The Athletics series comprises the bulk of the collection and contains broadsides from the 1930s through 1950s advertising basketball games and other athletic events, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and results of competitions. The series is arranged alphabetically by athletic event and then chronologically.

Materials in this series highlight the hard work Stephens put into creating and managing her traveling basketball team, the Olympic Co-Eds, and includes schedules, player questionnaires, detailed notes on expenditures, and correspondence with suppliers of equipment, uniforms, and advertising materials.

Of special interest in this series is the diary Stephens kept during the Olympic games in 1936. The diary recounts her journey from New York to Berlin with the U.S. Olympic team on the U.S.S. Manhattan, the Olympic games, and the touring and events that followed in Europe, Canada, New York, St. Louis, and Fulton. Stephens retained other items from her Olympic experience including programs, the Olympic songbook, and an anti-Nazi manifesto calling for the release of political prisoners that was smuggled into the Olympic Village and distributed to all the athletes.

The materials on Olympic-style events like the Senior Olympics and Show-Me State Games document Stephens’ lifelong interest in competitive sports and advocacy of recreation for older adults.

This series also includes correspondence, news clippings, and programs related to the many sports halls of fame to which Stephens was elected. After her induction into these institutions, her correspondence indicates she worked tirelessly for the inclusion of more women into these institutions, particularly her Olympic coach, Dee Boeckmann, and teammates from the 4x100 meter relay, Betty Robinson Schwartz, Harriet Bland Green, and Annette Rogers Kelly.

Stephens was an avid collector of autographs and sports memorabilia. Many of these items have been retained in this series, including a program from a 1943 St. Louis Browns game, broadsides and programs from men’s basketball games, and several issues of Women’s Track & Field World, a popular, but rare and short-lived publication.

The Professional series consists primarily of newsletters from the companies which employed Stephens and is arranged chronologically. On the occasions when Stephens is mentioned in these newsletters, it is usually due to her exploits on the corporate sponsored athletic teams.

The Curtiss-Wright-er newsletters are particularly interesting because they document the workings of the plant during World War II and discuss the use of the company’s planes in the war effort.

Memos, sign-up sheets for sports teams, and meeting minutes from her tenure as president of the GAO’s Welfare and Recreation Association show Stephens’ continued interest in athletics through the 1950s.

The series also includes correspondence and newsletters from the retirees’ associations Stephens joined. Most of the correspondence deals with the social activities sponsored by the organizations, however a significant portion concerns legislation to change retirement benefits for civil service employees.

The William Woods College series contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous materials, with the bulk of materials dating from the 1970s through 1980s. Stephens corresponded regularly with William Woods’ presidents Randall B. Cutlip and John M. Bartholomy regarding her relationship with the college as well as her role as assistant track coach. The correspondence details some of the inner workings of the college administration, observations of campus goings-on, and the financial strain private colleges were under during the 1980s when the federal government made severe cuts to higher education funding.

The series also includes a list of items Stephens donated to the college for an exhibit on her athletic career.

The Appearances and Events series consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, programs, and advertisements from events at which Stephens was invited to appear.

Events for which there is much information are arranged chronologically at the beginning of the series. Materials relating to smaller, miscellaneous events are contained in several folders at the end of the series and are also arranged chronologically.

The Correspondence series is arranged chronologically and contains letters received by Stephens as well as some carbon copies of letters she sent out.

Much of the early correspondence consists of well wishes and congratulations for her Olympic triumphs. She continued to receive requests for autographs, especially from Germans, throughout her life, although they tended to peak during Olympic years.

The correspondence from 1937 and 1938 documents her struggle to find funding and employment while still maintaining her amateur athlete status. She solicited tobacco and sports equipment companies for endorsement deals to no avail. The correspondence from Swede Olson details the arrangement he laid out for her to play basketball with the All-American Red Heads while imploring her to destroy all the letters so as to not endanger her amateur standing.

In one interesting letter dated 1947, the woman who was Stephens’ masseuse during the Olympics wrote asking for financial assistance because her family was suffering in post-war Germany.

Much of the correspondence from the 1970s through 1990s is with Stephens’ former teammates and coaches including Helen Onson, of the Olympic Co-Ed basketball team, Olympic teammates Betty Robinson Schwartz and Annette Rogers Kelly, and her high school coach, Burt Moore. The correspondence between the Olympians details Stephens’ efforts to get them into the U.S. and National Track & Field Halls of Fame. In one letter, Kelly expresses her bewilderment at the organizations which elect only one woman each year while inducting several men at the same time.

Stephens also corresponded with legislators regarding civil service retirement benefits, and with President Carter, voicing her support of the Olympic boycott in 1980.

The Personal series consists mainly of newspaper clippings documenting Stephens’ achievements. Also included are contracts she was offered by film companies upon her return from the Olympics, newspapers from Fulton High School while she was a student there, and miscellaneous items such as award certificates and information concerning Burt Moore. The series is arranged topically and then chronologically.

INDEX TERMS