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Lucy Wilson Benson Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MA.00406

Scope and Contents

The papers of Lucy Wilson Benson, who served as president of the National League of Women Voters (1968-1974), secretary of human services for Massachusetts (1975-1977), U.S. undersecretary of state for security assistance, science and technology (1977-1980), and served in leadership roles in a number of corporations and organizations. These papers contain extensive documentation of Benson's work with the League of Women voters at the local, state and national levels as well as documentation of her time at Smith College as a student and trustee, her work in Massachusetts state government, the US state department and the following organizations and corporations: Grumman Corporation, Logistics Management Institute (LMI), Science Applications, Inc. (SAI), Science Applications International Corporations (SAIC), General Reinsurance Corporation, the Town of Amherst (MA), Continental Group, Inc. (CGI), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National News Council (NNC), Catalyst, Logistics Management Institute (LMI), and Benson's own consulting company, Benson & Associates, among others.

The papers also include material from and about other family members including Lucy Benson's husband, Bruce B. Benson (AC 1943), professor of physics at Amherst College from 1947 to 1990, as well as Willard Oliver Wilson, Helen Peters Wilson, and Mary Buzzell Benson.

Dates

  • Creation: 1942-1997

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection has not been processed. Portions of the collection may be available for research, please contact Archives & Special Collections to request access.

This collection is stored off-site - all requests for materials from this collection must be made in advance.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests for permission to publish material from the Lucy Wilson Benson Family Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Extent

72 Linear feet (71 record cartons, 2 flat boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The papers of Lucy Wilson Benson, who served as president of the National League of Women Voters (1968-1974), secretary of human services for Massachusetts (1975-1977), and U.S. undersecretary of state for security assistance, science and technology (1977-1980). The papers also include material from and about other family members. This is an unprocessed collection.

Arrangement

The papers remain in their original order. Files are largely grouped by subject matter.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The papers were the gift of Lucy Wilson Benson in 2005.

Related Materials

  1. Lucy Wilson Benson Oral History. Friends of the Amherst College Library Oral History Program, 2008. (LD152.9.O73 B46)
  2. Bruce B. Benson (AC 1943) Papers. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.
  3. Janet Wilson James Papers, 1900-1999. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Processing Information

This is an unprocessed collection. The collection was reboxed and listed in 2023 by Shreya Joshi (AC 2025). Materials remain in their original order within each box and folder titles are drawn from the original folder labels where they exist. Where no orginial folder labels exist, titles have been supplied based on a cursory review of the material. There was little apparent order to the boxes, so boxes were grouped by subject as much as possible.

Status
Unprocessed
Author
preliminary listing completed by Shreya Joshi (AC 2025)
Date
2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
61 Quadrangle Drive
Amherst MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2299