Carrie Bash Collection

Collection

Identifier: A3379

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection includes certificates, correspondence, brochures and booklets, and records related to Carrie Bash and her employment with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and with her activities in the St. Louis African American community. The files are arranged alphabetically by topic and date from 1969 to 2015. The bulk of the materials date from 1971 to 1994. The collection primarily relates to Bash’s professional life with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. There is also some correspondence, two copies of Bash’s resume, and her obituary. Filed with Bash’s obituary is a draft obituary for her husband, Harry. There is a file on Whitney M. Young which includes a sheet of commemorative postal stamps issued in his honor in 1981. Notable items relating to the Urban League include memos regarding the 1979 merger between the St. Louis and St. Clair County affiliates (f.16) and a fold-out brochure with details about the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport expansion in 1981 and its Kinloch Tomorrow plan (f.7). There are also agreements with the Missouri Historical Society and exhibition outlines relating to the Urban League’s 75th anniversary and history (f.13, 15) and several event programs and a press kit.

Dates

1969-2015
Majority of material found within 1971-1994

Creator

Bash, Carrie Eugenia (Streeter), 1918-2015 (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, quote from, or reproduce material in this collection, please contact the Archives Reference Desk at archives@mohistory.org. Copyright restrictions may apply. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright.

Biographical Note

Carrie Eugenia Street was born in Madisonville, Kentucky, on June 10, 1918. The Streets moved to Indianapolis when Carrie was a young child. She graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1935 and then attended Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. Carrie met graduate student Harry H. Bash (1926-2017) in Bloomington, Indiana. In September 1958, due to Indiana's miscegenation laws, the couple married in New York City and then moved to Philadelphia. Carrie completed her bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1962 and began graduate studies at Bryn Mawr University. In 1962, Carrie Bash began work with the Urban League of Philadelphia where she focused on its housing program. When Dr. Harry Bash secured a faculty position at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1966, she transferred to the Urban League of St. Louis with the title of director of research and planning. Carrie continued to work with the housing program in St. Louis, taking on more responsibilities with job training programs and revitalization efforts in Kinloch, Missouri, among other projects. In 1979, Governor Teasdale appointed her to the State Advisory Council on Vocational Education. In 1980, Carrie Bash became executive vice president and in 1992, after 30 years with Urban League affiliates, she retired with the title of senior vice president. In retirement, Carrie Bash retained her affiliation with the Urban League Guild and continued her activism. She served on the board of the Housing Authority of St. Louis County until 1999 and volunteered with Confluence St. Louis (later FOCUS St. Louis). Carrie Bash died at the age of 96 after a protracted illness on March 29, 2015.