IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
A.
LOUISE MAYS (1914- )
PAPERS, 1939-1997
2.5 linear inches
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ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no. 518) were donated by A. Louise Mays in
1998. |
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ACCESS: |
The papers are open for research. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to The University of Iowa. |
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PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In Box 1. |
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AUDIOVISUAL: |
Three videocassettes
(V195, V234, V235) |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Lisa Mott, 2002.
[MaysALouise.doc] |
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Biography
Louise Mays was born Amanda Louise Potts on June 2,
1914, in Atlanta, Georgia. She
graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1930,
and was a member of the National Honors Society. Potts attended Tuskegee
Institute in Alabama where she graduated magna cum laude in 1940. During her
college years, Potts was a member of the KI YI Social Club, the Campus Digest
Staff, the Associated Women Students, and the staff of the 1940 Tuskeana. Following her graduation from Tuskegee,
Potts went to Detroit, Michigan, where she was employed by the Department of
Water Supply. From 1944-45, Potts was
employed as a library assistant in the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau in
Washington, D. C. In 1947, Potts completed a course in Medical Technology at
the City of Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium’s School of Laboratory
Technology where she earned her certification as MT/ASCP. Potts was employed as Supervisor of the
Student Health Laboratory at Billings Hospital, University of Chicago, until
1955 when she enrolled in the graduate Social Work program at the
university. Potts earned her M.A. in
Social Work from the University of Chicago in 1957.
In 1959, Potts moved to Des Moines, Iowa, after
accepting a position with the Des Moines Child Guidance Center as a psychiatric
social worker. Potts spent the next
twenty years as a social worker in Des Moines, specializing in children from
distressed families and those with speech and hearing disabilities. On July 29,
1960, Potts married Everett A. Mays. The marriage ended in divorce, but Mays
remained close to her two stepchildren, Everett, Jr. and Evanette. From
1972-79, Mays served as both a professor and director of the Des Moines
Educational Center of the University of Iowa School of Social Work. She also
served as a lecturer in the Drake University Department of Sociology in Des
Moines from 1971-76.
Following her retirement, Mays continued to work as
a social worker in Des Moines, offering her services to the Family Counseling
Center, the Lutheran Social Services, and the Department of Social
Services. Mays was an active volunteer
serving on the Adult Education Advisory Council, the Planned Parenthood Board,
the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, several Greater United Way advisory
boards, and multiple YWCA committees, to name but a few of her volunteer
activities. Following a stroke in 1981, Mays turned her attention to elderly
concerns becoming an active volunteer in the Wesley-Methodist Adult Day Care
Center, the “Friendly Visitor” program at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, the
Stroke Partnership Program and Home Health Care. In addition to her many volunteer activities and her professional
life, Mays began expressing herself in letters to the editors of the Des
Moines Register newspaper in 1972, as well as to Iowa’s governors. Mays was
honored by both the newspaper and Governors Robert Ray and Terry Branstad for
her civic participation.
Scope and Content Note
The A. Louise Mays papers date from 1939 to 1997 and measure 2.5 linear inches. The papers
are arranged in eight folders, with the last seven
representing the seven chapters of Mays’s personal scrapbook, “The Road Not
Taken.” The folders and their contents have been kept in the original order as
presented to the Iowa Women’s Archives. Most of the contents of the folders are
copies provided by Mays, and not originals.
Life experiences (1914-1998) contains a chronological listing
of Mays’s education, employment, professional associations, community
activities and volunteer activities.
“The Road Not Taken” is divided into seven folders, with the original titles given by Mays.
Of particular interest are:
Tuskegee, Medical Technology
Training, University of Chicago (1936-1956) This folder includes photographs of
Mays.
Des Moines Child Guidance Center (1959-1966) covers the
years Mays was employed at the Des Moines Child Guidance Center in Des Moines,
Iowa, and includes her engagement announcement from July 1960.
The University of Iowa School of
Social Work – Des Moines Center (1972-1979) includes papers from the time
Mays served on the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, along with photographs
of Mays with Governors Ray (March 1977) and Branstad (June 1989).
Retirement, Stroke, Retirement
Activities (1982-1997) contains “Louise’s Copybook on Retirement, Old Age
& Stroke,” a collection of comic strips, articles and personal
reflections. This folder also contains
an article describing the 1992 documentary “At Arms Length,” in which Mays was
interviewed. (This video is available
for viewing in the Iowa Women’s Archives.)
Also among the papers in this folder are two photographs of Mays with
President Bill Clinton.
Letters (1968-1998) is a
collection of personal letters Mays wrote to her sisters and friends over a
thirty-year span, along with several letters Mays wrote to the editor of the Des
Moines Register or to specific Register columnists in response to
articles she had read.
Musings (1977-1997) This
folder contains diary-like musings that Mays wrote down sporadically over
twenty years.
There are three videocassettes in
the collection. “The Road Not Taken:
A Retrospective” and “80th Birthday Party” (1994) VHS and
8mm. These two videocassettes are identical except for their format. They both represent a video version of
Mays’s scrapbook, including photographs not contained in Mays’s papers,
followed by filmed footage from her eightieth birthday party on June 4, 1994.
“At Arm’s Length” and “Raw
Footage of Louise Mays” (1992) VHS. This videocassette includes a
documentary on aging in Iowa, produced by Maryfrances Evans, in which Mays
participated. It is followed by the
unedited interview with Mays. Other
persons featured on the videotape are:
Estelle Alleman, Margaret Allen, Betty Atwater, Margaret Bastian, Mary
Ellen Buck, Robert Buck, Eileen Dawson, King Dawson, Venita Ellison, B. J.
Fedler, Harold Forrester, Mildred Forrester, Helen Gore, Wayne Greene, Hugh
Guernsey, Dorothy Hall, Helen Hansell, George Hildreth, Mary Elizabeth Hines,
Bernice James, Florence Jarvis, K.C. Johnson, Ena Lingwall, Ray Lingwall, F. L.
T. Lootens, Kathryn Love, Edna Lyman, Betty Miller, Bernice McKeever, Larry
McKeever, Mariam McKeever, Leonard O’Connor, Helen Peterson, Helen Powers,
Ralph Powers, Everett Rushing, Naomi Rutledge, Harley Shirer, Cecil Stanton,
Helen Tollefson, H. Marie Walker, Neva Wise, Helen Wood and Thelma Yeager.
Begin text here:»
Box no. Description
Box 1 Life experiences, 1914-1998
“The
Road Not Taken”
Tuskegee, Medical Technology Training, University of Chicago,
1936-1956
Des
Moines Child Guidance Center, 1959-1966
Des Moines Hearing and Speech Center 1966-1969, Callanar
Junior
High Home School Worker 1969-1970, Des
Moines
Hearing and Speech Center 1970-1972, 1966-1972
The
University of Iowa School of Social Work- Des Moines
Center,
1972-1979
Retirement,
Stroke, Retirement Activities, 1982-1997
Letters,
1968-1998
Musings,
1977-1997