Jane Frazer Summers Papers, 1923-2002
Collection Overview
Title: Jane Frazer Summers Papers, 1923-2002
ID: OGLMC1086
Primary Creator: Summers, Jane (1923-2002)
Extent: 1.0 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 01/00/1987. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Health and Medicine - Abortion, Politics and Government - Democratic/Nonpartisan League (Dem/NPL), Women's History, Women's History - Women's Organizations
Languages: English
Abstract
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Collection Historical Note
Rose Jane Frazer was born August 13, 1923, to George P. and Myrtle Anne (Weir) Frazer, in Dalton, Kentucky. She graduated from Providence High School, in Providence, Kentucky, before her family moved to Barberton, Ohio. Frazer attended Brenau College for Women in Gainesville, Georgia, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and music in 1945. She married Lawrence Summers at her family’s home in Barberton, Ohio, on March 16, 1947. Soon after, they moved to Ames, Iowa, so Summers could finish his postgraduate studies at Iowa State University.
The couple moved to Grand Forks in 1950 when Larry Summers was hired as a faculty member in the chemistry department at the University of North Dakota. During the late 1950s, Jane Summers worked as an interviewer for the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. After her children, Anne and Edith, left home, she worked as a realtor with Valley Park Realty in Grand Forks. She also managed the state motor vehicle license office in Grand Forks, and was employed part time in the Department of Special Collections at UND’s Chester Fritz Library.
Summers was a musician and supporter of the arts her entire life. She played violin and later viola in the Greater Grand Forks Symphony for 35 years and also served as a member of its board. She also played viola in the UND Faculty String Quartet during the 1960s and 1970s, and joined the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony for several concerts in the 1990s. She was an active member of the North Dakota Council on the Arts, in addition to raising funds for and volunteering at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks.
Summers served as president of the Grand Forks League of Women Voters in 1952-53, and helped organize the North Dakota League of Women Voters. In 1958, the group was officially recognized and Summers became its first president. In the 1960s, she became active in the Democratic/Nonpartisan League. She was the first President of the Democratic Women of Grand Forks, in which she was active for many years. Summers was a member of the Executive Committee of the District Democratic Party for sixteen years, the State Democratic Policy Committee for five years, and the State Democratic Central Committee for three years. She was appointed to and served on the North Dakota Advisory Committee for the United States Civil Rights Commission for seventeen years.
Beginning in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, she lobbied the North Dakota Legislature on behalf of the North Dakota Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. She later lobbied for women and children's groups from Grand Forks. Jane Frazer Summers died November 1, 2002, in Bismarck.
Subject/Index Terms
Health and Medicine - Abortion
Politics and Government - Democratic/Nonpartisan League (Dem/NPL)
Women's History
Women's History - Women's Organizations
Administrative Information
Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections
Accruals: Additional materials were donated by Jane Frazer Summers on October 31, 1990 (91-1734) and May 3, 1996 (96-2065), and by Anne Summers, Bismarck, North Dakota, on April 21, 2005 (2005-2744).
Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.
Acquisition Source: Jane Frazer Summers, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Acquisition Method: Donation; 87-1498
Separated Materials: One audiocassette tape (2078), of Summers' Memorial Service, November 9, 2002, was placed in the Audio Tape Collection.
Related Materials: Lawrence Summers Papers: OGLMC 1484
Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Jane Frazer Summers Papers. OGLMC 1086, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid added to Archon in April 2014.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[Box 1],
[Cassette Tape 2078: Memorial Service for Summers, November 9, 2002],
[All]
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Personal newspaper clippings
- Folder 2: Correspondence to parents, 1942-1954
- Folder 3: Correspondence to parents, 1955-1991
- Folder 4: Correspondence from parents, 1947-1978
- Folder 5: Correspondence from parents, 1980-1996
- Folder 6: Correspondence from daughter Edith, 1980-1981
- Folder 7: Correspondence from her daughters and from granddaughter Edith (also known as “Pretty”), 1971-1995
- Folder 8: Correspondence from sister Georgana, 1944-1996
- Folder 9: Correspondence from husband Larry, 1952-1995
- Folder 10: Correspondence from friend Isla Ederstrom, 1984-1993
- Folder 11: Correspondence - miscellaneous
- Folder 12: Christmas cards - miscellaneous, 1960-1993
- Folder 13: Postcards - miscellaneous, 1923, 1963-1995
- Folder 14: Political correspondence and pamphlets
- Folder 15: American Civil Liberties Union
- Folder 16: The Greater Grand Forks Symphony: 1964-70, 1981
- Folder 17: Poem by Jill Ruckelshaus, 1977
- Folder 18: Citizens for a Real Choice Leaflet, 1999
- Folder 19: Memorial Service, 2002
- Folder 20: Selection of poems transcribed by Summers, undated
- Folder 21: Photographs 1-14
1086-1: Jane Summers, undated
1086-2: Summers visiting a 3rd grade class at Kelly School, October 13, 1975
1086-3: Summers with Governor Bill Guy, undated
1086-4: Summers with Governor Guy, undated (two copies)
1086-5 and 1086-6: Summers with Governor Guy, undated
1086-7: Summers attending a meeting as a delegate, July 7, 1978
1086-8: Summers at an outdoor gathering with a news crew, June 23, 1979
1086-9: Summers (standing at left) at 18th District Democratic Convention, Equal Rights Caucus (speaker is Fintan Dooley), May 11, 1974
1086-10: Summers and two men during John Hove campaign, ca. 1964
1086-11: Summers at 1964 Democratic National Convention, Atlantic City
1086-12: Seated from left, Robert A. Hanson, Gary L. Johnson, and Summers, candidates for Grand Forks 4th Ward special City Council Election, November 18, 1979
1086-13: Summers at 18th District Democratic Convention, Grand Forks Armory, May 11, 1974
1086-14: Seated from left, Summers, Usher Burdick, Lois Casavant of Fargo, May 4, 1957 (two copies)
- Folder 22: Photographs 15-25
1086-15: Summers and other musicians outdoors, July 24, 1969
1086-16: Summers and other musicians outdoors, July 25, 1968
1086-17: Symphony orchestra (Greater Grand Forks Symphony?) including Summers, undated
1086-18: Female string quintet including Summers, outdoors, July 22, 1965
1086-19: Summers and other musicians outdoors, July 22, 1965
1086-20: University String Orchestra at Community Recognition Dinner for President and Mrs. George Starcher, May 7, 1971. Summers seated at far left. Others identified are Conductor Tom Facey (standing center), Miriam Ugland (standing far left), Mary Fletcher (seated far right), and Governor William Guy (standing back center).
1086-21: String quartet in concert at University Center, April 24, 1974. Left to right: Elisabeth Lewis, Jack Miller, Martha Upton, and Jane Summers.
1086-22: Summers playing the viola, undated
1086-23: Edith Summers playing cello and Jane Summers playing viola, Greater Grand Forks Symphony, 1965
1086-24: Edith Summers playing cello, October 11, 1967
1086-25: Anne Summers playing violin, October 11, 1967
- Folder 23: Photographs 26-44
1086-26: Anne Summers (center) and others on the lawn in front of Twamley Hall, ca. 1967
1086-27: Delta Zeta pledges including Anne Summers (front row - fourth from left), ca. 1965
1086-28: Anne Summers (left), Robert Wilkins (center), and unknown, ca. 1968
1086-29: University playschool in basement of old Federated Church in downtown Grand Forks, ca. 1952. Anne Summers (center), Sheila Austin (foreground), and Suellen Austin (far right).
1086-30: Anne Summers (right) holding John Hove signs at Democratic NPL rally on 3rd Street North in Grand Forks, 1963
1086-31 through 1086-33: unidentified girl, ca. December 1958
1086-34 and 1086-35: Granddaughter Edith, undated
1086-36: unidentified
1086-37: Mary Buchanan, Ada Nelle Frazer, and Ina Lee Ellis, August 13, 1923
1086-38: Flower arrangement by Summers titled Moonlight Sonata that won a blue ribbon at East Grand Forks flower show, undated
1086-39: Sisters Jane and Georgana, December 1929
1086-40: Jane in her late teens, early 1940s
1086-41: Summers family, ca. 1952
1086-42: Jane Summers, ca. 1960
1086-43: Jane Summers, ca. 1968
1086-44: Jane and dog Missy at her apartment in Bismarck, 2001
- Folder 1: Personal newspaper clippings
Browse by Box:
[Box 1],
[Cassette Tape 2078: Memorial Service for Summers, November 9, 2002],
[All]