Photo Documentation of The Collection as Received by the Tulsa Students

The Processing Notes for the Collection:

Manella Common Cause Envelope 1(?):

Common Cause Packet 1: Stapled

Citizen Action Flier (2 Pages, Double Sided)

Campaign Financing Reform Flier (1 Page, July 22, 1973)

Campaign Finance Report “States The 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act…” (4 Pages)

Major Provisions of the Anderson-Udall “Clean Elections Act of 1973” (3 Pages, Double Sided)
Constitution Requirements (For The University of Oklahoma Student Organizations)

Sample Form for Constitution (Need Not Follow This Outline)

1971 Common Cause Posters (20 Total)

Common Cause 1973 & 1974 Goals report from Washington, Extra Edition, Vol. 4, No. 4, March 1974 (8
p. Booklet with paper insert)

In Common: News for Common Cause Activists (Newsletter), 29 March 1974, Vol. 3, No. 3

Common Cause, 1 April 1974 Special Alert Letter to Steering Committee, Coordinators Publicity
Coordinators, (1 page)

The Senate Filibuster—An Overview (1 double sided page)

Citizen’s Action Alert Letter, Dated 2 April 1974, To Steering Committee Coordinators, Publicity
Coordinators, and other Oklahoma Activists, From Brian Buniva (Area Supervisor). (1 page)

Sample Press Release, For Immediate Release, April 1974, Senators Asked To Permit Majority to Prevail
(2 Pages)

Federal Information Center (Small Booklet) from General Services Administration, Washington D.C.

Common Cause Postcard, Typed, Starts “Dear Friend:” from The Membership Development Department

Common Cause Typed Letter, March 1974, To Membership Coordinators, Steering Committee
Coordinators and State Offices, From The Washington Connection, Entitled “Strength Through
Membership - - Why and How” (2 Pages, Double Sided)

In Common: News for Common Cause Activites (Newsletter), 12 April 1974, Vol. 3, No. 4, 6 Pages

Common Cause: Report from Washington (Newsletter) April-May 1974, Vol. 4, No. 5, 5 Pages double
sided.

Common Cause in Oklahoma (Newsletter) May 1974, Vol. 1, No.1, 2 page double sided

In Common: News for Common Cause Activists (Newsletter), 26 April 1974, Vol. 3, No. 5, (3 double sided
pages)

In Common: News for Common Cause Activists (Newsletter), 10 March 1974, Vol. 3, No. 6 (2pages with
fold out middle)

In Common: News for Common Cause Activists (Newsletter, Folded) Special Edition, 5 July 1974, Vol. 3,
No. 9, Entitled “Campaign 74”

Common Cause Campaign Flier ’74 (5 Pages, Double Sided)

Common Cause: Report from Washington (Newsletter) Vol. 4, No.7, July 1974, (4 Pages, Double Sided)

Campaign 74 Guidelines, 27 July 1974, (1 page)

Common Cause Meeting Information: 10 May 1974, I Open Meetings: The Appropriations Committee (2
Pages, Double Sided)
Common Cause Meeting Information: 10 May 1974, II The Appropriations Committee (2 pages, double
sided)

Common Cause Meeting Information: III Action in the Congressional District ( 3 Pages, single sided)

In Common: News from Common Cause Activists (Newsletter) 10 July 1974, Vol. 3, No. 9, “Let The Laws
Be Faithfully Executed” by: John Gardner, on side of document (3 pages, double sided and fold out)

In Common: News from Common Cause Activists (Newsletter) 19 Dec 1973, Vol. 2, No. 13 (4 pages,
double sided)

Common Cause Newsletter Envelope (Empty used for sending money for subscriptions)

In Common: News for Common Cause Activists (Newsletter) 7 June 1974, Vol. 3, No. 8 (4 pages, double
sided)

Common Cause: Report from Washington (Newsletter) June 1974, Vol. 4, No. 6 (4 pages, double sided)

Common Cause Oklahoman (Bulletin) December 1974, Vol. 1, No. 3, (2 double sided pages)

Common Cause 1974 & 1975 Achievements and Goals: Report from Washington, Vol. 5, No. 4, March
1975

Common Cause Report from Washington, Vol. 5, No. 2, December 1974 – January 1975 “First Dividends
on 1975 CC Reform Drive”
 The Collection Information:

The Wesner Papers

Provenance Section Questions:

Dates: To be determined questions needed for CAC

Who are the donors?

Charles and Lyntha Wesner

Who are the creators?

Creators- Needs clarification

The City of Norman Papers - Charles and Lyntha Wesner (need to verify)
The Sierra Club Papers - possibly just Charles? (need to confirm)
Questions regarding the timeline for the various transfer of records will have to be addressed to
the CAC.

How did this collection come to CAC/ OU? Clarify with the CAC - Charles Albert
Center. Could just be OU and not CAC.

The narrative in the email seems fundamentally driven by Lyntha Wesner (see
#projectdocumentation in SLACK)

Need to determine if the initial inquiry on behalf of Lyntha Wesner was the primary contact that
drove the process of donation

• Did the materials arrive all at one time or on several trips?

Correspondence reflects three different deposits

• If multiple trips, what are the dates of each arrival.

• how many boxes were used to delivery materials?

Biographical/Historical Note Element

This section contain external information
-did the Wesner’s attend OU?

See DACS 2.7 and develop a few questions for the Wesners
Custodial Note Element

For the Group:

Some thoughts about provenance, original order and authenticity.

As we have read and discussed in class, conceptually speaking, a collection’s provenance

extends our understanding of the social and historical context of the collection. In practical terms
a collection’s provenance is maintained by keeping records that were created, acquired, used
and/or retained by the same organization or person together. Thusly, the organization/person who
developed the collection is known as the ‘creator’. In our case, this may not be as straight
forward as listing Charles and Lyntha as the creators. It may be the case that the Norman City
papers were actually created by Lyntha and the Sierra Club papers by Charles but combined they
comprise the Wesner Papers. We will need to ask questions about the state of papers when they
were transferred. By retaining information about the context of the collection as it was when it
was donated/deeded/transferred to the archive the collection’s authenticity is maintained.

The collection we are describing (See “projectdocumentation” message from N. Gerth on Slack:
https://lis5463-wesnerpapers.slack.com/messages/C62F53EGY/) entails:

City of Norman Papers consisting of:

“Personal materials,lists of supporters, newspaper articles, ads on different campaigns and

organizations....in one big box” which were created presumably by both Charles and Lyntha
Wesner.

And a separate fonds “Sierra Club Papers”

As we can see in the project documentation thread the collection in its entirety is a mix of things,
much of which was not written by the Wesners. Yet, because they collected the materials
together they share the same provenance. If provenance works to preserve the external integrity
of a collection then original order maintains the internal integrity. Embedded within the creator’s
organization are the relationships among the records; that is the context in which the records
came to be part of cohesive collection.

In the case of the Sierra Club papers, it is not clear whether or not Lyntha was a co-creator of
these papers.
 Provenance Group Statement Draft:

Introduction:
The Wesner Papers were donated through a gift to the Carl Albert by Lyntha and Charles Wesner
of Norman, Oklahoma in Month(s), 2017. The papers are comprised of two series one dealing
with Charles Wesner’s involvement as a leader in The Sierra Club and Ms. Lyntha Wesner’s
civic and political engagements.

Relationship of the Creators/Donors to the Content:

In this section we would briefly describe the significance of the papers in terms of the Wesners’
relationship to the City of Norman and The Sierra Club and the activities/events/issues their
papers reflect.

What we know:
In 1971 Charles Wesner became a founding member of the Norman Group of the Sierra Club.
The papers in this series span (Date ranges needed).

Question: His email reflects involvement to the present. Does he intend to make a subsequent
donation.

Lyntha Wesner is a former City council member representing Ward 4 during (year-year).
Lyntha And Charles Wesner are long time city residents and civic leaders in Norman, Oklahoma.
Their papers document their separate and collective activities beginning in 1960s - ???
to (Present????)

Chain of custody:
Email correspondence dated 20 Jan 2017 between Lyntha Wesner and Cindy Rosenthal, Director
and Curator of the Carl Abbott Center reflects Lyntha Wesner’s desire to preserve important
documents pertaining to the “City’s open accommodations amendment, speeches by Fielding
Haas and Earl Sneed…”. Further email correspondence dated 16 March 2017 between Ms
Wesner and Ms Rosenthal reflects planning for the formal transfer of “one large box” of
“personal materials, lists of supporters, newspaper articles, ads on different campaigns and
organizations” to the Carl Albert Center.

On 26 May, 2017 Charles Wesner sent an email to Nathan Gerth, Archivist of the Carl Albert
Center stating that he was seeking a permanent home for the Sierra Club Papers he has kept since
he became a founding member of the Norman Group in 1971. Wesner wrote “ I have kept many
of the papers dealing with local and statewide issues that we have been involved with over those
years: Scenic Rivers, Black Fox, national forest and wilderness issues in SE Oklahoma, utility
rate cases, political candidate campaigns as well as City of Norman growth issue.”

Disposition: (Maintaining the original order, this marks the transition point from accession to
arrangement and description)
The next paragraph needs to include a statement about the initial disposition of the collection.
Here’s an example of what might be written to this effect:
The first effort at sorting papers was conducted by University of Oklahoma students in July,
2017 under the aegis of Nathan Berth, PhD. The City of Norman series was transported to
Tulsa by Dr. Gerth in one box containing letters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, publications,
campaign materials etc without regard to topic, source or date. The Sierra Club Papers were
divided between # of boxes and were minimally arranged into folders by topic and or
date. Students in Norman….

Lead in to arrangement
Students in Dr. Gerth’s class…..

Questions to be posed to CAC Staff

1. Were the papers transferred in more than one installment?
2. Were these installments divided between the two series
3. What were the actual dates of the transfer?
4. How were the records transferred? Were they physically carried by the Wesner’s to the
CAC? Shipped?
5. Was there a face to face meeting between the donors and CAC staff? ]
6. Was any prior processing done with either series or were they presented to the class in
the same state that they were transferred?

Alternatively we could be true minimalists :-)

The Wesner Papers comprising two record series; The City of Norman Series and The Sierra
Club Series were donated to the Carl Albert Center in Month, 2017 by Lyntha and Charles
Wesner of Norman, Oklahoma. Property rights are maintained by the Carl Albert Center.
 Final Product:

Biographical/Historical

Married in Lawton, Oklahoma on July 28th, 1962, Charles and Lyntha Wesner have supported
one another’s lifelong commitment to servant leadership and advocacy on behalf of Oklahomans
at the local, state and regional level.

Charles and Lyntha Wesner’ individual and collaborative advocacy efforts are illustrated
throughout the papers in this collection. As Mrs. Wesner notes, “Charles and I share a lifetime
interest in public policy, especially as it relates to the environment. With the passage of NEPA in
1969, followed by significant improvements to the Clean Water Act (CWA) we were positive
and hopeful that our country could move forward in this area.”

In the summer of 1966, four years after graduating from The University of Oklahoma in 1962,
Mrs. Wesner returned to Norman, Oklahoma with her husband Charles and their young sons,
Jake and Ben. Upon returning Dr. Wesner established his dental practice, and Mrs. Wesner
became a volunteer in the Norman Public Schools. While volunteering, she “learned about the
needs of Norman Youth by working on the Juvenile Shelter Board.” She “soon found City
Government fascinating and tried to learn what [she] could” as a member on the local
government study committee of the League of Women voters. She remains an active member of
the League to this day.

In 1973-74 Mrs. Wesner completed graduate course-work in political science and public
administration and used that knowledge to propel her burgeoning interest in city government and
advocacy. In 1975 Ms. Wesner was elected to the Norman City Council and re-elected in 1977.
In the same year her fellow council members elected her to serve as Mayor Pro Tempore. As
Lyntha notes “Charles’ support when I was elected to the Norman City Council was critical, as I
also had responsibilities as a mother of two young sons.”

In 1971 Dr. Wesner became a founding member of the Sierra Club’s Norman Chapter, “Red
Earth” covering Norman and Southern Oklahoma. Charles has continued to serve in varied
leadership roles within the Sierra Club at the local group (Red Earth), chapter (Oklahoma State),
regional and national level. In the 1970s Charles served on the Norman (Red Earth) Group’s
executive committee as both vice chair and chair. He resumed leadership again in 2008 until
2011 and most recently held an appointment to the executive committee from 2013 to 2017. His
current appointments entail membership on the chapter’s legislative committee, the staff
oversight committee and as the chapter’s compliance officer.

Together, Dr. and Mrs. Wesner have endeavored promoting citizens’ engagement with public
advocacy through the organization “Common Cause.” Their active involvement spans the
organization’s history from its inception in the 1970s to the present. Due in part to their shared
efforts Common Cause remains a vital voice for public accountability at the national level and is
well represented by its Oklahoma affiliate.
Marvin Baker is a retired Professor Emeritus of Geography who taught at the University of
Oklahoma from 1971-1999. He was also an active

participant in the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club during this time. He served as Chairman of the
Oklahoma Chapter from and of the Southern Plains Regional Conservation Committee in the late 1970s.
He knew Charles Wesner through their time in the Sierra Club. The records he sent to Charles Wesner in
July 2017 further flesh out the history of the organization during the time Wesner was active in it.

Scope and Contents

This collection documents the political activities of Charles Wesner, a founding member of the
Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club, and his wife Lyntha Wesner, a local activist and councilwoman in
the City of Norman government, from 1960-1997. The records in the collection attest to the Wesners'
environmental and civic concerns, and documentation of the couples' participation in the League of
Women Voters, Common Cause, and the Sierra Club reveal their commitment to promoting democratic
values by ensuring citizen participation. The bulk of the collection consists of typed and handwritten
correspondence, administrative records, newsletters, and research related to Lyntha's role in Norman
government and to the Sierra Club in the mid- to late-1970s. Executive committee meeting minutes,
agendas, membership lists, foundational documents from 1971, and correspondence provide insight to
the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club's internal functions and activities, while newsletters,
correspondence, informational pamphlets, and news clippings reveal the major concerns of the group
during the collection period. Major concerns include the China Study in 1960, the National Clean Water
Act of 1972, Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company rates and utility reform, natural areas in Oklahoma
and the south, water quality and development plans, environmental impact statements, the plans for
the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant, and the Alaska National Land Act. Information focuses on the
Norman Chapter (Red Earth Group), the Oklahoma Chapter, the Southern Plains Regional Conservation
Committee, and the Gulf Coast Regional Conservation Committee within the Sierra Club. The collection
also includes advertisements, campaign buttons, flyers, and other materials related to Lyntha's election
campaign for city council in 1975 as well as her role in managing Bill Dawson's 1978 campaign and
documentation from other elections.