KATHERINE WOOD TAYLOR:

Katherine Taylor spent at least part of her childhood in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the fourth of five children born into a military family. She majored in English at the Univesity of Wisconsin, Madison, where she met and married law student John Fox Taylor. She taught school in Stoughton, Wisconsin, during her husband's final year of law school. The Taylors lived for three years in Portage, Wisconsin, where Katherine joined the Republican Women's Club and the "Joe Must Go Club," which opposed Senator Joseph McCarthy. The Taylors and their young daughter Virginia moved to Roseville Minnesota, around 1955.

Taylor served as chairwoman of the Minnesota District 4 Goldwater presidential campaign (1964), and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Roseville Village Council in 1966 and in 1968. She subsequently became involved in abortion reform, and served as president of the Minnesota Council for the Legal Termination of Pregnancy. Her other civic involvements included service on the Roseville Planning Commission.

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The material focuses primarily on abortion-related issues and legislation, and on Taylor's involvement in pro-choice organizations in Minnesota and her interest in abortion issues in other states. There is also some information about her involvement in Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential election campaign.

The collection includes considerable information about the Abortion Rights Council of Minnesota and the Minnesota Council for the Legal Termination of Pregnancy (MCLTP). There are files on other pro-choice groups, Planned Parenthood and population control, political parties and abortion, religious groups and abortion, and the legal case of Dr. Jane Hodgson, St. Paul, who performed abortions.

Several folders of material document abortion legislation in the Minnesota Legislature (1967-1982), including some fairly detailed notes made by Mrs. Taylor of legislative committee hearings on abortion.

There are also files on pro-life organizations, particularly the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL), and drafts and transcripts of speeches on abortion by Katherine and John Taylor. There are thirteen audio cassette recordings of speeches, legislative hearings, interviews, and radio call-in programs relating to abortion issues.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Katherine Wood Taylor Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 13,387; 13,863; 15,625.

Processing Information:

Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, September 1984 and August 1987; David B. Peterson, June 2001.

Catalog ID number: 990017371040104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Abortion -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Abortion -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Abortion -- Moral and ethical aspects.

Birth control.

Political campaigns -- Minnesota.

Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1964.

Pro-choice movement -- Minnesota.

Pro-life movement -- Minnesota.

Women -- Political activity.

Places:

Minnesota -- Politics and government.

Persons:

Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-.

Hodgson, Jane E., 1915-.

Organizations:

Abortion Rights Council of Minnesota.

Citizens for Goldwater-Miller Volunteer Committee (Ramsey County, Minn.).

Minnesota. Legislature.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Minnesota Council for the Legal Termination of Pregnancy.

Minnesota Organization for Repeal of Abortion Laws.

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ).

Types of Documents:

Audiocassettes.

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