Scope and Contents From the Collection: The Mary Louise Smith papers measure 77 linear feet and date from 1812 to 1997. The bulk of the papers date from 1964 (when Smith was elected Republican National Committeewoman from Iowa) to 1984 (when Smith decided not to seek re-election as Committeewoman). There is very little material relating to Smith's life before her move to Des Moines in 1963. The period of Smith's chairmanship of the Republican National Committee (1974 to 1976) is covered by Accession One.Accession Two contains some materials from that period but primarily deals with other years. Accessions Three, Four and Five continue where Two left off, documenting Smith's public life since 1984, including her ouster from the Republican mainstream into a minority and dissenting position of moderate Republicanism within a rightward shifting Republican Party, and her efforts to build coalitions of moderate Republicans to redress the effects of the Religious Right on the Party's conservative wing.ACCESSION ONE...

Scope and Contents From the Collection: The Mary Louise Smith papers measure 77 linear feet and date from 1812 to 1997. The bulk of the papers date from 1964 (when Smith was elected Republican National Committeewoman from Iowa) to 1984 (when Smith decided not to seek re-election as Committeewoman). There is very little material relating to Smith's life before her move to Des Moines in 1963. The period of Smith's chairmanship of the Republican National Committee (1974 to 1976) is covered by Accession One.Accession Two contains some materials from that period but primarily deals with other years. Accessions Three, Four and Five continue where Two left off, documenting Smith's public life since 1984, including her ouster from the Republican mainstream into a minority and dissenting position of moderate Republicanism within a rightward shifting Republican Party, and her efforts to build coalitions of moderate Republicans to redress the effects of the Religious Right on the Party's conservative wing.ACCESSION ONE...