Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message Charlotte H. Miller Navajo Collection 1946-1953MSS-158
Biographical NoteCharlotte Huggins was born in Columbus, Ohio on June 30, 1904. She attended school in Grandview Heights, a suburb of Columbus, graduating from North High School in 1922. She attended the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music as a piano major and transferred to Ohio State University in 1923. In 1933 Huggins moved with her mother and brother to Southern California. After attending the Southwest Secretarial and Business College in Los Angeles she took a position as Secretary and Office Manager at the School of Government at the University of Southern California. An appointment to the Director of the Institute of Government led to a Civil Service appointment as Administrative Assistant to the Director of the City of Los Angeles Major Disaster Council. At the outbreak of World War II, Huggins was appointed Acting Director of the Major Disaster Emergency Council. She transferred to Sacramento, California in June of 1942 to be Administrative Assistant to the Director of the State of California War Council. She held this position until May 1944 when she joined the American Red Cross as Field Representative to Chapters in Northern and Central California. Responsible for 22 Chapters and 14 Branches, her duties included program development, budget and financial development, training workshops for disaster preparedness, and operational plans for Chapter staff and volunteers. She was also dispatched to scenes of national disasters to work as an Emergency Family Service Coordinator. Two of her disaster assignments, from which this collection grew, were to the Navajo Nation drought and blizzard emergency of 1948 and 1949-50. In 1955, Huggins married Ernest Miller. She held the position of Executive Assistant to the Palo Alto Chapter Director from 1962 until she retired in 1973. She continued to volunteer for the American Red Cross after her retirement, totaling 54 years of paid and volunteer service. She died in California on March 29, 2002.
Scope and Content NoteThe Charlotte H. Miller Navajo Collection contains correspondence, ephemera, and photographs dating from 1946 to 1953. These materials document her time serving the Red Cross Disaster Relief during the 1948 drought and the 1949-50 blizzard on the Navajo Nation. The correspondence consists of letters that Charlotte Miller wrote to her mother and other family members from April to May 1949. Also included is a list of Navajo names given to Red Cross staff members. The ephemera includes newsletters, journals, and publications regarding the Navajo Indians and Navajo education. Specific examples of note are The Navajo Blizzard Emergency, The Little Herder by Ann Clark, three issues of Arizona Highways, issues of The Padres Trail, and information on Intermountain Indian School. The four folders of photographs contain pictures taken by Navajo Service photographer Milton Snow. ArrangementThis collection consists of a single box.RestrictionsAccess RestrictionsTo view this collection, please contact Ask an Archivist or call (480) 965-4932 at least five days in advance. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Patrons can also arrange to view this collection at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center (rm. 305) at Fletcher Library on the West campus. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability. CopyrightThe Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application. Access TermsPersonal Name(s) Miller, Charlotte H., 1904-. Corporate Name(s) American National Red Cross. Geographic Name(s) Navajo Indian Reservation. Subject(s) Blizzards -- Navajo Indian Reservation. Disaster relief -- Arizona. Droughts -- Navajo Indian Reservation. Emergency management -- Arizona. Navajo Indians -- History -- 20th century. Red Cross and Red Crescent -- Navajo Indian Reservation. Administrative InformationPreferred Citation[Identification of item], Charlotte H. Miller Navajo Collection, MSS-158, Arizona State University Library. ProvenanceCharlotte H. Miller donated these papers in 2001 (ACC# 2001-02324). Other Finding AidsA calendar describing the photographs at the item level is available upon request at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center. Container List
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