MS-110 Public Opinion Center Records

Introduction

The Public Opinion Center Records were accessioned into the Archives in 1976. They were received from a local Dayton organization as part of a larger collection. The records are contained in five Hollinger boxes and are located on second floor of the University library, Room 215. Span dates of the collection are from October, 1970 to September, 1975.

Linear feet of shelf space occupied: 2.5
Approximate number of items: 70

Literary rights in the unpublished writings of these papers have been dedicated to the public. The records are open to the public for research use without restrictions. Property rights in the Public Opinion Center Records reside in Wright State University. Archives and Special Collections reserve the right to duplicate or reproduce material in this collection. Citations for research purposes should refer to Archives and Special Collections, Wright State University.

History

The Public Opinion Center was located at 941 Third National Building, 32 North Main Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402, telephone: (513) 228-8134. This agency was begun in September, 1970 under auspices of the Dayton-Miami Valley Consortium (DMVC), a regional federation of institutions of higher education. The records were part of the Community Research Incorporated collection.

The parent organization of CRI was the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, at 333 West Fifth Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402. MVRPC executive director was Dale E. Bertsch. CRI board chairman was John Torley, who also served as president of the Dayton Malleable Iron Company. CRI was a non-profit organization established in 1957 by civic and business leaders. It foundered after Dr. Jeptha Canell resigned as director in 1974 to take over at DMVC.

The Public Opinion Center was the nation’s fist opinion survey agency operated for the public benefit of a single regional community. The Center was established as a DMVC project for:

1. Urban research purposes
2. Enhancing urban communications
3. Testing public acceptance of alternative public programs
4. Measuring attitudinal changes on certain kinds of issues
5. Reducing citizen alienation and increasing citizen awareness and participation in public decision-making. The Center sought to identify community sentiment and help public and civic agencies develop and evaluate policies and programs.

The Center also tried to assist government agencies, non-profit organizations, and community groups with advice, technical assistance, and performance of in-depth surveys to meet special needs. The Public Opinion Center relied on the student and faculty resources of DMVC institutions and on trained interviewers and supervisors from the community to conduct its surveys.

Base support for the Center was provided by a Charles F. Kettering Foundation grant to the DMVC. The grant covered the first fourteen months of operation, as part of a proposed three year pilot project to assess the utility of public opinion polling in the Dayton Miami-Valley area; The Public Opinion Center became defunct in 1976. Key personnel included:

Public Opinion Center Staff
Executive Director: Michael S. Lenrow
Director of Community Services: Joseph E. Orndorff
Secretary: Susan F. Brenner

DMVC Staff
President: Charles J. Armstrong
Director of Community Services: Joseph E. Orndorff
Secretary to the President: Maxine Stucke
Secretary: Jill McGlothlin

Scope and Content

The Public Opinion Center Records document the survey studies and compiled results of those studies done from 1970 to 1975. The issues dealt with are social, political and business in nature. Topics are wide-ranging and cover Dayton and surrounding area communities. Strengths are city and county government, and MVRPC surveys. Records are arranged chronologically by survey and include survey descriptions, survey questions, answers to survey questions, survey results and data sheets. Some studies give a broad overview of attitudes toward various issues; others are more specific in their approach. Statistics were used with varying frequency to supplement some of the studies.

CRI was one institution which preceded the Center. Both came under direction of MVRPC. The CRI records were mostly manuscript material from the defunct DMVC Community Services Office. There were efforts to place CRI in the protective custody of MVRPC. CRI was once an influential body that supplied local leaders with information on issues like county charter, formation of Wright State, local Model Cities fund applications, and Pilot Cities criminal justice program. City-wide Development Corporation, a quasi-public active agency active in downtown development, grew out of a CRI study and was directed by a former CRI staff member, William Schneider.

There is an obvious gap in an October, 1974 Dayton survey on the Effectiveness of Municipal Services in Box Four. This is remedied in an August, 1975 follow-up survey in Box Five. See Section Five, page 54 on “Police and Public Safety”.

The collection consists of typed, bound or stapled sheets and provides invaluable research information about local attitudes in Dayton, Montgomery County, and other area communities. The material has been copied from the original survey reports. The records serve as extensive resource material for social, labor, and business historians and those interested in local history. Because they are recent records, some of the conclusions reached may still be valid today. Through these documents the researcher can trace the development of public attitudes in the Dayton-Miami Valley area during the first half of the 1970’s.

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