Helen Gordon Davis collection, 1976-2004, Date acquired: 01/00/1996, bulk 1976-1992
Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Gordon Davis, Helen (1926-2015)
- Gordon Davis, Helen (1926-2015)
- Abstract:
- A politician, Helen Gordon Davis served in the Florida Legislature from 1974-1992. Long active in civic affairs, she was a charter member of the Hillsborough League of Women Voters and the first woman from Hillsborough County elected to the Florida Legislature.
- Extent:
- 9.80 Linear Feet
- 24 boxes
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
Helen Gordon Davis collection, USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
Background
- Scope and content:
The collection consists of campaign materials, correspondence, human and women's rights materials, legislative bills, press clippings, photographs, research materials, and speeches from Helen Gordon Davis' public career. The collection also contains a large volume of materials documenting Davis' community activism in the Tampa Bay area, as well as photocopies of several scrapbooks. These photocopies document Davis' early acting and later political careers.
- Biographical / historical:
Helen Gordon Davis (1926-2015) received a B.A. from Brooklyn College in New York and moved to Tampa, FL in 1948. In 1952, she became the first white woman in Florida to join the NAACP. She founded the first women's center in Florida in 1971. Davis became the first female elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1974 and served various districts until 1988, when she was elected to the Florida Senate. Gordon Davis served in the Senate until 1992. During Davis' tenure in the Florida Legislature, she pushed for women's rights and various family-based social programs. Davis was awarded many community honors during her lifetime and remained an active supporter of the University of South Florida in Tampa, the Children's Home of Tampa, and the Salvation Army until her death. Helen Gordon Davis was also a founding member of the Tampa Centre for Women.
- Acquisition information:
Helen Gordon Davis
Donation
- Arrangement:
Arranged alphabetically by subject within series.
- Accruals:
Subsequent files were transferred to the USF Libraries from the Florida State University College of Law Library in 2007.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Terms of access:
To the extent that they own copyright, the donor has assigned the copyright in their works to USF; permissions to use the material in excess of what copyright law allows should be sent to the USF Technology Transfer Office (https://www.usf.edu/research-innovation/pl/). Copyright in some items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. Consult Special Collections for details.
- Preferred citation:
Helen Gordon Davis collection, USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
- Location of this collection:
-
The University of South Florida, Tampa Campus4202 East Fowler Ave. LIB122TampaFL33620-5400USA
