Joseph Perry, Jr. papers

Collection – Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0979

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

The Joseph Perry Jr. papers consist of profession sociological association conference and membership material, correspondence, publications, minutes, and reports, from 1959 to 2003.

Dates

Creation: 1959 to 2003

Extent

8.16 Cubic Feet (6 record cartons and 1 document box)

Scope and Contents

The Joseph Perry, Jr. collection papers offers a look into the women’s liberation movement, the Bowling Green State University’s (BGSU) Sociology Department, and national companies’ stock investing materials. The collection possesses comprises conference programs, membership information, correspondence, and footnotes for the American Sociological Association and the North Central Sociological Association, from 1967 to 2002. There are annual reports, financial reports, shareholder information, and merger information for the Real Goods company, Avaya, AT&T, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Rubbermaid, Sky, and Mid-Am, from 1995 to 2002. There areAlso present are organizational materials, correspondence, and notes for the Women for Women group at BGSU and the BGSU Sociology department. Finally, tThe collection includes articles, materials, notes, and correspondence for on various topics such as, the Democrat Women’s Campaign Association, the Equal Rights Amendment, feminism, liberation, women and pop culture, and sexuality.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Joseph Bancroft Perry, Jr. was a Sociology Professor at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Born in Dallas, Texas in 1930, Perry enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school and served in the North Atlantic and the Korean War. At 17 he joined the Naval Reserve, and as a Seaman Recruit, he went on the Navy’s Midshipman cruise in 1947. The London he saw was in ruins. On the same voyage, and in great contrast, he visited Gothenburg, Sweden, physically untouched by the war. Later with the Navy he was stationed in Japan where he visited both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These experiences sparked his lifelong interest in disasters and such related phenomena as social movements, revolutions, and social change, in general. Perry earned his BS at the University of North Texas, his MA from the University of Texas, and his PhD from Washington State University. He married Frances Blythe Johnson in 1953 in Dallas, Texas and raised three children; Frances earned her PhD in sociology at BGSU and taught at the University of Toledo.

Perry joined the BGSU faculty in 1959 and left to serve the faculty at Louisiana State University in the 1960s. He returned to BGSU to help build the sociology department’s PhD program. He eventually served as graduate advisor, Chair of the University’s Faculty Senate, and President of the North Central Sociological Association. He was a dedicated author and researcher, focusing on social movements, collective behavior, and natural disasters. Even while residing in Blakely Nursing Home in 2009, Perry continued to work with colleagues on a book about the student and faculty protests in the late 1950s and early 1960s that led to the resignation of BGSU President Ralph Mcdonald. Dr. Joseph Perry, Jr. died in the Wood County Hospital on Thursday, May 20, 2010.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.