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Doris and Leona Velen papers

  • US US kmk P2004.10
  • Collection
  • 1937-1962

The Doris and Leona Velen Collection contains materials pertaining to the sisters' campaign against the construction of Tuttle Creek Dam near Manhattan, Kansas from approximately 1937 to1962. The women were part of a large campaign of Blue Valley residents who attempted to save their homes from being flooded by the construction of Tuttle Creek Dam. Their efforts produced hundreds of letters, dozens of scrapbooks and pamphlets and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.
Subject files covering a broad range of topics relevant to Tuttle Creek Dam are assembled to complete the second series. Most notable among them are the files relating to the Blue Valley Open House, held October 22, 1955; trips taken by Blue Valley residents to Denver in 1952 and Washington D.C. in 1955 to meet with President Eisenhower; material used in political campaigns to elect anti-dam supporters to Congress; and the Tuttle Creek Story film, created to chronicle the creation of the dam.
The third series consists of speeches given between 1951 and 1955. Speeches were delivered before various groups and commissions in order to gather support in defense of the Blue Valley. The maps in the fourth series range in scope from local to national areas. Maps are used to illustrate how Tuttle Creek Dam relates to the other flood control projects along the Missouri River Basin. Various types of printed material are organized into the fifth series. Included among them are pamphlets and propaganda unique to the movement against Tuttle Creek Dam.
A large portion of this series contains newspaper clippings from various local and regional newspapers as well as an assortment of magazine articles. These articles provide a continuing narrative of the Tuttle Creek project, from its beginnings in the 1940s, through the controversy caused by its construction, and ending with the historic flood of 1993.
Scrapbooks created by Doris and Leona Velen make up the sixth and final series in the collection. The 69 scrapbooks span the years 1951-1962 and contain newspaper and magazine articles and congressional records concerning the Tuttle Creek project. A small number of broadsides, photographs, artifacts, and a 16mm film are listed at the end of the container list.

Velen, Doris and Leona