Guide to the Dorothy Nichols Dolbey Papers

Biography of Dorothy N. Dolbey

Dorothy Nichols Dolbey, Cincinnati's first female mayor, was a Cincinnati native and a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. She received a master's degree for Columbia's Teacher's College. She was first elected to Cincinnati City Council in 1953 on the Charter ticket and was elected by her colleagues be Vice Mayor in December of 1955. Upon the death of Mayor Edward Waldvogel, Dolbey served as acting mayor for eight months in 1954. Dolbey continued to serve on Cincinnati's City Council as a member of the Charter Party until 1961. Mrs. Dolbey was also highly active in civic and religious organizations including the Better Housing League, the Women's City Club, and the YWCA. She served as president of both the Cincinnati Council of Church Women United and the National Church Women United. Dolbey was married to James M. Dolbey and had two children, James Morton Dolbey, Jr. and Elizabeth Dolbey Rule. Dolbey died in 1991.

Sources: "Dorothy Dolbey," Biographical File, University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library.; "Dorothy Dolbey, 82, City Leader," Cincinnati Post, 14 February 1991, Sec. A, p. 9.; Miller, Martha "Dorothy Dolbey, civic leader" Cincinnati Enquirer, 14 February 1991, Sec. D, p. 4.

Scope and Content

The papers of Dorothy Nichols Dolbey include files on religious, civic and political committees in which she was involved, her speeches to various organizations, biographical information, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research.

The University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library also holds two other collections of Dorothy Nichols Dolbey's papers. The accession numbers for these collections are US-76-4A and US-76-4B. For more information on these collections, please visit the Archives and Rare Books web page:
http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/archives/collections/urban_coll.html#ae

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.

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Preferred Citation

The preferred form of citation for this collection is: Cite specific item as appropriate, Dorothy Nichols Dolbey Papers, US-75-15, Archives and Rare Books Library, The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Detailed Description of The Collection