Florence S. Mahoney Papers

The Florence S. Mahoney papers consist of correspondence and subject files, and have been organized into three series. They are the correspondence series, the subject files, and the aging series. Most of the material dates from the 1950s through the 1980s, reflecting Mahoney's life after she came to Washington. There is almost no material from her years in Miami, and none on her early life.

The collection's showpiece is the correspondence series. Mahoney corresponded frequently with a wide spectrum of physicians and politicians, both in the U.S. and abroad. There is extensive correspondence with E. Grey Dimond, Paul F. Glenn, Lister Hill, Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson, Margaret Sanger and F. Marott Sinex. Surprisingly, there is little correspondence with Mary Lasker.

Although small, Mahoney's general subject files contain some items of interest to the researcher. The files on birth control, for example, reflect Mahoney's and Lasker's interests in that topic. The guest lists found in her party files give a sense of her connections to the Washington elite.

Mahoney's subject files on aging date mostly from the 1970s and 1980s. They contain extensive files on the planning and establishment of the National Institute on Aging. They also hold material on Veterans' Administration programs and correspondence with researchers.

see also University of Southern California