biographical
Series 2:  Correspondence
Series 3:  Organizations
Series 4:  Theta Sigma Phi Series 5:  Photographs
Series 6:  Publications

Arranged alphabetically within series.  Theta Sigma Phi National Convention materials organized chronologically.  

Restrictions: Collection is open for research.  Permission required to reproduce images.  
Remarks:

Webster University School of Communications annually awards the Elva Norman Memorial Scholarship.                    

Jean Gosebrink interfiled the Women in Communications St. Louis chapter material in the Women in Communications Collection on 8/6/2008.  

Elva Norman ‘Theta Sigma Phi’ Collection
1931-1990
2 small clamshell boxes, 4 letter Hollingers, 2 record storage boxes; 4.30 cu. ft.

Box/Folder Description
 1/1  Finding aid
  Series 1:  Biographical
  Box 1:  Biographical
1/2 “In memoriam” ; obituary; remembrance of Norman by Verna Smith
1/3 Clippings
1/4 Delmar Baptist Church 
1/5 Delta Kappa Gamma, Psi chapter
1/6 Miscellaneous
1/7 Scholarship, Women in Communications, Webster University, 1997-98
1/7A Theta Sigma, travel
  Series 2:  Correspondence
1/8 1950s
1/9 1960s
1/10 1970s-1980s
1/11 Ruth Collins
1/12 Mary Kimbrough
1/13 Melva Lind
1/14 Virginia McCarthy
1/15 Marian O’Brien
  Series 3:  Organizations
  Box 1: American Women in Radio and Television
1/16 1957 Convention, St. Louis
1/17 1959 Convention, New York, NY
1/18 Constitution/bylaws, 1961
1/19 Correspondence, 1956-1969
1/20 Heart of America Conference
1/21 Membership forms
1/22 Membership kit, 1968-1969
1/23 Membership report, 1964-1968
1/24 Minutes, April 18, 1956
1/25 Program and membership directory, 1965-1966
1/26 Recruiting letters 1965
  Box 1: General Organizations
1/27 Citizenship Education Clearing House, 1972
1/28 Industrial Press Association of Greater St. Louis
1/29 Miscellaneous – press releases & speeches
1/30 Missouri Press Women, 1965-1978
1/31 National Federation of Press Women
1/32 National School Public Relations Association, Greater St. Louis Chapter 1968, 1973
1/33 Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis
1/34 St. Louis area media directories
1/35 St. Louis County Library, 1950s
1/36 St. Louis Journalism Foundation/Journalism Foundation of Metropolitan St. Louis
1/37 St. Louis Radio & TV, clippings & directories
1/38 Sigma Delta Chi
1/39 University of Missouri, School of Journalism 1958,1966 & 1969
1/40 YWCA
  Series 4:  Photographs
  Box 2:  Photographs 
2/1 Elva Norman
2/2 Bea Adams and Elva Norman, 1962
2/3 Carl Baldwin, Press Club
2/4 Erma Bombeck and Barbara Finch
2/5 Ladybird Johnson with Miriam Sturgeon & Floy Johnson
2/6 Ruth Collins
2/7 Turner Catledge
2/8 TSP Founders Irene Somerville Durham and Georgine MacDougall Davis
2/9 TSP Happy Bookworm, Faye Compton, 1985
2/10 TSP Initiation 1966
2/11 Mary Kimbrough & Jo Caldwell Meyer, n.d.
2/12 TSP Miscellaneous
2/13 TSP National Convention 1959 Seattle, WA
2/14 TSP National Convention 1960 Colorado Springs, CO
2/15 TSP National Convention 1961 Lawrence, KS
2/16 TSP National Convention 1965 St. Louis, MO [includes Headliners]
2/17 TSP negatives
2/18 TSP St. Louis Guidebook, Bea Adams & Marj Paxson, 1965
2/19 TSP St. Louis Guidebook, Old Post Building event
2/20 TSP Statewide meeting, Columbia, MO, Oct. 1956
2/21 TSP U City Writing Course 1967
2/22 Matrix, Alice Davis
2/23 Matrix, Adelaide Hazeltine Jones, portrait [Gerhard Sisters, St. Louis]
2/24 Matrix, Clarissa Start Davidson
2/25 Matrix, Mary Kimbrough & Mrs. Frank (Mamie) Boyd
2/26 Matrix, Melva Lind
2/27 Matrix, Ailese Parton (1926) & Ruth Robinson (1928), Baylor College
2/28 Matrix, Shirley Siefert
2/29 Matrix, Dee Dee Williams
2/30 Matrix miscellaneous
2/31 Matrix Award to Press Club 1970, Elva Norman and Carl Baldwin
2/32 Missouri Press Women, Auction in Kansas  City, MO 
2/33 Missouri Press Women, Quest Award 1991, Betsey Bruce
2/34 St. Louis Journalism Foundation Scholarships
2/35 St. Louis Journalism Foundation, Richard Salant Event, May 1, 1972
  Series 5:  Theta Sigma Phi
  Box 2:  Theta Sigma Phi 
2/36 Annual report, 1964
2/37 Correspondence - convention handbook, 1959-1960
2/38 Correspondence, 1953-1988
2/39 Directory of Professional Members, 1965
2/40 Headliner award nominations Clarissa Start Davidson, Helen Wells, 1961
  Box 3:  Theta Sigma Phi
3/41 History, None but the best:  a history of the Theta Sigma Phi [1949]
3/42 Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project
3/43 Journalism Recruitment Committee
3/44 Letterhead stationery, national and local
3/45 Local publicity report, 1958
3/46 Matrix Milestones
3/47 Membership committee
3/48 Miscellaneous
3/49 National poll, 1960
3/50 Press Releases
3/51 Public Relations committee, 1951-60
3/52 Public Relations Committee chair [manual], 1955-1958
3/53 Public Relations committee, publicity committee, 1957-61
3/54 Ritual Committee, 1958-1961 – reports, research and correspondence
3/55 Scholarship Committee
3/56 Travel tours, 1953-1955
3/57 Workshop, Springboard to Professionalism, Montour, Iowa, Nov. 5, 1960
  Box 4:  Theta Sigma Phi - National Conventions
4/1 1951 Kansas City 
4/2 1953 Indianapolis – press release
4/3 1954 Detroit – program, directory, annual report
4/4 1955 St. Louis - clippings
4/5 1955 St. Louis - correspondence, May 1954-June 1955
4/6 1955 St. Louis - correspondence, Caralee Stanard and E. Norman 
4/7 1955 St. Louis - correspondence, speakers
4/8 1955 St. Louis - correspondence, sponsors, vendors, speakers, etc.
4/9 1955 St. Louis - correspondence – thanking members 
4/10 1955 St. Louis - correspondence – thanking sponsors
4/11 1955 St. Louis - expenses
4/12 1955 St. Louis - programs
4/13 1955 St. Louis - registration form
4/14 1955 St. Louis - reports 
4/15 1955 St. Louis - roster
4/16 1955 St. Louis - sponsors
4/17 1955 St. Louis – welcome speech [written by Mary Kimbrough]
4/18 1957 Chicago
4/19 1958 Des Moines, IA
4/20 1959 Seattle - clippings
4/21 1959 Seattle - correspondence 
4/22 1959 Seattle – nominations committee
4/23 1959 Seattle - press releases
4/24 1959 Seattle - programs & memos
4/25 1959 Seattle - Sewell, Elaine K.
4/26 1960 Colorado Springs - programs
4/27 1960 Colorado Springs – clippings
4/28 1960 Colorado Springs– correspondence
4/29 1960 Colorado Springs– press releases
4/30 1961 Lawrence, KS - programs
4/31 1961 Lawrence, KS - public relations Committee
4/32 1961 Lawrence, KS -clippings
4/33 1961 Lawrence, KS - correspondence
4/34 1961 Lawrence, KS - press releases
4/35 1961 Lawrence, KS - speeches 
4/36 1962 San Antonio, TX
4/37 1963 Cleveland, OH
4/38 1964 Los Angeles, CA
4/39 1965 Saint Louis, MO
4/40 1970 San Diego, CA
4/41 notepad holder embossed with ‘Theta Sigma Phi National Convention
  Box 5: Theta Sigma Phi - St. Louis Chapter
5/1 Bylaws
5/2 Clemson, Kay – visit from England, 1966
5/3 Clippings
5/4 Correspondence, 1953-1988
5/5 Financial report 1970-71
5/6 Golden Matrix dinner, February 12, 1959 at School of Journalism
5/7 Happy Bookworm
5/8 History
5/9 Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project
5/10 Junior Journalists project
5/11 Ladies of the Press – correspondence, memos
5/12 Ladies of the Press - invitations, programs, 1957-1971
5/13 Meetings and programs
5/14 Membership Committee
5/15 Miscellaneous
  Box 6:  Theta Sigma Phi - St. Louis Chapter
6/16 Officers
6/17 Paths to Peace, 1965
6/18 Pledge service
6/19 Press releases
6/20 Publicity workshop, 1948
6/21 Reports, 1953/54 -
6/22 St. Louis Guide Book, 1964
6/23 Scholarship Committee correspondence, 1966-1974 (bulk 1968-1971)
6/24 Scholarship Committee reports, memos, tax documents, etc. clippings
6/25 Skits
6/26 Writer’s Workshop
6/27 Writing to Sell/University City Adult Classes 
6/28 University City Adult Class program booklets, 1951
  Series 6:  Publications
  Box 7:  Publications
7/1

Life Lines– 

     -Special News Bulletin Aug 1965; 

     -Vol. 23, no. 5, Nov 1965; 

     -Vol. 23, no. 6, Dec 1965; 

     -Vol. 24, no. 1, Apr 1966; 

     -Vol. 25, no. 1, Apr 1966;    

     -Vol. 27, no. 2, May 1969; 

     -Vol. 36, no. 5, Nov 1978

7/2

The Listening Post

     -Vol. 15, no. 11, Nov 1966; 

     -Vol. 16, no. 1, Jan 1967; 

     -Vol. 16, no. 4, Apr 1967;

     -Vol. 16, no. 5, May 1967; 

     -Vol. 16, no. 6, Jun 1967

     -Vol. 16, no. 7, Jul 1967

     -Vol. 16, no. 8, Aug 1967; 

     -Vol. 16, no. 11, Nov 1967; 

     -Vol. 17, no. 3, Mar 1968; 

     -Vol. 17, no. 4, Apr 1968; 

     -Vol. 17, no. 6, Jun 1968;

     -Vol. 17, no. 7, Jul 1968; 

     -Vol. 17, no. 8, Aug 1968;

     -Vol. 17, no. 9, Sept 1968

7/3

The Matrix, 1930s  

     -Vol. 21, no. 4, Apr-May 1936

7/4

The Matrix 1940s

     -Vol 26, no. 2, Dec 1940-Jan 1941;

     -Vol 26, no. 3, Feb-Mar 1941; 

     -Vol. 26, no. 5, Jun-Jul 1941; 

     -Vol 26, no 6, Aug-Sept 1941; 

     -Vol. 27, no.3, Feb-Mar 1942;

     -Vol 32, no. 5, Jun-Jul 1947;

     -Vol 32, no. 6, Aug-Sept 1947;

     -Vol 33, no. 4, Apr-May 1948;

     -Vol 35, no. 1, Oct 1949;

     -Vol 34, no. 3, Feb 1949; 

     -Vol 34, no. 4, Apr 1949; 

     -Vol 34, no. 5, Jun 1949; 

     -Vol 34, no. 6, Aug 1949; 

7/5

The Matrix 1950s

     -Vol 35, no 4, Apr 1950;

     -Vol 36, no 1, Oct 1950;

     -Vol 36, no 2, Dec 1950; 

     -Vol 36, no 3, Feb 1951; 

     -Vol 36, no 4, Apr 1951; 

     -Vol 36, no. 6, Aug 1951; 

     -Vol 37, no 1, Oct 1951; 

     -Vol 37, no 4, Apr 1952; 

     -Vol 37, no 6, Aug 1952; 

     -Vol 39, no 6, Aug-Sept 1954;

     -Vol 40, no 2, Dec 1954; 

     -Vol 40, no 3, Feb 1955; 

     -Vol 40, no 4, Mar 1955; 

     -Vol 40, no 5, Jun-Jul 1955 (2 copies); 

     -Vol 40, no 6, Aug-Sept 1955; 

     -Vol 41, no 4, Apr-May 1956;

     -Vol 41, no 5, Jun-Jul 1956; 

     -Vol 41, no 6, Sept-Oct 1956; 

     -Vol 42, no 2, Jan-Feb 1957;

     -Vol 42, no 4, May-Jun 1957

     -Vol 42, no 5, Jul-Aug 1957; 

     -Vol 42, no 6, Sept-Oct 1957;

     Vol 43, no 1, Nov-Dec 1957;

     Vol 43, no 2, Jan-Feb 1958;

     Vol 43, no 3, Mar-Apr 1958;

     Vol 43, no 4, May-Jun 1958;

     -Vol 44, no 1, Nov-Dec 1958; 

     -Vol 44, no 4, May-Jun 1959

  Box 8:  Publications
8/1

8/1  The Matrix 1960s

     -Vol 46, no 1, Nov-Dec 1960; 

     -Vol 46, no 5, Jul-Aug 1961;

     -Vol 48, no 3, Mar-Apr 1963;

     -Vol 48, no 4, May-Jun 1963;

     -Vol 49, no 2, Jan-Feb 1964;

     -Vol 50, no 1, Oct 1964; 

     -Vol 50, no 2, Dec 1964; 

     -Vol 50, no 4, Apr 1965;

     -Vol 50, no 6, Jul-Aug 1965;

     -Vol 51, no 1, Oct 1965;

     -Vol 51, no 5, Jun 1966;

     -Vol 52, no 1, Oct 1966;

     -Vol 52, no 2, Dec 1966;

     -Vol 54, no 3, Feb 1969;

     -Vol 55, no 1, Fall 1969;

8/2

Matrix 1970s

     -Vol 56, no 1, Fall 1970

     -Vol 56, no 3, Spring 1971

     -Vol 56, no 4, Summer 1971

     -Vol 57, no 1, Fall 1971

     -Vol 57, no 2, Winter 1971-1972

     -Vol 57, no 3, Spring 1972

     -Vol 57, no 4, Summer 1972

     -Vol 58, no 1, Fall 1972

     -Vol 58, no 2, Winter 1972-1973

     -Vol 60, no 4, Summer 1975

8/3

The Press Woman 

     -Vol. 25, no. 11, Sept-Oct 1964; 

     -Vol. 26, no. 5, Sept-Oct. 1965; 

     -Vol. 27, no. 3, May-Jun 1966;

     -Vol. 39, no. 3, Mar 1976;

     -Vol. 40, no 7; Jul 1977;

     -Vol. 40, no. 8, Aug 1977;

     -Vol. 40,  no. 9, Sept 1977;

     -Vol. 40, no. 10, Oct 1977;

     -Vol 40, no. 12, Dec 1977;

     -Vol. 41, no. 10, Oct 1978;

     -Vol. 41, no. 11, Nov 1978;

     -Vol. 41, no. 12, Dec 1978; 

     -Vol. 42, no. 8, Aug 1979;

     -Vol. 42, no. 9, Sept 1979; 

     -Vol 42, no. 10, Oct 1979; 

     -Vol. 42, no. 11, Nov 1979

8/4 Theta Sigma Phi Newsletter, 1969-1970
8/5 Theta Signals, 1957
8/6

Veterans’ Voice 

     May 1957; 

     May 1959

   
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