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TABLE OF CONTENTSI. South River City Citizens (SRCC), 1971-1984 II. Women's Environmental Coalition (WE Care Austin), 1972-1984 |
Jean Mather PapersAn Inventory of the Collection
Biographical NoteJean Neville Allen Mather was born in 1925. In 1949, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Antioch College in Ohio. In 1952, she moved to Cambridge, MA, where she enrolled in the graduate program in landscape architecture at Harvard University. After completing her degree in 1956, she and her husband, Robert, travelled extensively in Europe. Mather eventually took a job in Sweden with the Stockholm Parks Department. While she stayed in Stockholm, Robert returned to the United States, where he was eventually hired by the Austin architectural firm of Jessen, Jessen, Millhouse and Greeven. Sometime between 1959 and 1961, Mather moved to Austin to join her husband. In Austin, Mather became very active in local neighborhood organizations and environmental planning committees. In 1972, she and Harriet Buxkemper formed the South River City Citizens neighborhood association (SRCC), a non-profit organization in South Austin, TX, that encompasses the area south of the Colorado River, north of Ben White Boulevard, east of South Congress Avenue and west of Parker Lane/IH-35. Following the Austin City Council's announcement that it would seek neighborhood participation in the Austin Tomorrow Plan, a citywide comprehensive planning effort used to guide urban development, the SRCC was organized at a meeting of representatives of the PTAs and churches within the boundaries of the old Travis Heights Elementary School. The SRCC saw the Austin Tomorrow Plan as a way to be heard by the city government, and so it began advocating for issues pertaining to its neighborhoods. The SRCC's first action concerned the IH-35 approach to Austin from the south. During the early to mid-1970s, it created a "master plan" for the neighborhood, using input from residents and an architecture class at the University of Texas at Austin. The SRCC's membership is volunteer-based and is open to all who live in the neighborhood. Its purpose is to improve the quality of life "by controlling zoning changes, pressuring for better schools, parks, and other city services, and planning street modifications to reduce the noise and danger from heavy traffic shortcutting [through] the neighborhood." The organization supports the area's schools by sponsoring educational programs and activities that further its membership goals. It also works to conserve parks and nature preserves, including Big Stacy Park, Little Stacy Park, and the Blunn Creek Nature Preserve. Mather was also active in the Women's Environmental Coalition (WE Care Austin), which was formed in 1972. Its goal was to engage local citizens in city-development decisions that affected the environment by providing educational programs and supporting neighborhood organizations. In 1973, it adopted as its long-term goal "working with Austin area planners and decision makers towards the development, adoption, and implementation of a comprehensive development plan for the total Austin area environment." The organization's first major project concerned the Congress Avenue beautification program, which fought to retain height limitations for downtown buildings in order to protect the view of the state capitol. Among its other activities, WE Care Austin sent letters to elected officials, made statements at public hearings, and presented the Lucadia Pease Award to individuals for outstanding achievements in environmental advocacy. It also published the annual Pocket Directory of Environmental Groups, Agencies and Services. The organization disbanded in 1994. Mather was president of the SRCC from 1976 to 1979; treasurer from 1982 to 2005; and president or co-president from 2005 to 2008. From 1981 to 1993, she served as a board member of WE Care Austin. From the 1970s to 2008, she also served on several City of Austin commissions: (1) the Austin Planning Commission (intermittently from 1970s through 2000s); (2) the Zoning and Platting Commission (2001 to 2002); (3) the Historic Landmark Commission (2002 to 2008); (4) the Downtown Commission (1998 to 2002). Return to the Table of Contents Scope and ContentsThe collection is composed of administrative and subject files of two organizations, the South River City Citizens and the Women's Environmental Coalition, in which Mather was active, as well as general subject files related to locations or issues in Austin, TX. The organizations in which Mather was involved primarily dealt with environmental, land-use, and quality-of-life issues in Austin. The subject files highlight the major zoning, building, and roadway changes of the 1970s and 1980s in Austin, TX, which were of concern to Mather. The South River City Citizens (SRCC) series (1971-1984) makes up the bulk of the collection and consists of records related to that organization. The administrative records that Mather kept include the organization's constitution and bylaws, materials distributed by the organization, Executive Committee meeting minutes and agendas, membership lists, position papers, and neighborhood questionnaires. Other records in the collection describe various projects and neighborhood areas that were of concern to the SRCC, including the Beaman Property, Blunn Creek, the Convention Center, the Fairview Park Neighborhood, Harper's Creek, Lake Austin, Live Oak, the Norwood Estate, the Purcell House, Reagan Terrace, the Sundowner Lounge, Symphony Square, and the Twin Oaks Library. The materials also include proposed zoning changes, special-permits requests, and proposed historical-landmark designations with which the organization was concerned, as well as newspaper clippings that mention the SRCC. The Women's Environmental Coalition (WE Care Austin) series (1972-1984) includes materials from the organization relating to city-development decisions that affected the environment. The WE Care Austin administrative records, which are limited, consist of membership lists, membership forms, meeting minutes, correspondence and public-relations planning materials. Additional files include materials describing the major local environmental concerns of the organization, such as Barton Springs, Congress Avenue, MoPac, and the Texas Capitol. Finally, there are materials related to the Lucadia Pease Awards, which WE Care Austin awarded to those who demonstrated outstanding achievements in environmental advocacy. The Other Neighborhood Organizations series (1972-1984) contains materials related to additional Austin neighborhood organizations in which Mather had an interest: the Austin Neighborhood Council, Save Austin Neighborhoods and Environment (SANE), Save Austin Neighborhoods East, the Texas Association of Neighborhoods, the Travis Heights Improvement Association, United South Austin, and West Austin Neighborhood Group (WANG). The Subject Files series (1957-1985) includes materials related to a variety of local environmental and property-specific subjects, such as the Austin Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, city growth and land annexation, tree and landscaping ordinances, the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, water, and wastewater. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents RestrictionsRestrictions on AccessOpen to all users. Restrictions on UseNone. Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents Related Material
Return to the Table of Contents Separated Material
Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred CitationJean Mather Papers (AR.W.003). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas. Acquisition InformationDonor #: DO/1985/034 Donation Date: 1985 March 12 Processing InformationInitial Inventory, Preliminary Processing, Final Processing, and Finding Aid by Kendra Malinowski and Roger Simon, February-April 2013. Return to the Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Collection
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