Lenora Slaughter Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Slaughter, Lenora, 1906-2001
title: label: Topic
content: NEW JERSEY-Atlantic City
topic: label: Topic
content: Beauty contestants
label: Topic
content: Beauty contests -- United States
label: Topic
content: Beauty culture
label: Topic
content: Corporations
label: Topic
content: Fashion -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)
label: Topic
content: Pageants
label: Topic
content: Pageants -- 1930-1940
label: Topic
content: scholarships
label: Topic
content: Shows
label: Topic
content: Telegrams
label: Topic
content: Weddings
label: Topic
content: Weddings -- 1940-1950
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection purchased from David Slaughter, great nephew of Lenora Slaughter, in 2011.
creator: label: Creator
content: Slaughter, Lenora, 1906-2001
setName: label: See more items in
content: Lenora Slaughter Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Personal papers primarily documenting the professional career of Lenora Slaughter, director of the Miss America pageant, with some information relating to post-retirement activities and other beauty pageants.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Lenora S. Slaughter, director of the Miss America pageant from 1941-1967, played a pivotal role in significantly shaping the program in more purposeful and lasting ways.   During her leadership as the first female director, she changed the perspective of the pageant and created a safer and more meaningful experience for the young women.  Some of the changes she is credited with are a ban on contestants representing commercial interests, adding the talent portion of the competition, providing chaperones for participants during their time in Atlantic City, establishing rules for age and marital status, and creating the college scholarship program.  Slaughter also ultimately turned the local Atlantic City beauty pageant into a national event.

Lenora S. Slaughter was born in Live Oak, Suwannee County, Florida on October 23, 1906, to Alpheus Byron Slaughter (August 1882-May 1,1946) and Susan Letitia Johnson (February 4, 1876-June 5, 1969). She graduated from Hamilton College and married Bradford Hutton Frapart (October 12, 1910-September 27, 1972) in 1948. Lenora Slaughter died in Gilbert, Maricopa County, Arizona on December 4, 2000, at the age of ninety-four.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6 Cubic feet (10 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1935-1996, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1227
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Costumes and clothes
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: 16mm films
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in five series.

Series 1, Personal Papers, 1936-1967, undated

Series 2, Professional Materials, 1935-1995, undated

Series 3, Miss America Pageant, 1945-1996, undated

Series 4, Photographs, 1951, undated

Series 5, Bradford Frapart Papers, 1954-1969
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Sarah Gediman, intern, 2019; Julia Gibson, intern, 2019; Savannah Hildre, intern, 2019; and Lauren Janik, intern, 2019; supervised by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2019.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Costumes and clothes
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: 16mm films
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Collection primarily documents Lenora Slaughter's reign as director of the Miss America pageant. It consists of official pageant materials, such as programs, photographs, internal memos, correspondence, manuals, official press guides, newspaper clippings, publications, and 16mm film. A small amount of the collection relates to her private life and post-retirement activities. In addition, information relating to other pageants can also be found among these materials. 

The collection is arranged in five series: Series 1, Personal Papers, 1936-1967, undated; Series 2, Professional Materials, 1935-1995, undated; Series 3, Miss America Pageant, 1945-1996, undated; Series 4, Photographs, 1951, undated; and Series 5, Bradford Frapart Papers, 1954-1969.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History


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Donald H. Sultner-Welles Collection, NMAH.AC.0145


Scurlock Studio Records, Subseries 4.1: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives, NMAH.AC.0618.S04.01


Scurlock Studio Records, Subseries 4.6: Black and White Negatives in Cold Storage Arranged by Client, NMAH.AC.0618.S04.06

Ivory Soap Advertising Collection, NMAH.AC.0791

Miss America 1951 Papers, NMAH.AC.0888

Jean Bartel Miss America 1943 Photographs, NMAH.AC.0902

Maid of Cotton (MOC) Records, NMAH.AC.1176

Henry "Buddy" Graf and George Cahill Vaudeville and Burlesque Collections, NMAH.AC.1484

Helen Louise Schneider Baby Beauty Contests Photograph Album, NMAH.AC.1494

Phil Primack New England Country Fair Collection, NMAH.AC.1497

Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Phoenix Educational Film Collection, 1974-1980, HSFA.1993.14

Other Repositories

 Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies, William T. Jerome Library, University Libraries, Bowling Green State University 

Beauty Pageant Collection