Fran NATHAN
Fran Nathan died at her home in NYC on December 22, 2017, at the age of 88. A private memorial gathering was held on Christmas Eve.
Born Frances Elson in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fran went to Smith College and first came to NYC as part of the executive training program at Bloomingdale’s, where she worked for six years. Following marriage and three children, Fran began volunteering for Planned Parenthood, where her husband Frederic S. Nathan was doing pro bono legal work. Fran’s volunteer efforts inevitably led to a paid position with the assignment of forming a New York chapter of the organization.
In the 1970s, she served as executive director of New York State National Abortion Rights Action League (NYS-NARAL), an affiliate of the National Abortion Rights Action League. In 1977, subsequent to the International Women's Year (1975), she was a delegate to both the New York State Women's Meeting in Albany and the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. Her papers from this period are available in the Archives of The New York Public Library.
In 1980, through a contact with then NYPL president Richard Cooper, Fran began working on a part-time basis as the Library’s first Legislative Relations Officer. In this position, she created a broad-based, systematic method for staff to interact with elected officials—through letter-writing campaigns, attendance at community board meetings, and visits to legislators’ offices—locally and in Albany and Washington. She worked with staff to establish community support or friends groups and to identify library users to speak at budget hearings and accompany staff on legislative visits. Her work with the Library’s Budget Action Committee (made up primarily of Regional Librarians and representatives from the Research Libraries and central offices) led to training sessions and to the Budget Action Handbook, which codified this legislative approach. She credits Edwin Holmgren and B. MacDonald for their support in making this work possible.
Fran left the Library in 1990 but stayed in touch with many of the friends she made. She attended the Retirees Association Luncheon this past May and was eager to see the movie Ex Libris. She was a charter ticket-holder to the Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y and loved attending with library friends. She remained active until shortly before her death, swimming most days, making calls to legislators, reading broadly in the area of Russian history, and visiting the Webster Branch to pick up the many holds she reserved online.
Fran was interviewed for the NYPL Retirees Association Oral History Project in 2013.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 39, page 13.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 11.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 35, page 28.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 5, 8.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 26, page 20.
Fran Nathan died at her home in NYC on December 22, 2017, at the age of 88. A private memorial gathering was held on Christmas Eve.
Born Frances Elson in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fran went to Smith College and first came to NYC as part of the executive training program at Bloomingdale’s, where she worked for six years. Following marriage and three children, Fran began volunteering for Planned Parenthood, where her husband Frederic S. Nathan was doing pro bono legal work. Fran’s volunteer efforts inevitably led to a paid position with the assignment of forming a New York chapter of the organization.
In the 1970s, she served as executive director of New York State National Abortion Rights Action League (NYS-NARAL), an affiliate of the National Abortion Rights Action League. In 1977, subsequent to the International Women's Year (1975), she was a delegate to both the New York State Women's Meeting in Albany and the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. Her papers from this period are available in the Archives of The New York Public Library.
In 1980, through a contact with then NYPL president Richard Cooper, Fran began working on a part-time basis as the Library’s first Legislative Relations Officer. In this position, she created a broad-based, systematic method for staff to interact with elected officials—through letter-writing campaigns, attendance at community board meetings, and visits to legislators’ offices—locally and in Albany and Washington. She worked with staff to establish community support or friends groups and to identify library users to speak at budget hearings and accompany staff on legislative visits. Her work with the Library’s Budget Action Committee (made up primarily of Regional Librarians and representatives from the Research Libraries and central offices) led to training sessions and to the Budget Action Handbook, which codified this legislative approach. She credits Edwin Holmgren and B. MacDonald for their support in making this work possible.
Fran left the Library in 1990 but stayed in touch with many of the friends she made. She attended the Retirees Association Luncheon this past May and was eager to see the movie Ex Libris. She was a charter ticket-holder to the Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y and loved attending with library friends. She remained active until shortly before her death, swimming most days, making calls to legislators, reading broadly in the area of Russian history, and visiting the Webster Branch to pick up the many holds she reserved online.
Fran was interviewed for the NYPL Retirees Association Oral History Project in 2013.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 39, page 13.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 11.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 35, page 28.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 5, 8.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 26, page 20.