Florida State University Libraries
Portions of collection available online? : No
The Daisy Parker Flory Collection was given to Special Collections in February 1994.
Collection is open to research
Copyright holder for this collection: Copyright has not been transferred to the Florida State University Libraries
All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of University Libraries. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Daisy Parker Flory Papers, Special Collections, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida
Special Collections staff member Burt Altman processed the collection in March-April, 2005
Daisy Parker Flory was born February 8, 1915 in Charlotte, N.C., the daughter of Julius Monrie and Daisy (Kidd) Parker. She attended Florida State College for Women (FSCW) in 1933, and earned her Bachelor's degree in History from that institution in 1937.
While she attended FSCW, she was elected to the 1936-37 Mortar Board, the first national organization honoring senior college women. Flory was editor of the Mortar Board Quarterly from 1950 to 1956, served on the Katherine Wills Coleman Fellowship Committee from 1959 to 1965, and was Parliamentarian for the Mortar Board Conventions in 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1970. In 2001, she was named the recipient of the Eighth Distinguished Lifetime Mortar Board Award.
In 1937, she began her professional career as a teacher of government and history at Leon High School. Some of her students at FSU included former governor Reubin Askew, former Supreme Court Justice Alan Sundberg, and Attorney General Jim Smith. She attended the University of Virginia, where she received her M.A. in Political Science in 1940 and Ph.D. in 1959. Flory came to FSCW in 1942, where her career took her through the academic chairs of Instructor (1942), Assistant Professor (1947), Associate Professor (1957), Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs (1969), and Dean of the Faculties (1973). In 1973, she also married Claude R. Flory, an FSU professor of English, who retired in June 1978.
In those days, it was most unusual for a woman to serve as Dean of the Faculties, but her wisdom and the respect she earned from her colleagues made her a leader in the academic world. She served during a very difficult time of student unrest (and sometimes violence) on college campuses. As Dean of the Faculties, she was responsible for coordinating University-wide academic matters including faculty promotion and tenure, administration of faculty appointments, curricular approvals, faculty and professional development programs and responses to requests from the Florida Board of Regents on academic matters.
As Dean of the Faculties, Flory was directed by President Bernard Sliger to secure for FSU "Title Nine Certification," and FSU became the first university in Florida to do so. For this achievement, she was elected to the FSU Athletic Hall of Fame-to the great amusement of family and friends who knew her lack of athletic prowess! In 1981, she received the Ross Oglesby Award for outstanding service; in 1982, the Moore-Stone Award for outstanding support of athletics; in 1983, the Herbert Morgan Award for individual service to further women's athletics and the Distinguished Service Award; and in 1984, the Seminole Award for outstanding leadership and service.
When Flory retired at the end of 1984, a special "Daisy Parker Flory Day" was declared in her honor. During the festivities, the Department of Political Science, in which Flory taught a course on Florida Government for over 40 years, conferred upon her the title of Professor Emeritus. The University also established the Daisy Parker Flory Professorship in her honor. In 1986, she received an honorary Doctoral Degree from FSU. She was very active with The Emeritus Club (graduates of 50 years or more), serving as President and Program Committee Chair. She also helped the Club raise $600,000 to establish the Edward Conradi Eminent Professorship to honor President Conradi, who served from 1909 to 1941.
For a number of years, Flory served on the Committee of Thirty whose charge is to secure funds from corporations, alumni, and others to support women in organized athletic activities in the Atlantic Coast Conference (basketball, volleyball, softball) and also to solicit increased support from the University for women in organized athletics. She and her husband Claude personally established a full scholarship for women's volleyball.
Flory has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Sigma Alpha, Phi Alpha Theta, and Pi Gamma Nu. She has been President of the Tallahassee Branch of AAUW and the Tallahassee Historical Society, Secretary of the Southern Political Science Association, and a member of the Governor's Study Committee on Personnel. Even at 86, she still attended the meetings of the Sesquicentennial Committee on her campus, planning for the celebration of FSU's 150th Anniversary Celebration on January 24, 2001.
Flory also served the residents of Westminster Oaks, a retirement community where she and her husband lived. She provided outstanding speakers for their Friday night Lecture Series and for the Women's Breakfasts, such as FSU Eminent Professor Dr. Leo Sandon, nationally-known professor of religion; Dr. William Warren Rogers, well-known writer of southern and regional history; Dr. James O'Brien, a meteorologist nationally-known for his research on the weather phenomena El Nino and La Nina, as well as hurricanes; Dr. Donald Horward, internationally-known expert on Napoleonic strategy who has taught at FSU and at West Point on Napoleonic campaigns; and former Governor Reuben Askew, a former Flory student and now Eminent Professor.
Her writings include:
- Background for Public Decision-Making
- Proceedings of the Pre-Session Conference for Florida Legislators held at the Florida State University, January 26-28, (Tallahassee, Fla: Institute of Governmental Research, The Florida State University 1967)
- Executive Branch in the Florida Constitution, Prepared for the Florida Constitution Revision Commission (Created by Senate Bill No. 977, Approved June 24, 1965) (Tallahassee, Fla: Institute of Governmental Research, The Florida State University, 1966)
- The Florida Executive and Constitutional Revision (Tallahassee, Fla.: Institute of Governmental Research, The Florida State University, 1967)
- John Milton, Governor of Florida (Thesis: Honors Paper, Florida State University, 1937).
FSU's Reichelt Oral History Program includes a recorded interview (with transcript), with Claude and Daisy Parker Flory.
The Daisy Parker Flory Collection documents many aspects of Dr. Flory's professional life, and is valuable to researchers studying Florida elections, higher education in Florida, state government reorganization, and changes in the Florida executive and legislative branches of government from the late 1950s through the 1970s. The majority of the papers are subject files containing materials she used in teaching Florida Government classes at Florida State University. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, and reference materials, mostly journals. The class materials originally included several boxes of deteriorating newspaper clippings. Several sample folders were retained, and news clippings from these folders were photocopied. Samples of some journals she used in her work were retained for the reference files.
The subject files form the bulk of the collection. From the kinds of research materials in the collection, it is evident that she used these for her FSU Florida Government classes. They include articles, newspaper clippings, newsletters, copies of legislation, and reports. Topics cover the anti-tax movement, bail reform, the Florida Board of Regents, the Florida Cabinet, Constitutional Revision, Florida Elections, Government and the Arts, Higher Education in Florida, Legislative Reorganization, the Merit System, Political Parties in Florida, Public Administration, Reapportionment, and the Sunshine Amendment
Includes The Politics of Interstate Route Selection: A Cast Study of Interest Activities in a Decision Situation (1967), by Dr. Robert Van Barrow
Speech by State Florida Senator Scott Kelly before the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs, Sept. 25, 1964, at Cocoa Beach, FL.
Concerns state control of secondary school curriculums and competency requirements for new teachers
Includes publication Republican Campaign Financing in Florida, by Elston Roady and Carl D. McMurray, and Roady's speech, "A New Role for the Republican Party in Florida," at the Southern Political Science Association meeting, November 8, 1968, Gatlinburg, TN
Includes student paper by Claude J. Johns, and student paper by Dal Albritton
Includes curricula for Florida Government 314 and Florida Government 408
Includes photocopy of Flory's dissertation from the University of Virginia (1959), "An Examination of the Florida Executive"