Central Toledo Action Committee records

The records of the Central Toledo Action Committee date generally from October 1971 to November 1973, with some pertinent material dating several years prior to and following the existence of the Committee; together they document the history of a diverse group of inner-city residents bound together by the need to improve living conditions. The efforts of the external pressure group are predominantly preserved in meeting agendas, correspondence, subject records, printed materials, newsclippings and photographs, which together provide several avenues of research.

Taken as a whole, the records of the Central Toledo Action Committee provide an excellent overview of the organization's functioning within the city of Toledo in general, and with the contemporary city administration. The meeting agendas, correspondence, subject/issue records, and printed materials clearly document the activities and concerns of the group. These also demonstrate the relationships CTAC had with city officials.

While CTAC was a coalition of a handful of geographically-specific action groups, the collection is primarily representative of the activities of the Old West End Action Committee, along with those of the coalition, CTAC. This is primarily due to the source of the materials, Diane Pribor, who was both a board member of CTAC, and Chairman of the Old West End Action Committee. A shortcoming of the collection, therefore, is the absence of the records of the other action groups; most of these committees only are mentioned on several occasions within the collection.

While the agendas for meetings, both within the group and with outside individuals, particularly city officials, are numerous, and indicate the general business attended to, actual minutes are few and scattered. For this matter, the correspondence provides a better indication of the actual action taken by the group. These, together with the numerous printed materials in the forms of press releases and general circulars, present for the researcher both the obstacles CTAC worked to overcome and its statements of intent. In-depth knowledge of issues can be obtained from subject records, which include such topics as schools, urban renewal, traffic patterns, open spaces, real estate and banking practices, and a court case brought by CTAC against the city of Toledo. Numerous reports by CTAC regarding housing conditions and firetrap status, give important scope to the most pressing and yet most controversial issues of relevance to the group.

A grasp for the larger, social and even political issues can be obtained in other subject records, which add considerably to the historical context for the Committee's existence. These include topics on maintaining the integrity of integrated neighborhoods, national and local organizations promoting the same, Model Cities Program studies, and a 1970 Census and Description of Toledo Housing Patterns. Reports in the form of Toledo City School Budgets, and subject records containing numerous Health and Building Codes, both municipal and state, provide a means to assess policies in force at the time of CTAC's activities.

Particularly useful to following the overall chronology of CTAC's actions, and to discovering general perceptions of the group, is the rich collection of newspaper and periodical clippings. As a body of information the clippings are for the most part accessible in the collection independently of other materials. In maintaining the original order of the collection, however, clippings having relevance to specific issues, filed in specific subject records, have been kept with that subject. For this matter, with some few exceptions, those newsclippings are not duplicated in the chronologically arranged newsclipping folders. Similarly, correspondence pertaining to specific subject records have stayed with the subject, while the majority of correspondence has been arranged chronologically on its own.

While there exists in the collection information on the funding of CTAC; there are no financial records available, with the exception of two banking deposit slips; these are of limited use to the researcher interested in this aspect of the agency's history.

Of supplemental value to the researcher is the inclusion of three hours of audio recording, an oral interview with Diane Pribor conducted in November 1989. The interview is indexed, allowing accessibility by topic, and includes an interview history to aid the researcher in placing the value of the interview into perspective. While some relationships are made more clear by the interview, the interview's chief value may lie in its contribution to understanding the philosophy of the organizational methods of the group, particularly the commitment to empowering the people.

Following the interview, additional materials were presented to the interviewer to be added to the CTAC Collection. These materials were of the same format as the original collection. Of particular importance was the addition of newspaper clippings for a period lacking in the original donation. This supplemented the existing media record by nearly twenty-five percent. These, together with additional correspondence, serve to clarify some matters otherwise taken up in the oral interview.

MEETING AGENDAS. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Often include time and place of meeting, the person or group met with, members attending, some minutes, the particular coalition group which met on that occasion, demands and suggestions for action by the group.

OUTGOING. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Primarily consists of communications with municipal, state, and federal officials regarding specific issues of concern to the coalition and its component groups; requests for meetings, status reports, and action.

INCOMING. October 1971-April 1974. Arranged chronologically. Primarily consists of replies by municipal, state, and federal officials regarding specific issues of concern to the coalition and its component groups. Also included are copies of correspondence between municipal, state or federal officials, sent to CTAC to inform the coalition of action taken. There are also some inter-group directives. Filed on its own is a small series of correspondence with Ohio Bell.

TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION. September 1972-June 1973, scattered dates. Arranged chronologically. Includes notes of incoming and outgoing telephone conversations with some city officials and judges.

CODES: MUNICIPAL AND STATE; HEALTH AND BUILDING. 1968-1972. Arranged chronologically; others are not dated.

OLD WEST END CONSERVATION PROJECT. HOLLYWOOD BLOCK CLUB. OLD WEST END DISTRICT COUNCIL. June 1971-1972. Arranged chronologically. Contains correspondence, meeting agendas, land use, maps, financial reports, progress reports.

WORKABLE PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT. 1972. Recertification for Urban Renewal Program, city of Toledo; application and approval notice.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE MODEL CITIES ORGANIZATION AND OTHERS WHOSE PROGRAMS AFFECT THE TOLEDO MODEL NEIGHBORHOOD. October 1971. A study and paper prepared by Ruth Searles, University of Toledo.

FAIR HOUSING ISSUES. 1968-1973. Arranged chronologically. National Neighbors, Toledo Neighbors, West Side Neighbors: Organizational information, exemption applications, notes from national conferences, publications, correspondence, activities; also, 1970 Census analysis of Negro housing patterns in Lucas County.

NEIGHBORHOODS; RELATED NATIONAL EXPERIENCES. 1965-1971. Arranged chronologically. Publications of the approaches to neighborhood solutions by several U.S. cities, "The Resurgent Neighborhood," an article by James V. Cunningham, publications by regional associations defining and explaining local housing patterns as they pertain to race and cultural factors.

NEIGHBORHOOD PHILOSOPHY: INTEGRATION AND COMMUNITY. 1973-1974. Arranged chronologically. Various publications pertaining to the topic, collected following dissolvement of CTAC.

APARTMENT/REAL ESTATE SURVEYS. 1971-1972. Arranged chronologically. Surveys compiled by Toledo Neighbors for the National Neighbors Survey on Fair Housing Policy.

CTAC; ORGANIZING, FUNDING, INCORPORATION. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Contains original proposal for the Community Organization Project, Minutes of 28 June 1972, Central Cities Ministry Meeting, Progress Report to Central Cities Ministry, News Releases by Catholic Diocese of Toledo, Funding Search Fact Sheets, articles of incorporation, correspondence as it pertains to funding, "Don't push us around anymore, rent man," a proposal for funding to the Campaign for Human Development, Washington, D.C.

CTAC: VARIOUS LISTS-INDIVIDUALS. undated. Includes City Directory: list of City of Toledo officials and addresses, some membership lists, "Troops," some meeting attendance lists, "call lists," phone numbers for various attorneys and organizations.

A & P MARKET. January 1972. Meeting agenda to discuss problems, copy of agreement to be signed by A & P representatives, flyer for public notification.

REAL ESTATE AGENCIES, BANKS, AND RACIAL STEERING. 1971-1975. Arranged chronologically. Includes affirmative marketing plan for relators and brokers, affirmative loan policy for financial institutions, meeting minutes with Ed Knowles, President-People's Savings and Loan, general correspondence, newspaper clippings, U.S. Justice Department Racial Steering Case correspondence, assorted bank and realty publications, CTAC flyers.

DEVELOPMENT CONCERNS: URBAN RENEWAL AND REHABILITATION. January 1972-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes status reports on some properties, meeting agendas, correspondence, lists of properties approved to be purchased by Urban Renewal, CTAC flyers, CTAC circulars.

COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENTS. February 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Contains correspondence, meeting agendas, CTAC circulars and flyers as they pertain to traffic control, street lights, and neighborhood parks.

NEW SCHOOL NOW COMMITTEE. March 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes a financial review of Toledo Public Schools by LMC Mediation Panel, meeting agendas, correspondence, notes on course of action, CTAC flyers and circulars, newspaper clippings, membership vote on architect choice for new Junior High School.

CTAC YOUTH. October 1972-May 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes CTAC circular announcing CTAC Youth Committee Activity and correspondence of the group.

TOLEDO AREA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES. Fall 1972-March 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes a history, goal sheets, program sheets, roster, limited correspondence.

OLD WEST END ASSOCIATION. January 1972. Contains Constitution and membership list.

JUDGE ANDY DEVINE/HOUSING COURT. August 1972-May 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes correspondence, meeting agenda, CTAC flyers and circulars, newspaper clippings, Housing Court reports, Housing Court notes.

CITY OF TOLEDO-NUISANCE ABATEMENTS. June-December 1972. Arranged chronologically. Legal notices.

2446-48 HOLLYWOOD/HEALTH ESCROW. December 1972-July 1973. Arranged chronologically. Contains Housing Code Escrow Provision fact sheets, correspondence, CTAC flyers and circulars, legal proceedings in Ernestine Smith-Escrow Case, photographs of meeting with Wenzel, Commissioner of the Board of Health.

SLUM HOUSING: SPECIFIC ADDRESSES. 1971-1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes correspondence, notes, flyers, circulars and newspaper clippings--following the progress of several of the more notorious slum housing situations.

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION 15. December 1972-July 1973. Arranged chronologically and by topic. Includes general information covered by meeting agendas, correspondence, flyers, and circulars. Specific topics are covered by pretrial notes and trial proceedings, as well as subpoenas, argument by Gerald Lackey, and a transcript of Judge Watinsk's decision. Newspaper clippings for the period can be found in the general body of newspaper clippings, in chronological order.

ANTI-DEMONSTRATION ORDINANCE. May 1973-June 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes correspondence, flyers and circulars. Newspaper clippings concerning the topic can be found in the general body of newspaper clippings, in chronological order.

DAN MCCARTHY-"MAKING WAVES IN TOLEDO." June 1973-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes the article "Making Waves in Toledo," printed in America Magazine. Correspondence on the same, and a November, 1973 publication of National Jesuit News.

STRAY DOGS. November 1972. Contains notes on the problem of stray dogs.

NOTES ON PARKER STABBING. August 1973. Handwritten notes, letter on this case.

ABSENTEE LANDLORDS. July, August 1972. Arranged chronologically. Includes lists of buildings absentee owned, correspondence, a newspaper clipping.

WILLIAM M. JENKINS AND PROPERTY-2405 GLENWOOD. 1968-1972. Arranged chronologically. Includes correspondence and notes.

MODEL CITIES PROJECT - EVALUATION REPORT. May 1972. Includes a 1971 Model Cities newsletter, and a copy of the report submitted by Donald K. Hill.

TOLEDO CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTS. January 1972-December 1972. Includes tentative appropriations for fiscal year 1973 and monthly fiscal reports.

MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes Old West End Association Plan of Action, 19 July 1972; Community Improvement Committee Progress Report, late 1971; Report, 30 June 1972 to Central City Ministry Department by Total Community Development Action Committees; Action report by CTAC early 1972; Report by Earlean Jones (CTAC) to City Council on Lead Poisoning, 19 June 1983, and, 16 November 1973, National Conference of Bishops Resolution report.

CTAC ANNUAL REPORTS. October 1971-August 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes reports on all actions taken by the individual geographically based action groups. Also includes financial report.

CTAC IN HOUSE REPORTS. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Contains lists of abandoned buildings provided by CTAC Committee, status on firetraps, status reports on building actions with Health Department (abandoned buildings), Health Department Housing Orders.

CTAC IN-HOUSE REPORTS - INSPECTION. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes requests by CTAC for Health Department inspections of inadequate housing, inspection lists made by CTAC, some status reports on Health Department action on inadequate housing, CTAC action on Slum Lords.

CTAC - LISTING OF FIRES - PUBLIC HOUSING LIST. 1962-1971. Arranged chronologically.

AGREEMENTS. October 1971-November 1973. Contains form agreements drawn up by CTAC for use between CTAC and landlords, relators, and City of Toledo Building Inspection Department.

BANK STATEMENTS. December 1973. Contains two banking statements.

NEWSCLIPPINGS. March 1971-December 1973. Arranged chronologically. Includes clippings from the Toledo Blade, The Bronze Raven, The Old West End Crier, The Catholic Chronicle and the Toledo Times. Clippings give a comprehensive accounting of the activities, issues and controversy surrounding CTAC.

FLYERS. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. The releases made by CTAC to the general public, to inform of actions and issues of a specific nature, generally brief.

CIRCULARS. October 1971-November 1973. Arranged chronologically. The releases made by CTAC of a format which provided in-depth information on specific issues and general policy. Also includes press releases and fact sheets.

POSITIVE PRINTS. 1971-1974, undated. Contains photographs of housing conditions and several events: Porter "hit," July 1974; Garbage "incident," November 1971; traffic wreck, July 1972; Fun Mobile, July 1973. Glued to pages with unstable glue.

AUDIO RECORDING CASSETTE TAPES. November 1989. Contains a three hour interview with Diane Pribor, CTAC Board Member, along with tape index, interview history, and interview chronology.