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Contents: |
The Iris F. Blitch Papers document her two terms representing Georgia's Eighth District in the United States Congress from
1955 to 1963, and, to a lesser extent her campaigns and personal life. The majority of the collection consists of correspondence,
newspaper clippings, legislative bills, research and campaign materials, scrapbooks and photographs. Well-documented throughout
the entire collection, particularly in the Legislative and Subject Series, are the issues that were important to Blitch and
to the twenty counties that composed the Eighth District, including agriculture and environmental issues. Bills sponsored
or supported by Blitch include: Okefenokee Conservation Bill (secured funding for water conservation and fire protection in
and around the swamp); Small-Watershed Bill (allowed the building of small watershed projects with government grants and loans
to conserve water for farmers, municipalities, industry, recreation and the conservation of fish and wildlife); Water Pollution
Bill; forestry development; anti-subversive activities; improved drug laws; livestock sales; and benefits to beekeepers, among
others. Additionally, the papers provide insight into the political climate for women in the second half of the 1950s and
the early 1960s as well as into social mores regarding their participation. Blitch's personal beliefs and opinions regarding
women's roles and responsibilities in government and politics are evident in the speeches and interviews she gave throughout
her career. To a lesser extent, and primarily through correspondence found in the Personal Series, is information relating
to her immediate and extended family as well as her fragile health, which ultimately forced her retirement in 1963. Correspondents
include the following prominent Georgians: D. W. Brooks, Phil Campbell, John Flynt, Jr., E. L. Forrester, Ed Friend, Henderson
Lanham, Herman Talmadge, John Pilcher, Prince Preston, and Richard B. Russell, Jr.
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