Juliet Stroh Blanchard Collection

The manuscript collection of Juliet Blanchard is a bountiful resource of primary materials for research relating to the social, educational, and philanthropic activities of a woman who made a significant contribution to Dayton and to the state of Ohio during the mid-20th century. Her collection is of special interest in the field of Women's Studies as Blanchard challenged the boundaries of traditional homemaking. The collection also provides some insight on the activities of the organizations that she belonged to during her lifetime and on some of the historical events taking place both locally and worldwide during that same time period.

Series I, Personal Papers, contains extensive family correspondence spanning Blanchard's entire lifetime. The series also includes diaries, school papers and yearbooks, family history and genealogy papers, and information by and about other members of Juliet's family, particularly her sister, missionary Harriet Stroh.

Series II, Public Presentations, contains information about Mrs. Blanchard's lectures and presentations to local and national groups about her travel both nationally and internationally. This series includes her speeches, sermons, and scripts for both her filmstrips and slide shows that were created as a result of her travels. This series also contains some of the filmstrips, slides, and photographs that Blanchard produced for the United Nations, UNESCO, the Presbyterian Church, the Dayton Council on World Affairs, the League of Women Voters, and US/AID.

Series III, Writings, includes a large collection of manuscripts of short stories that Blanchard produced from 1923 to 1958. It contains the manuscripts for two of her unpublished books, The Lake and A Man Wants Wings. These two manuscripts contain important autobiographical information about both Blanchard and her family. This series also contains her published novel, Ants Have No Taste.

Series IV, Travel, includes travel diaries that Blanchard kept while traveling around the world over a period of thirty-five years. It also includes files on many of her trips that include brochures, reports, articles that were part of the research that she performed in preparing for her travels, and correspondence leading up to and during her travels.

Series V, Community Service and International Service, is divided into three major areas. The first area focuses on Community Service. This portion of the series includes correspondence and organizational records she kept as a result of her service and membership in local organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Dayton Woman's Literary Club, and the Presbyterian Church. The second major section contains information of here international service. This area includes correspondence and organizational records that Blanchard kept as a result of her service in the Peace Corps, UNESCO, U.S. Agency for International Development, and other international organizations. The final area concerns her interest in Vietnam. This area contains the letters and records that document the escape of a Vietnamese family at the end of the Vietnam War. Blanchard met the young Vietnamese man while serving in the Peace Corps and kept in touch with him throughout the years. She worked to help him and his family escape and relocate in the United States. This area also includes the history and reports of Vietnam that Blanchard used to keep informed about what was taking place in this country.

Series VI, College of Wooster, covers the period of Blanchard's life when she relocated to Wooster, Ohio. While in Wooster, she on the College of Wooster Board of Trustees and was active in the enrichment of their foreign student programs. This series includes correspondence from the many students she helped while they were at the college.

Series VII, Audiovisual Material, is groups according to material type which includes photographs, negatives, slides, and filmstrips. The photographs, negatives, and slides include images of the Blanchard family and document the travels of Juliet Blanchard around the world. Included in the slides is a presentation for the League of Women Voters, "Your Vote is Key" and a presentation on "UN Peacekeeping." The filmstrips portion of the series includes a variety of presentations, primarily for the UNICEF Social Services Project, and several presentations created by Juliet Blanchard that include either a cassette tape, or a 33 1/3 record, containing a narrative to accompany the filmstrip, as well as a script.