League of Women Voters of Philadelphia.

In addition to educating the public during election campaigns, the League took stands on local issues concerning child care, city management, housing, public education, public health; national issues of the the legal status of women and taxation of oleo margarine; and foreign policy questions including the United Nations and the Marshall Plan. The Philadelphia chapter communicated with the national and state League organizations, politicians, civic leaders, and organizations.

The League of Women Voters of Philadelphia was established as a local chapter of the National League of Women Voters (LWV) soon after the national organization's founding in 1919. The larger organization was created to replace the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was deemed obsolete due to the impending ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting American women the right to vote. State and local chapters of LWV, including the Philadelphia chapter, were formed with the primary purpose to "educate those [women] whom their agitation had enfranchised-initially by a crash program in the mechanics of voting and the institutions of government" (Young, p. 2). Over the next fifty years, maintaining a strict nonpartisan position, LWV's agenda expanded. Group leaders studied issues affecting American society and developed campaigns around those issues to educate women and, later, the general public.

Initially, LWV's efforts focused on women, and encouraging women to take an active role in politics. LWV built its educational program around the areas where women's lives were directly touched by the political sphere, including schools, community service, law enforcement and public health. The group also worked for a more generally equal status for women in society, such as the right to run for public office or participate in a legal contract without the consent of their husbands.

During World War II, the group launched a campaign in support of the war and how Americans were made to contribute: higher taxes, rationing and price controls, for example. It also established the "Take it to the People" campaign in support of the formation of the United Nations at the end of the war in 1945. In the 1950s, the League of Women Voters Education Fund was created to develop educational programming that could solicit funding from foundations, corporations, government agencies and individuals. In the 1960s and 1970s, LWV gave support to the civil rights movement, the "War on Poverty" and environmental initiatives. In the 1970s, LWV also endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Philadelphia branch of LWV focused largely on fundraising and local voter services, but they were also involved in programs relating to education, city government and women's rights. They hosted candidate debates and meetings, and published Philadelphia voters' guides, as well as the monthly Philadelphia Voter newsletter, which informed "…League members and the general public about current issues and the activities of the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia." As of 2011, LWV of Philadelphia is still an active organization.

Bibliography:

Young, Louise. In the Public Interest: The League of Women Voters, 1920-1970 . New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.

"League of Women Voters of Philadelphia." Website (accessed on December 30, 2010: http://www.palwv.org/philadelphia/).