SERIES 1: FAMILY RECORDS Boxes 1 - 11
Browse the Annie Glenn Files Sub-series collection
The Annie Glenn files consist of three and one-half cubic feet of records, dating from the 1960s to 2001, along with six scrapbooks dating from 1957 through 1963. The records document the activities of John Glenn's wife, Anna (Annie) Margaret Castor Glenn and consist of correspondence, speeches, subject files, and travel files. To a large extent, the records pertain to Annie Glenn's lifelong struggle with a severe stuttering problem, a condition she overcame through intensive speech therapy in the 1970s.
The correspondence files consist of incoming letters dating from 1974 to 1992. Carbon copies of Annie Glenn's replies are paired with much of this correspondence. Letters from 1974 through 1985 are arranged alphabetically by the author's name. Another file, dating from 1986 to 1992, contains general correspondence arranged in chronological order. Other letters from the 1980s are filed separately into folders by type or topic. Many of the letters concern Mrs. Glenn's speech difficulties, her public appearances after undergoing therapy, her advice to individuals with similar speech problems, and her advocacy for speech and hearing organizations. Also included are invitations for Mrs. Glenn to either speak at or participate in various events, and letters concerning her work with charitable organizations. Scattered throughout the correspondence are a few letters pertaining to the political affairs of her husband and the Democratic Party.
The chronologically arranged speech files date from 1979 to 2001. Contained within the files are copies of Annie Glenn's speeches, along with correspondence, programs, and other materials pertaining to the event. Most of the speeches are for charitable organizations in which Mrs. Glenn was involved, including a variety of speech and hearing organizations. Other speeches were given in support of the political campaigns of her husband and include speeches from John Glenn's 1980, 1986, and 1992 senate re-election campaigns, as well as his 1984 presidential campaign. Notable within the speech files is a copy of Mrs. Glenn's first public speaking engagement, which took place at the Women's City Club in Canton, Ohio, on September 15, 1979. In this speech Mrs. Glenn gave a moving portrayal of the problems she coped with due to her stuttering and how her life had changed after undergoing speech therapy.
The subject files date from 1963 to 1998, though the majority of the files date from the 1980s and 1990s. The files document Annie Glenn's work with and support of a variety of charitable organizations, most notably organizations centered on speech and hearing disabilities. Mrs. Glenn also was involved in organizations concerned with child abuse, domestic violence, mental retardation, homelessness, and women's health. A few of the subject files pertain to Mrs. Glenn's activities with women's groups within the Democratic Party. Also located within the subject files are some newspaper clippings from the 1980s and 1990s, along with files of newspaper clippings and ephemera dating from 1961 to 1967 from folders originally labeled "For Scrapbooks" by Mrs. Glenn.
The trip files date from the 1980s and 1990s and contain itineraries, schedules, correspondence, and background materials for the various trips, mostly to foreign countries, Annie Glenn took during this time period. Some of these trips were Congressional junkets in which Mrs. Glenn accompanied her husband. Most of the files, however, are for various conferences to which Mrs. Glenn was invited, including trips to Taiwan in 1987, to India in 1989, and to both Jordan and Greece in 1994. A few of the files pertain to family travel, such as a trip to the Galapagos Islands in 1996.
Boxes nine through eleven contain six scrapbooks, dated 1957 and 1959 to 1963, compiled by Mrs. Glenn on the activities of her husband as a test pilot for the Marine Corps and as a Mercury Seven astronaut. The majority of the materials within the scrapbooks are chronologically arranged newspaper clippings, though scattered throughout the books are a few letters, ephemera, and photographs. The 1957 scrapbook contains materials on Project Bullet, John Glenn's record setting transcontinental flight. The remaining scrapbooks pertain to the Mercury Program and offer a good synopsis of NASA's first efforts to put a man in space as reported by the national media.