Inventory of the Roy L. Ray Papers, 1978-1988

Biography of Roy L. Ray

Roy Ray spent much of his life serving the City of Akron. He began his career as a research analyst at the City of Akron Service Department in 1969. He became Deputy Service Director in 1971, moved on to Public Utilities Commissioner in 1973, became Budget Director in 1975 and then Finance Director in 1977. In 1980 he launched a successful bid to become Mayor of Akron, where he served until 1984. After losing his bid for a second term as mayor in 1983, Ray went on to campaign for and win a seat in the Ohio Senate in 1986.

Scope and Content

The papers cover the years from approximately 1978 to 1988. They contain materials relating to Roy Ray's term as Mayor of the City of Akron and a small amount of material related to his tenure as an Ohio State Senator. The papers would be of value for the study of mayoral campaigns and the daily activities of the Mayor of Akron during the early 1980s. The papers contain campaign manuals and budgets of the 1979 and 1983 mayoral campaigns. It also includes photographs of Ray campaigning, although there are many fewer for the 1983 campaign than for the 1979 campaign. There are also photographs of Ray performing mayoral duties, such as handing out proclamations and cutting ribbons. However, many of these photographs do not include identification of the event or the people in the photograph. The collection also includes budgets and plans for the city of Akron from 1980 projected through to 1988. Lacking from the collection is official correspondence to and from the mayor's office. Ray's official Senate correspondence is also absent.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to reproduce or publish materials in this collection must be secured in writing from Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron

Restrictions on Access

No restrictions on access; except not available through interlibrary loan.

City of Akron, Office of the Mayor, Roy L. Ray Records, 1980-1984 City of Akron, Office of the Mayor, John S. Ballard Records, 1966-1979 City of Akron, Office of the Mayor, Thomas C. Sawyer Records, 1983-1986

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Persons:

Technical Requirements

A VHS video cassette player and television is needed to watch the political commercials for Ray's 1986 Ohio Senate Campaign from Box 3, Folder 22. An Audio cassette player is needed to listen to the Louis Rukeyser cassette tape from Box 3, Folder 26.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Roy L. Ray Papers, Archival Services, University Libraries, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

Roy L. Ray donated this material to the University of Akron Archival Services.

Processing Information

Processed by Archival Services Staff. Reprocessed by Mark Bloom, 2009

Detailed Description of The Collection