Adelaide Buckingham Ball materials

Item Information

Title:
Adelaide Buckingham Ball materials
Description:
Materials related to the volunteer activities and political life of Adelaide Buckingham Ball (1898-1983). Materials include correspondence, press releases, news clippings, photographs, awards, and campaign materials. Photographs include images of Newton Mayors Whitmore, Basbas, and Mann; Governor Frank Sargent; Attorney General Elliot Richardson; Senator Edward W. Brook; and President Richard Nixon. Additional materials relate to volunteer organizations and community affairs including the Newton Housing Authority, Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce, American Legion Post 440, and development of the Marriott Hotel. Ball the first woman to be elected to the Newton Board of Alderman, winning a seat in Ward 1 in 1953. She served as Ward 1 Alderman for sixteen years, but lost that seat for the 1957-1959 session to Joseph G. Bradley. In 1959 she ran as an Alderman-at-Large for Ward 1, a post she retained until her retirement in 1971. In addition to her work as an alderman, Ball was active in the Girl Scouts, the United Fund War Campaign, Newton Community Club, the Human Relations Committee, the Newton Federation of Women's Clubs, the Newton Boys' Club, Newton YMCA, and the Friends of the Jackson Homestead. She served on the board of directors of Newton Junior College and the Newton Mental Health Center and was a member of the Newton Republican Club and the Newton Women's Republican Club. Ball was born in Newton to a multi-generation Newton family. She was a descendant of Deacon John Jackson, the first colonist to settle permanently in Newton. Ball's maternal grandfather, the Rev. John A. Buckingham (1816-1897) and his wife Georgiana Augusta Nichols (1823-1915) bought 33-35 Waban St in Newton Corner in 1866. Ball continued to live in this house until the final years of her life. The Rev. Buckingham was minister of the Unitarian Church in Chestnut Hill and officiated at the wedding of Theodore Roosevelt in 1880. John and Georgiana’s youngest daughter, Edith Rebecca Buckingham (02/14/1868-06/16/1961), was Adelaide’s mother.
Format:
Documents
Genre:
Records
Location:
Historic Newton
Collection (local):
Jackson Homestead & Museum Archives
Subjects:
Ball, Adelaide
Board of Aldermen
Newton Board of Aldermen
Link to Item:
https://historicnewton.catalogaccess.com/archives/11954
Terms of Use:
Copyright Not Evaluated
Contact host institution for more information.
Identifier:
JHA-1970.1
11954