Helen Marshall Papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: SCA-0104

Staff Only

Content Description

The Helen Marshall Papers are comprised of 35.75 linear feet of records. The collection dates to the 1920s and spans through 2014. The majority of the papers document Marshall’s life as a community activist and elected official between the 1960s and early 2000s. Materials include correspondence, project files, subject files, certificates, campaign ephemera, photographs, and audiovisual reels. Together, these materials document Marshall’s advocacy and role in New York City and State politics, especially around her priority issues of racial justice, women’s rights, public libraries, health care, education, environment, and senior citizens. The collection also includes personal papers documenting her family’s immigration story including passports and family photographs.

Dates

circa 1920s to mid-2010s

Creator

Marshall, Helen Marie, 1929-09-30 to 2017-03-04 (Person)

Language of Materials

Majority of the materials are written in English. A small quantity of correspondence is in Spanish and Korean. It is possible that there are other languages present throughout the correspondence, though it would be a very small percentage.

Conditions Governing Access

Appointments to examine materials must be made in advance. Please email QC.archives@qc.cuny.edu for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Conditions Governing Use

Reproductions may be provided to users to support research and scholarship. However, collection use is subject to all copyright laws. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Biographical / Historical

Helen Marie Marshall (1929–2017) was an American politician and community activist born to Guyanese immigrant parents in Harlem, New York. From 1961 to 1969, she taught in the New York City public schools. In 1969 Marshall co-founded the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, where she served as first Assistant Supervisor. She remained a great supporter and friend of the library over the years.

Marshall and her husband Donald raised their two children, Donald Jr. and Agnes, in the Corona-East Elmhurst community of Queens during the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, Marshall earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from CUNY Queens College and engaged in community advocacy as a member of the NAACP, East Elmhurst Civic Association, Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities nonprofit organization, Community Board Number 3, and more.

During the mid-1970s, Marshall became more seriously involved in local politics as a Democratic District Leader of the 34th and later 35th Assembly Districts, as well as a member of the Frederick Douglass Democratic Association. Marshall gained her first position as an elected public official in the early 1980s, serving in the New York State Assembly for eight years, followed by a ten year career in the New York City Council from the 1990s to early 2000s. Marshall was elected to her most well-known political role as the second woman and first African American Borough President of Queens in 2001, serving three four-year terms thereafter.

References
A Group as Diverse as the Borough Itself. (2005). New York Times (Online). https://search.proquest.com/docview/2227301536?pq-origsite=primo Allen, B. (2007). Official Is Criticized For Helping Accused Boy. The New York Times, B5-. https://search.proquest.com/docview/848156613?pq-origsite=primo
Helen M. Marshall. (2024). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helen_M._Marshall&oldid=1214054315
Helen M. Marshall School. (n.d.). Queens Name Explorer. Retrieved June 23, 2024, from https://nameexplorer.urbanarchive.org/c/713bcb69-0884-4bbd-8848-278a3754f7ac
Mele, C. (2017). Helen M. Marshall 87, a Champion of Queens. The New York Times, D8-. https://search.proquest.com/docview/2463365330?pq-origsite=primo
Queens Democrats Make a Choice for Borough President. (2001). New York Times (Online). https://search.proquest.com/docview/2232324970?pq-origsite=primo
Shelter Units For Families Will Increase, Officials Say. (2002). New York Times (Online). https://search.proquest.com/docview/2230360071?pq-origsite=primo
The Honorable Helen Marshall’s Biography. (n.d.). The HistoryMakers. Retrieved June 23, 2024, from https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/honorable-helen-marshall

Extent

35.75 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Abstract

Helen Marie Marshall (1929–2017) was an American politician and community organizer who served in the various elected positions of New York State Assemblymember, New York City Councilmember, and Queens Borough President between the 1980s and mid-2010s. Documenting the legacy of her personal life and career as an African American woman of Guyanese heritage, the Helen Marshall Papers are comprised of 35.75 linear feet of materials dating from the 1920s through 2014. Including records such as project files, correspondence, campaign ephemera, and photographs, this collection highlights Marshall’s service to the Queens community in areas such as racial justice, education, public libraries and parks, and women’s rights.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into five series: Activity Files, Correspondence, Campaign Materials, Photographs and Media, and Personal. To preserve contextual links, original order was maintained as much as possible across the Activity Files, which were partially organized with Marshall’s original filing system, as well as the Campaign Materials and Personal series. Due to a relative lack of original order, the Correspondence series was separated out from the broad collection and reorganized chronologically, while the Photographs and Media series was arranged by format and size. Overall, series were created based on the type and function of the records to facilitate researcher navigation of this fairly large and mostly unsorted collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Donald E. Marshall Jr. on June 7, 2017.

Related Materials

Marshall’s legacy as a longstanding supporter of the Queens Borough Public Library (QPL) is documented in the QPL Archives Long Island Division: https://www.queenslibrary.org/historic-collection/Government---politics,-Queens-Co.-:-Borough-President-Helen-Marsh/1274321

QPL also hosts materials related to Marshall’s work as Queens Borough President on the QPL Digital Archives platform, a publicly available collection entitled the Queens Borough President Helen Marshall's Queens General Assembly Records at the Archives at Queens Library: http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/browse/queens-borough-president-helen-marshalls-queens-general-assembly-records-archives-queens

Additionally, the Carnegie Mellon University’s HistoryMakers Digital Repository for the Black Experience hosts a 2005 video interview with Marshall, titled, The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History with The Honorable Helen Marshall: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/honorable-helen-marshall

Condition Description

There is a small quantity of A/V materials in legacy formats that need to be converted for access.

Processing Information

While original order was maintained as much as possible, some materials that were not contextually bound to others have been reorganized to facilitate ease of research. Materials with low research value, including some newsprint and magazine clippings, shopping catalogs, and home appliance user manuals, have been weeded as they were not relevant to the collection.

Other records containing sensitive information, such as photocopies of personal checks, social security numbers, medical information, and the like have also been weeded. Constituent correspondence has been restricted for 50 years to protect the personal identities of the authors. All remaining materials have been rehoused following basic preservation guidelines. Series titles were devised based on format and function of the records within.

This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.