Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for use without restrictions

Use Restrictions

None

Preferred Citation

Box/Folder, Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan Papers, M 302, Special Collection and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Acquisition Information

The collection was a gift to Special Collections and Archives from Mrs. McClenahan in April 1994. Additional materials were added in 1996 and in 2000.

Processing Information

Collection processed in November 1994. Finding aid revised in April 1996 and July 2000. Mrs. McClenahan maintained her papers in file folders in roughly alphabetical order. Many of the same folder headings have been used by Special Collections and Archives in the processing of this collection. Materials in the collection are now divided topically by series and alphabetically therein. Materials in boxes 91 to 109 sere added in July 2000.

Biographical/Historical Information

Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan is a Richmond community leader, activist and philanthropist. She has been described as the "conscience of Richmond" for her contributions to the Richmond community in the areas of racial harmony, housing, Richmond revitalization and historic preservation. She has also been active in the arts, her church, and education.

Born in Richmond on April 6, 1917, Mary Tyler is the daughter of Douglas Southall Freeman (1886-1953), noted historian and journalist, and Inez Goddin Freeman (1891-1974). She attended St. Catherine's School and Vassar College, receiving an A.B. in English-Creative Writing in 1937.

After college she worked briefly as a secretary in the Department of Fine Arts of William and Mary College where she met Leslie Cheek, Jr. (1908-1992), then head of the department. They married in 1939. The Cheeks lived in Baltimore for three years while Mr. Cheek was Director of the Baltimore Museum of Fine Arts and in Washington, D.C. during World War II. While Mr. Cheek served in the Army, Mrs. McClenahan volunteered as a nurse's aid. After Cheek's discharge from the Army in 1945, they lived in New York City where Cheek had been hired as an Associate Editor of Architectural Forum Magazine. The couple returned to Richmond when Cheek became the first director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1948-1968). The Cheeks had four children. After Mr. Cheek's death in 1992, Mrs. Cheek married Dr. John Lorimer McClenahan, a retired Pennsylvanian radiologist, the following year.

Mrs. McClenahan is responsible for a number of Richmond civic initiatives, including bringing together the 35 groups that make up the Richmond Better Housing Coalition and founding the Richmond Urban Forum. She was twice president of the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood and has participated as a volunteer and board member of numerous Richmond civic organizations, including Richmond Renaissance and Richmond-On- The- James. She has also been an active member of Richmond's historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Some of the organizations Mrs. McClenahan has been associated with include:

Member, Executive Committee and Board of The Arts Council of Richmond
Member, 175th Anniversary of the Executive Mansion Commission
Advisory Committee Girl Scouts
Member, Board of Historic Richmond Foundation
Dame and Member of the Board of Governors of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Member, National Committee, Jefferson Poplar Forest Fund
Member, Board of Leadership Metro Richmond
Member, Board of Maymont Foundation
Chairman, Film Committee of the National Council for America's First Freedom: The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom
Richmond AIDS Ministry
Co-Chairman, Richmond Better Housing Coalition
Member, Board of Richmond Hill
Member, Board of Richmond-On-The-James
Member, Executive Committee and Board of Richmond Renaissance
Founder and Honorary Chairman, Richmond Urban Forum
Director for Virginia and Past President, Robert E. Lee Memorial Association which administers Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee
Former Vestry member and Junior Warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Member, Board of Theatre Virginia Past President (twice) and honorary board member of Virginia League for Planned Parenthood
Trustee, Virginia Union University

Clubs include:

Cosmopolitan Club, NYC
Hroswitha Club, NYC
James River Garden Club, Richmond
Richmond First Club
Richmond Kiwanis
Virginia Writer's Club
Woman's Club of Richmond

Awards Mrs. McClenahan has received include:

Richmond's Christmas Mother (1973)
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities' Mary Maso Williams Award (1977)
Junior League of Richmond's Barbara Renson Andrews Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service (1982)
St Catherine's School's Distinguished Alumni Award (1983)
Virginia League of Planned Parenthood Distinguished Service Award (1984)
National Conference of Christian and Jews' Brotherhood Citation (1985)
Omicron Delta Kappa's Conspicuous Attainment Award (1986)
YWCA of Richmond's Outstanding Woman of the Year (1986)
Richmond First Club's Good Government Award (1987)
Richmond Urban League's Charlotte T. Washington Community Services Award (1988)
Style Magazine's Richmonder of the Year (1991)
Housing Opportunities Made Equal (H.O.M.E.) Fair Housing Award
H.O.M.E. Sallie Wilson Peake Memorial Award for Outstanding Support of Fair Housing
National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Silver Hope Award (1994)

Honorary Degrees Mrs. McClenahan has received:

Doctor of Humanities from University of Richmond
Doctor of Humane Letters from St. Paul's College
Doctor of Humane Letters from Washington and Lee University
Doctor of Humane Letters from Hollins College
Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Commonwealth University

Scope and Content Information

The collection includes correspondence, notes, clippings, various organizational minutes, reports and files, drafts of speeches, manuscripts and published materials dating from 1933 through 1993. The bulk of the collection dates from the late 1970s through the early 1990s and focuses on Mrs. McClenahan's involvement on issues of race, housing, historic preservation, and Richmond revitalization.

The organizational records in the collection include material from many of Richmond's major civic organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the Richmond Better Housing Coalition, Richmond-On-The-James, Richmond Renaissance and the Richmond Urban Forum. The activities of other organizations are also represented to a lesser degree. A number of these organizations are represented in other collections within Special Collections & Archives. Please ask a staff member for more information.

The collection also contains material documenting Mrs. McClenahan's involvement in education, the arts and politics in Richmond and Virginia, in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and speeches she has given. Other material in the collection ranges from correspondence of friends and family to material on her daily life, social plans, family holidays and vacations to information on her various interests.

Organization

The collection is divided into a series of eight sections. Series I is primarily correspondence to Mrs. McClenahan. Series II consists of material of twelve major civic and volunteer organizations with which she was involved. Because of the volume of the materials, each organization in this series was divided into its own subseries. Series III is composed of other organizations in which she was active, but of sufficient quantity to justify its own subseries. The material in this series is divided alphabetically. Series IV is a collection of her speeches and articles. The speeches in this series are unidentified by audience or sponsor or affiliated with a group not otherwise not listed in another series. Additional speeches may be found in organizational series by checking folder headings. Series V contains material regarding political candidates and issues. Series VI consists of material relating to the various schools, colleges and universities she has been associated with and is divided alphabetical. Series VII contains material relating to her work with St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Series VIII consists of a variety of material reflecting Mrs. McClenahan's daily activities, social plans, and wide range of interests. [See the NOTE under Series for additional materials added in 2000.]

Series I--Correspondence (1933-1993)

Series II--Major volunteer organizations, Subseries A: Arts Council of Richmond (1982-1988), Subseries B: Maymont Foundation (1979-1992), Subseries C: Metropolitan Richmond Chamber of Commerce (1981-1992), Subseries D: Planned Parenthood (1942-1992), Subseries E: Richmond Better Housing Coalition (1984-1993), Subseries F: Richmond-On-The-James (1978-1988), Subseries G: Richmond Renaissance (1982-1990), Subseries H: Richmond Urban Forum (1982-1990), Subseries I: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (1957-1993), Subseries J: Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1983-1990), Subseries K: Virginia Historical Society (1990-1993), Subseries L: Poplar Forest (1988-1993)

Series III--Other organizations (1951-1993)

Series IV--Speeches and Articles (1955-1993)

Series V--Politics (1985-1993)

Series VI--Schools, Colleges and Universities (1948-1993)

Series VII--St. Pauls' Episcopal Church (1937-1992)

Series VIII--Alphabetical Files (1935-1993)

Note: Additional materials were added in July 2000. The materials in these containers, boxes 91-109, were added to the end of the collection and are divided as follows: Correspondence (n.d., 1930-1998); Maymont Foundation (n.d., 1983-1997); Richmond Better Housing Coalition (n.d., 1988-1999); Richmond Renaissance (n.d., 1987-1996); miscellaneous colleges and schools (n.d., 1967-1997); Richmond Urban Forum (19- 19); Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation (1968-1993); St. Paul's Episcopal Church (n.d., 1984-1998); Stratford Hall (n.d., 1984-1989); Virginia Historical Society (n.d., 1983-1992); Virginia Union University (n.d., 1988- 1993); and miscellaneous civic and volunteer organizations (n.d., 1967-1998).