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[Identification of item], Eleanor Elliott Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
The Eleanor Elliott Papers were received by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library as a gift in 2007.
Processed by Alexandra Krensky and Megan Lewis, February 2011
Encoded by Alexandra Krensky and Megan Lewis, February 2011
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Eleanor Lansing Thomas "Elly" Elliott was a women's rights advocate who is best-known for successfully fighting Columbia University's attempt to take over Barnard College in the early 1970s. She served on the Barnard Board of Trustees for over 40 years beginning in 1959. She was President of the Board from 1973 to 1976. In the early 1950's, she served as the social secretary to the U.S. Secretary of State and her cousin, John Foster Dulles. In the 1970s she began serving on the board of directors of the Celanese Corporation. She was also a board member of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund. In the 1980s, she served on the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs. In the early 1990s, she was chairwoman of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. She was a Life Trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a Life Overseer of Weill Cornell Medical College. She received an honorary doctorate of letters from Duke University in 2002 for her "advocacy for women in health and education." Her husband of 48 years, Jock Elliott, was a former chairman of the advertising firm Ogilvy and Mather.
These papers consist of personal materials from the Elliott family and administrative files from Elliott's work in various women's rights organizations and philanthropic activities. Includes some material regarding her husband, Jock Elliott, former chairman of the Ogilvy and Mather advertising firm. The collection contains scrapbooks and photographs, as well as reel-to-reel audiotapes that require reformatting before use.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
Materials related to Elliott's husband, Jock, can be found in the
These materials document Eleanor Elliott's family, including her mother, Dorothy Q. Thomas.
Files are arranged by subject, and by alphabetical, then chronological arrangement within those subjects.
This series contains material documenting Eleanor Elliott's work with various organizations as well as her philanthropic activity.
This series is divided into three subseries: Correspondence, Research Files, and Writings and Speeches.
Eleanor Elliott's writings consist of published pieces in Glamour, Vogue, Town and Country and by the Feminist Press. They also include files from an unpublished memoir. Speeches were given at the following institutions and events, among others: The National Conference of Christians and Jews, The National Association of Fund Raising Executives, Colony Club, New York Association for the Blind, Columbia Graduate School of Business, International House of New York, Women's Forum Meeting, Forum for Women Directors, New York Junior League, Planned Giving Group of New York, Center for the Study of Philanthropy, Women and Money Conference, New York Hospital, St. Nicholas Society, United Hospital Fund, Women's Health Symposium, Meeting of Women and Foundations-Corporate Philanthropy; Celanese Forum for Women Directors.
Bound scrapbooks are arranged in original order, with original numbering noted in Roman Numerals by their creators. Scrapbooks missing from the Roman Numeral sequence were not received as part of this collection. Loose materials intended to be mounted in the scrapbooks is included in Box 37. Materials include clippings, photographs, correspondence, programs and miscellaneous printed items.
Legal and Financial papers consist of the Elliott and Thomas estate papers, wills, appraisals of property, and legal correspondence regarding the estates of the families.
Correspondence is divided into four subseries: Personal, Jock and Eleanor Elliott, Family, and Funeral and Sympathy. Within these subseries, correspondence is arranged in rough chronological order, unless otherwise specified.
Noted correspondents include Richard Rogers, David Ogilvy and Louis Auchincloss.
Includes correspondence to Eleanor Elliott's family after her death, as well as correspondence written to Eleanor Elliott after the passing of her husband, Jock and her brother, James A. Thomas, Jr.
Photographs are arranged in rough chronological order unless otherwise indicated.