Archives West Finding Aid

The collection contains the personal and professional papers of Tonie Nathan. This collection also includes material from the national and local Libertarian parties. As a Libertarian Party member, Libertarian Party candidate, and in her role in media relations for the party, Nathan created, was sent, or gathered Libertarian Party material.

The overall series structure below matches how Nathan kept her papers: her personal and education material was separate from her professional papers; correspondence was grouped by dates or by person, and campaign correspondence was grouped together with other campaign material; National Libertarian Party materials were kept together, and affiliate parties and groups were kept largely separate from the National material and usually filed alphabetically by state or candidate; and a very large amount of the publications were filed separately from organizational subject files.

The subject files are a mix of Nathan's own alphabetical files, which do include similar material to the affiliate groups and candidates, and additional folders of organizations or subjects (such as taxes) that didn't fit anywhere else. Audio and video, and photographs were also kept separate from other records; however, much of the audio/video and pictures are of Libertarian Party meetings, conventions, and candidates, including Tonie Nathan.

Common acronyms in the list include Libertarian Party (LP), Oregon Libertarian Party (OLP), Libertarian Party of Oregon (LPO) which is the same organization as OLP, and the Association of Libertarian Feminists (ALF).

The collection is organized into the following series:

Series I: Personal contains Tonie Nathan's personal papers spanning from 1930 to 2010. Material includes calendars and appointment books, primary and college class papers and notebooks, job information including material from Nathan's TV and radio shows, her public relations firm, and workshops, and financial records.

Series II: Correspondence contains incoming and outgoing personal and professional correspondence. Part of the correspondence is organized alphabetically by last name or title of organization. There is also a section of incoming correspondence organized by date, from 1960 to 2011, and an outgoing section also organized by date, from 1968 to 2009. Correspondents include Libertarian Party members, and libertarian organizations.

Although there is a separate series for Nathan's political campaigns (Series IV) which contains the bulk of her campaign correspondence, there will be letters regarding her campaigns for office found in this series, usually corresponding to the dates of her campaigns.

Series III: Writings contains notes, drafts, revisions, articles, essays, and scripts written by Tonie Nathan for newspapers, for the National Libertarian Party, for affiliate libertarian groups and organizations, for Nathan's TV and radio shows, and for media and public relations. Material is organized alphabetically by title of article (or subject of article when a title was not found).

Also included in this series are interviews with Nathan, journal diaries, letters to the editor, speeches, and questionaries. Material includes drafts, revisions, fragments, ideas, submissions, and published articles.

Most of the topics have to to with libertarianism, feminism and libertarianism, and third-party politics. Some of the writings in Series II may deal with Nathan's political campaigns, but the bulk of her campaign related speeches are located in Series IV.

Series IV: Campaign Materials contains material created for, or related to, Tonie Nathan's campaigns for public office. Material is organized alphabetically by title or topic, including the title of campaigns, e.g., US Congress campaign would be under "U."

Political campaigns include:

The Vice President campaign of 1972; US Congress campaign of 1976; US Senate campaign of 1980; County Commissioner campaign of 1984; EWEB Commissioner campaign of 1998; US Congress campaign of 1990; Oregon State Senate campaign of 1992; US Congress campaign of 1996; and the Oregon State Senate campaign of 1998.

Material includes correspondence, speeches, interviews, news releases, financial records, articles, voters' surveys, vote results, fundraising files, media and event material, Friends of Tonie Nathan (FOTN) political action committee files, mailing and member lists of FOTN and the Libertarian Party, and literature on opposing candidates. This series includes many types of ephemera and artifacts, including brochures, flyers, buttons and bumper stickers.

Series V: Subject Files contains Nathan's alphabetical files and other material gathered by Tonie Nathan, usually about libertarian related topics or organizations. Material is organized alphabetically by subject or organization title.

Subjects and organizations include abortion, Advocates for Self-Government, big government, Cascade Policy Institute, CATO Institute, CCPC: Citizen Comprehensive Plan Committee, Center for Libertarian Studies, Steven Chapman articles, Dorchester Conferences, educational choice, International Society for Individual Liberty, Lane County, marijuana/drugs, Oregon politics and candidates, Reason Foundation, taxes, war and the draft, and Women in Communications Inc.

Files on people and politicians include Peter Defazio, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bob Packwood, Ross Perot, and Ayn Rand.

Material includes correspondence and form letters, brochures, publications, articles, clippings, and other printed matter.

Series VI: Association of Libertarian Feminists (ALF) contains material created for, by, or about ALF; some of the material, including correspondence and articles, was created by Tonie Nathan as a member of ALF. Material is alphabetically organized by type or topic. Material includes accounting records, articles, correspondence and news releases, convention materials, committee report, events, founding documents, member lists, newsletters, notes, and questionnaires sent to members.

Series VII: National Libertarian Party contains material created for, by, or about the National Libertarian Party; some of the material was created by Tonie Nathan in her media relations role for the party, as a candidate of the party, and as a journalist who published articles relating to the party. Some of this material was mailed to Nathan as a party member, and some she gathered when she attended conventions or other events.

Material is alphabetically arranged by type, subject, name, or title. Material includes official correspondence, intraparty correspondence, news releases, bulletins and newsletters, committee minutes and reports, articles, convention and conference materials, member directories, platforms and programs, and many brochures, flyers, and other ephemera about the Libertarian Party.

Series VIII: Libertarian Party Affiliates and Candidates contains material created by, for, and about local and state Libertarian Parties, other affiliate groups, and Libertarian Party candidates. Some of this material was created by Tonie Nathan as a member of the Oregon Libertarian Party, as a member of the national Libertarian Party, in her media relations role for the party, and as a journalist who published articles relating to the party. Some of this material was mailed to Nathan as a party member, and some she gathered when she attended conventions or other events.

The material is alphabetically arranged by title. State parties are listed by state name first, e.g., New Mexico LP. County and local parties are listed by the state first, then the city, county or locality second, e.g. Oregon - Benton Country LP. The Oregon Libertarian Party has used two different acronyms: OLP and LPO; material in this finding aid is organized under Oregon or OLP.

Files contain correspondence, by-laws, constitutions, rules, resolutions, news releases, minutes, financial records, legal records, convention and conference materials, articles, candidate information, publications, mailing and member lists, ephemera, and artifacts such as buttons, t-shirts, bags, and bumper stickers. Sometimes there was enough material that state and local party publications were separated into their own files, but they are still organized alphabetically by the state or locality first, e.g, New York Free Libertarian Party of New York.

There are also files regarding single candidates when the amount of material warranted, which are organized alphabetically by last name of the candidate. Whenever possible, the state or campaign (e.g Vice President) is added for reference. Also included here are candidates that ran for Libertarian Party offices, usually called intraparty candidates. There are also files titled only by the campaign, e.g. Presidential Candidates.

Candidate files include Rand and Ron Paul, Ed Clark, Roger MacBride, Andre Marrou, and many Oregon candidates.

Other affiliate groups include Libernet listserve, Liberty Committee, INTACC: International Anti-Communist Coalition, Liberty Committee, and college and students groups including OSU and UO groups, Oregon Young Libertarians, SLS: Students for a Libertarian Society, YAF: Young Americans for Freedom, and YLA: Young Libertarian Alliance.

Series IX: Publications contains official Libertarian Party publications, and also newsletters, bulletins, reports, and other publications of organizations and groups with libertarian, or similar philosophical ideals. Tonie Nathan subscribed to many of these serials, while others were collected by her, or were sent to her as a part of mass mailings.

Publications are organized alphabetically by title. For the most part, publications are separated by file tabs, but are not inside folders, and thus, most lack folder numbers. When dates could be found, they were added to the publication title. However, only beginning and end dates were added, and volume numbers were almost never added to the list. One title could have one or two issues, or twenty.

Series X: Video, and Series XI: Audio (OR Series X: Audio/Visual - check boxes) contains audio and video recordings of Libertarian Party meetings, conventions, candidates, and other events. Included here are Tonie Nathan campaign TV interviews, news clips and news conferences, campaign commercials, the 1980 Senate debate, 1984 County Commissioner interviews, and a debate between Nathan and Stan Bettis.

Series XII: Photographs (box 67) contains prints, negatives, contact sheets, and slides, and a scarf with an attached photograph that Nathan wore during a campaign. Images are of Libertarian Party meetings, conventions, and other events, Libertarian candidates and campaigns, Rubicon meetings, UO Campus events (Libertarian booth), and photos of a CETA Summer Youth program that Nathan worked on.

Also included here are portraits of Nathan for campaign photographs and flyers. There are also photographs of Nathan during campaign speeches, on the Today Show, and a few Nathan family photographs. Photographs are not individually listed in the box and folder list below.

Photographs, negatives, and contact sheets are sleeved for preservation. The sleeves are not numbered; the number in parentheses written on the sleeve, e.g. (7), indicates the number of photos inside the sleeve.