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Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas Records

 Collection
Identifier: 2010-007

This collection is comprised of 12 boxes and 17 linear feet and documents the evolution of the Maternal Health Center of Houston into the Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas branch. Material in the collection is dated from 1936 until 2004. The collection contains historical information about the origins of the Planned Parenthood of Southeast Texas and the Maternal Health Center as well as the national birth control movement and Planned Parenthood Federation. The collection features an extensive series of recorded and transcribed oral interviews documenting the memories of staff and patients of Planned Parenthood of Southeast Texas, as well as an unpublished written history of the organization called Sixty Years of choice. In addition, there is a large series of dated photographs featuring staff of Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, and chronicling their fundraisers, galas and other events. A large part of the Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas’s work involves community education and outreach thus a large series contains the publications and pamphlets used for these purposes, as well as the newspaper articles and clippings from Houston and national periodicals featuring topics of interest to the organization. Smaller series feature the financial history of the organization dating back to the Maternal Health Center, correspondence from the organization, and publications from organizations affiliated with Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas.

Dates

  • 1936-2004

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Special Collections owns the physical items in our collections, but copyright normally belongs to the creator of the materials or their heirs. The researcher has full responsibility for determining copyright status, obtaining permission to publish from copyright holders, and abiding by current copyright laws when publishing or displaying copies of Special Collections material in print or electronic form. For more information, consult the appropriate librarian. Reproduction decisions will be made by Special Collections staff on a case-by-case basis.

Extent

17.0 linear feet (12 boxes)

Historical Information

Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, now known as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, opened its doors in February of 1936 under the name Maternal Health Center of Houston. Under the direction of Agnese Carter Nelms and her brother-in-law Dr. Judson L. Taylor the Maternal Health Center was dedicated to helping poor and indigent women in Houston receive health care and an education on family planning. The original purpose of the Maternal Health Center was stated as, “to establish and maintain a free medical clinic for the use and benefit of mothers and prospective mothers of the City of Houston and to furnish mothers and prospective mothers of Houston free medical advice on maternal health” (Anderson 8). Eventually, through Agnese Nelms’ tireless work and advocacy of family planning and the birth control movement, the Maternal Health Center gained the support of many of Houston’s prominent community leaders. The first board of directors included many of Houston’s elite, and the wealthiest and most successful businessmen and their wives, such as Mrs. Will Clayton, Maurice and Susan McAshan, the Rev. J. Elmer Ferguson, Rosalie Farish, and Mrs. John Bullington (11 Anderson).

Birth control and family planning remained controversial for the next several decades and the Maternal Health Center volunteers kept the clinic alive through word of mouth and door-to-door grass roots campaigning. They remained loosely affiliated with the American Birth Control League, which eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. This affiliation with the American Birth Control League would lead, ultimately, to the incorporation of the Maternal Health Center with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

In the late 1940s the Maternal Health Center was renamed to the Planned Parenthood Center of Houston, and after the legalization of birth control with the Supreme Court’s 1965 Griswold vs. Connecticut decision the Center grew to include many satellite clinics and thus renamed itself to Planned Parenthood of Houston.

The institution continued to grow, adding vasectomy clinics, more women’s clinics and focusing on public outreach and education, until it merged with several other Planned Parenthoods in Texas to become, in 1978, Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas. By 1984 the organization was seeing as many as 60,000 patients a year (5 Molan).

In 2010 Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas was renamed again to the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast as it absorbed clinics in Louisiana and other areas of Texas. It continues to grow, expanding its public education and outreach services, expanding sex education access in schools and offering low cost health care, contraception and counseling and abortions. Its slogan remains “every child a wanted child.”

References:

Anderson, Maria Helen. Private choices vs. public voices: The history of Planned Parenthood in Houston. Diss. Rice University, 1998. Dissertations & Theses: Full Text, ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.

Molan, Michelle R. Proud of our past planning the future: 50 years of Planned Parenthood. Houston, TX: Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, 1986.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acquired from Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in August 2010.

Title
Guide to the Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas Records
Author
Kristen Nicole McAlear
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2021-10-07: As a part of the 2021 Special Collections reparative description project, Brooks Whittaker added subject headings to this finding aid to better represent individuals and promote discoverability of collection materials.

Repository Details

Part of the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
MD Anderson Library
4333 University Drive
Houston TX 77204-2000 USA
713-743-9750