Nevada Women's Archives
Collection Guide

Biographical Sketch

Imogene "Jean" Young was born in Miami, Oklahoma, on December 28, 1929, to Daisy Adelphia (Flook) and Clarence Nathan Young. She has one brother, Byron Young. Her family moved to Joplin, Missouri, where she attended kindergarten, grade and high school. In 1951 she graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a B.A. in Sociology. After graduation she worked as a recreational therapist for the American Red Cross in military hospitals until 1955.

In 1955, she married Dr. Samuel M. Ford, a dermatologist. The Fords moved to Clark County in 1962. Jean Ford served as a teacher's aide in the Clark County School District during the 1963-64 year. The Fords have two daughters, Janet and Carla. She attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as a graduate student, and received her M.A. in Public Administration in 1978.

Ford was active in numerous civic and political activities. She chaired the ad hoc Library Committee which brought about the creation of the Clark County Library District in 1964-65. In 1967, Governor Paul Laxalt appointed Ford to the Nevada State Park Commission. She served on the Commission until 1973, under both Democratic and Republican Governors. She was also appointed by Rogers Morton, Secretary of the Interior, to serve on the Western Region Advisory Committee for National Parks.

As a member of the League of Women Voters, Ford served as local president from 1965-1967. She was on the State Board from 1967-1969, and was state president from 1969-1971. As an active League member, Ford conducted workshops on human relations and practical politics. She coordinated county studies of Planning and Zoning, Parks and Recreation and a state study on Juvenile Delinquency. One of Ford's pet projects was the designation of Red Rock as a public recreation area rather than a private development. Ford also served as a League of Women Voters Lobbyist during the 1971 legislative session. In 1972, she was a member of the Solid Waste Pollution Control Committee, the Regional Planning Council, and the Land Use Advisory Committee to the Legislative Sub-Committee on the Environment.

Jean Ford was elected to the Nevada State Assembly as a Republican in 1972 and served two terms, from 1972-76. After losing her bid for the State Senate in 1976, she changed her political party affiliation to Democrat and ran again for State Senate in 1978. She was successful and served one term from 1978 to 1982.

In 1980-1981 she operated a consulting firm - Jean Ford Associates - formed with four other women. She chose not to run again, and formed the Jean Ford Company, which she operated from 1982-1985. During this time she also formed Nevada Discovery Tours with Maxine Peterson as her partner.

In 1985, Ford was appointed to the cabinet level position of Director of the Governor's Office of Community Service by Governor Richard Bryan. She moved to Carson City and served in this position until 1989. From 1989-1991, she was manager of Reno Tahoe Company, a destination management company providing tourism related services.

Beginning in 1991, Ford acted as program coordinator and instructor in the Women's Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Ford originated the idea for the Nevada Women's Archives in 1992 at the University of Nevada, Reno. In 1994, she expanded the program to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. She actively worked to acquire collections for both campuses.

Along with a small group of women from northern Nevada, Ford went on to found the Nevada Women's History Project, which included a northern and southern region.

In September 1997, Ford was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. She died on August 26, 1998. She spent the last year of her life working on women's history projects and organizing her research files and slide collection.

For a complete biography, see Ford's oral history, Jean Ford: A Nevada Woman Leads the Way.

Scope and Content

The Jean Ford Collection consists of two series: a political series and a women's issues series. The political series includes campaign materials, committee minutes, health services, general improvements, parks and recreation, and miscellaneous issues. The political series spans the years 1958 through 1990. The campaign material for Jean Ford's election campaigns include campaign literature, mailing lists, financial records, fund-raising activities, correspondence, and numerous news clippings. There is also limited material on Alan Bible, Howard Cannon, Harry Reid, and Sam Cavnar, which mainly consists of campaign literature and news clippings.

The political series also contains committee minutes and working files on issues ranging from general improvement districts to health services in the state. The most significant portion of the political series is the working files pertaining to parks and recreation. This segment of the series contains extensive material including maps of Red Rock and Lake Mead. In addition, there are some materials on Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake. Environmental issues also appear in this portion of the series. These issues are wide-ranging and include such topics as snowmobiling, boating, detergents with phosphates, and the endangered pupfish. While these files in themselves are small, together they are indicative of Ford's long term activism on a wide spectrum of environmental topics and use of public land.

Among the miscellaneous issues of the political series is a file on Native Americans (1967-75). While the material is minute, the subject matter warrants its mention. The women's issues series also contains a small file of political interest to someone researching Native Americans. This file contains a special Native American edition of Freedom Socialist (1976).

The women's issues series consists of four subseries: The League of Women Voters, The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), International Women's Year (IWY), and anti-ERA/ anti-IWY materials. The League of Women Voters files address the issues of integration, voting services, and state board administrations. The ERA files consist of numerous news clippings, flyers, newsletters, correspondences, and boycott materials. The anti-ERA sub-series includes "the Phyllis Schlafly Report" (1972-81, not complete), "The Eagle Forum" (1976-80, not complete), and numerous news clippings. The IWY sub-series consists of mailing lists, state and national conference planning material, receipts, press releases, news clippings, correspondences, several feminist newspapers (1976-77) from various states, and nine state Women's Conference Reports (1977) from around the United States.

There is one box of oversize materials ( 2 calendars, a map, 3 posters), several artifacts including a film, a book bag, a scrapbook, and two books: In Common Cause, by John Gardner, 1973, and CAEL, 1977. Transferred from the Ford Collection to acquisitions was a booklet, Women in Politics. Also removed from the Ford Collection was a copy of the League of Women Voters publication, "The Urban Puzzle" and a copy of "The Voters Ask" (1976), both of which are available in the League of Women Voters Collection. Twenty-eight photos, four proofs, and several negatives were removed to the photo collection.

The Ford Collection was acquired in five accessions (T-106, T-107, 85-86, 85-111, and 86-61). These five accessions were combined under the number MS-25 during final processing of the collections. Some preliminary processing had been done on the early accessions, but where possible during the final processing of Ford's files, the original order was maintained.

A related collection at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Library is the Belle Tyktin Stern Collection (#88-108). Stern was a tour guide for Nevada Discovery Tours; the collection contains itineraries and promotional brochures for that company.

Another related collection at UNLV is the Nevada Women's History Project (NWHP) Collection (#98-16). Also, the NWHP office in Reno holds Ford's research materials on Nevada women.

The University of Nevada, Reno Library also has a Jean Ford Collection. A copy of the UNR guide can be obtained by request at the UNLV Special Collections reference desk.

The Jean Ford Special Collections Room at the Flamingo branch of the Las Vegas/Clark County Library District contains Ford's "how-to" materials regarding citizen activism and community involvement.

Physical Description: The Jean Ford Collection consists of 39 boxes (17 linear feet)

Restrictions: None

Location of collection: Lied Library Special Collections Department, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

Processed by: Marie Imus

Date Completed: 10/16/95

Guide Revised: 10/1/98

Inventory and Container List
Jean Ford
MS-25