Goetz, Rachel Marshall. Papers, 1898-1994

  • IdentificationICU.SPCL.RGOETZ
  • TitleGuide to the Rachel Marshall Goetz Papers1898-1994
  • PublisherUniversity of Chicago Library
  • LanguageEnglish
  • Date1898-1994
  • Physical Description13.75 linear feet (23 boxes)
  • RepositorySpecial Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
  • AbstractRachel Marshall Goetz was a writer, researcher, and activist who spent much of her career focused on national and local Hyde Park politics. These papers include much of Goetz’s early writing advocating the use of new media in state and local governments. She worked as a speechwriter on Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson’s 1956 presidential campaign, and many of her drafts, memos, position papers, and letters are included here. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Goetz was an important figure in Hyde Park-Kenwood’s urban renewal, and her papers hold many drafts, clippings, and notes relating to that project. Late in her life, Goetz and her sister, Barbara Frye, dedicated themselves to making elaborately decorated ornamental eggs. Many photographs, articles, and letters about her egg artwork are included here. The collection also holds clippings, correspondence, and photographs relating to Goetz’s father, Leon Carroll Marshall.

© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library

Hyde Park-Kenwood-Woodlawn Neighborhood

Politics, Public Policy and Political Reform

Visual Arts

Chicago and Illinois

Series V contains reel-to-reel and cassette tapes which require audio equipment for access.

The remainder of the collection is unrestricted and open for research.

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Goetz, Rachel Marshall. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Rachel Marshall Goetz was born in 1904 in Delaware, Ohio. The daughter of University of Chicago Business School founder and dean, Leon Carroll Marshall, she attended the University’s Laboratory School, the College and the Graduate School of Business, earning a master’s degree in business in 1927. She lived in Hyde Park for 65 years and maintained close ties to the community throughout her life.

Early in her career, Goetz worked with her friend Ursula Batchelder Stone, the first woman to be granted a Ph. D. in business at the University of Chicago. They formed the Batchelder and Marshall Research Organization, authoring several studies including "Chicago’s Stake in International Trade." She also worked closely with the Illinois League of Women Voters.

In 1949, after the death of her husband, Roger Goetz, she undertook significant work on the use of new media by state and local governments. Rachel Goetz wrote several pamphlets and articles on the use of visual aids in public service and developed a course on educational television, which she taught at the University of Chicago during the 1954-1955 academic year. Goetz also won the competition to name Chicago’s public television station’s call letters with her entry, "WTTW, Chicago’s Window to the World."

In 1955, Goetz joined the presidential campaign staff of Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson. She worked as a speechwriter, helping to craft Stevenson’s statements on a variety of issues, with special focus on the female vote. She maintained a close relationship with Stevenson through the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Goetz focused considerable time and energy on the Hyde Park-Kenwood urban renewal project. She was a founding member of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, and she sat on the board of the South East Chicago Commission. Goetz was influential in the establishment of the Hyde Park Co-op grocery store, and she helped in the planning of the Kenwood Shopping Center on 53rd street.

In 1972, Goetz moved to Alexandria, Virginia and focused her energy on creating ornamental eggs, a decorative art form exemplified by the work of Carl Peter Fabergé. Her work has been widely praised within the egg artist community, and has been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, Mount Vernon, the Illinois state capitol, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Goetz funded a fellowship in her father’s name at the Graduate School of Business. Later, this fellowship’s funding enabled the establishment of the Leon Carroll Marshall and Mary Keen Marshall Scholarship and the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Professorship in Creative Management. Goetz died on November 15, 1994

The Rachel Marshall Goetz Papers consist of six series. Series I contains Goetz’s early work on new media and their potential uses in government. Series II holds papers relating to her work in Adlai Stevenson’s 1956 presidential campaign staff and her later writing on national politics. Series III consists of writing and research on local Hyde Park politics and the Hyde Park-Kenwood Urban Renewal Project. Series IV contains personal writings, clippings, and photographs, including items related to Goetz’s egg art and material about her father, Leon C. Marshall. Series V holds audio resources including reel-to-reel tapes and cassette tapes. Series VI contains the collection’s oversized materials, such as posters and photographs.

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

  • Names
    • Goetz, Rachel Marshall
    • Marshall, Leon C. (Leon Carroll), b. 1879
    • Merriam, Robert Edward, 1918
    • Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing), 1900-1965
    • Stone, Ursula Batchelder
    • League of Women Voters (U.S.)
  • Subject
    • Egg decoration
    • Folk art -- United States
    • Political campaigns -- United States
    • Urban renewal -- Illinois -- Chicago
    • Visual aids
    • Visual communication
    • Women in politics -- United States
  • Geographic Coverage
    • Hyde Park (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Kenwood (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Woodlawn (Chicago, Ill.)