James Worthy Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains the personal papers of James Worthy relating to his time as a member of the President’s Commission on Campaign Costs, the Illinois Board of Education’s Master Plan Committee N on Governing Structure, and as a Professor of Public Administration and Management at Sangamon State University. It includes meeting agendas and minutes, reports, correspondence, memoranda, class notes, and memoirs on the SSU Management Program written by Worthy. It is divided into three series: President’s Commission on Campaign Costs, Illinois Board of Education - Master Plan Committee N on Governing Structure, and Sangamon State University.
Series I: President’s Commission on Campaign Costs, 1956-1962, contains meeting agendas and minutes, memoranda, correspondence, and reports relating to campaign funds, the financing of federal elections, political contributions, and party finance, along with the commission’s final report on financing presidential campaigns. Correspondents include Walter P. Ruether, Alexander Heard, Lee C. White, Herber E. Alexander, Charles Percy, Irvin Lechliter, and Russell B. Long. Arranged alphabetically.
Series II: Illinois Board of Education - Master Plan Committee N on Governing Structure, 1964-1971, contains correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, and reports relating to campus issues and the governance of universities in Illinois. Arranged alphabetically.
Series III: Sangamon State University, 1972-1978, contains correspondence, memoranda, class notes, Management program planning files, teaching evaluations, personnel files, and memoirs on the management program written by Worthy. Arranged alphabetically.
Dates
- 1956-1978
Creator
- Worthy, James (Person)
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the University of Illinois- Springfield (UIS).
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection are held by UIS.
Biography
James Carson Worthy was born on January 8, 1910 in Midland, Texas to James Arthur Worthy and Minnie (Gressett) Worthy. He grew up in Glenwood, Illinois and began studying at Northwestern University’s College of Liberal Arts as an Austin Scholar in 1929. In 1931, he joined Northwestern’s School of Commerce, class of 1933.
Worthy received an A.B. from Lake Forest College, an LL. D. from Chicago Theological Seminary, and an honorary LL. D. from Lake Forest College.
Throughout his career, Worthy held positions in both public and private organizations. Upon leaving Northwestern, Worthy served as the Assistant Deputy Administration for the National Recovery Administration from 1933-1936. From 1936-1938 Worthy was the Employment Manager for Schuster and Company in Milwaukee, WI. He joined Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago as a member of the personnel staff in 1938, and from 1950-1953 he was their Director of Employee Relations.
From 1953-1955 Worthy served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce under President Eisenhower, after which he returned to Sears as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Board in 1955 and the Vice President of Public Relations from 1956-1961. He continued acting as a consultant for the Department of Commerce from 1956-1958, and from 1961-1962 was a member of the President’s Commission on Campaign Costs. He joined Cresap, McCormick and Paget as a partner and Chicago branch director in 1962, where he remained until 1972.
Worthy joined Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois-Springfield) in 1972 as a Professor of Public Affairs and Management. He left SSU in 1978 and joined Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he served additionally as the Senior Fellow for the Austin Scholars program.
Worthy married Mildrid Louise Leritz (Northwestern University Class of 1934) in 1934, with whom he had one child. Joan Worthy Barr graduated from the Kellogg School of Management in 1966 and was mayor of Evanston from 1985 to 1993.
Worthy passed away on November 4, 1998 in Evanston, IL.
Extent
2.2 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Provenance
Transferred to the archives by James Worth on June 22, 1973 and at a later date.
Property Rights
UIS owns the property rights to this collection.
Processing Information
This collection was reprocessed in July 2025.
Creator
- Worthy, James (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid to the James Worthy Papers
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the UIS Archives/Special Collections Repository
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
One University Plaza, MS BRK 140
Springfield IL 62703-5407 US
217-206-6520
archives@uis.libanswers.com