Dagmar Celeste Media and Public Relations materials

Finding Aid

Prepared by Laura E. Hogg, August 8, 1995; updated February 2018; Last Updated: August 2020

Inclusive Dates: 1982-1991
Extent: 1 cubic foot (1 record storage box)
Physical Location: 11th floor

Biographical Note: Dagmar Celeste was born in Krems, Austria on November 23, 1941. She studied English at Oxford University in England where she met her husband, Richard Celeste, future governor of Ohio (1983-1991); they were married in 1962. She received a B.A. in Women's Studies and Public Policy from Capital University in Columbus in 1982. In 1988, she completed a Master's Degree in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Ministry at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Dagmar and Richard Celeste have six children: three daughters and three sons. Being politically active in her own right, Dagmar has championed a myriad of causes concerned with the quality of life for families and communities. As the wife of the governor, and as a private citizen, she has served as an advocate for promoting women's issues, improved daycare and schools, welfare reforms, mental health and family violence intervention, substance abuse awareness and treatment, and peace education. During the Celeste Administration, she was visible as a speaker, columnist and volunteer. Achievements of special note as First Lady of Ohio included chairing the Ohio Recovery Council; spearheading the drive to establish the first state-sponsored on-site child care center and Employee Assistance Program in Ohio; initiating the Task Force on Family Violence; co-chairing the Governor's Commission on Volunteerism, and serving as Co-Chair of the Council on Holocaust Education. Since 1992, she has continued to remain politically active through such organizations as the National Peace Institute, Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, the Council for Ethics and Economics, and the Women's Community Fund in Cleveland.

Scope and Content:  The majority of documents and materials in this box were collected by Dagmar Celeste and her staff, and represent a record of her relations with and appearance in the media, especially Ohio newspapers. Included are press kit materials, biographical sketches, columns, speech texts, photographs and extensive newspaper clippings covering Dagmar Celeste's activities from 1982 to 1991 as First Lady of Ohio.

Arrangment: This collection is arranged in the following series: 

• Series 1: Media/Press Kit Materials
• Series 2: Biographical Sketches
• Series 3: Press Clippings: Dagmar's activities
• Series 4: Columns
• Series 5: Texts of Speeches and Addresses
• Series 6: Related Press Clippings and Publications
• Series 7: Miscellaneous Correspondence
• Series 8: Photographs

Acquisitions Information: This segment of the Dagmar Celeste Papers was given to Kent State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives in 1991.

Box 1
Folder -- Contents

1. Copy of inventory

Series 1: Media/Press Kit Materials

2. DIC Media Contacts, interview logs, miscellaneous correspondence and memos, photograph, copy of "Hindsight on Forsyth" column with correspondence, radio show transcript
3. DIC Press Kit Material, biographical sketches, press clippings of columns and other articles, photographs, miscellaneous memoranda, "Recovery is for Everyone" information sheet, 2 separate folders with logo "Ohio: the heart of it all" containing similar materials

Series 2: Biographical Sketches

4. File copies of "Damar I. Celeste - Ohio's Working First Lady : A Biography", "Dagmar Celeste", and "Dagmar I. Celeste"

Series 3: Press Clippings: Dagmar's activities

5. Gubernatorial Campaign, Sept. - Oct. 1982
6.  Interviews and Profiles, Dec. 1982 - July 1987
7. Speeches and Official Appearances, Dec. 1982 - Feb. 1989
8. Editorials and Letters to the Editor, March 1983 - Jan. 1985
9. Awards and Honors, March 1983 - Nov. 1983
10. Cultural and Social Appearances, Dec. 1982 - Sept. 1985
11. Austrian Newspaper Articles, 1982

Series 4: Columns

12. "Daddy Needs Daycare Too", file copy, 2 clippings
13.  "Easy Does It", file copy
14. "Enabling is Disabling", file copy
15. "Evil May Never Have the Final Word", file copy with media survey
16. "First Ladies Make Great First Mates", file copy
17. "Good Friends Make Better Parents", 1 clipping
18. "Grandparenting is Great Parenting", file copy
19. "Hindsight on Forsyth", file copy
20. "Is It Meaningless to Ponder Over Time Stopped?", file copy
21. "Love Yourself Like Your Neighbor?", file copy, 2 clippings
22. "Making Up Instead of Breaking Up", file copy, 1 clipping
23. "A Mighty Woman with a Torch", file copy
24. "The Missing Piece is Peace", file copy, 1 clipping
25. "On Loving, Living, and Leading", file copy, 1 clipping
26. "One Husband Away From Welfare", file copy, draft, 2 clippings
27. "The Power of Positive Linking", file copy
28. "Prevention is Not Prohibition?", file copy, draft
29. "Promoting Independence - Welfare", file copy
30. "Public Couples Are Partnerships", 1 clipping
31. "Success is a Moving Target", file copy
32. "Terrorism on the Home Front", file copy
33. "The White House Fantasy", file copy
34. "Who Elected Nancy?", file copy
35. "Women of Influence", file copy
36. "Words for the Heart", 2 file copies, 2 drafts (one with letter attached)
37. "Yesterday, Today and the Same Forever", file copy

Series 5: Texts of Speeches and Addresses

38. "Partners, Power and Peace: New Perspectives for a New Age", Cleveland City Club Forum, Sept. 1987
39. "We Are Singing For Our Lives and Our Dreams", Association of Women's Music and Culture, Indiana, May 1988
40. Soviet Jewish Families Reception, Sept. 1989

Series 6: Related Press Clippings and Publications

41. Governor's Mansion, press clippings and editorials, Jan. 1983 - March 1984; booklet: "Governor's Residence Art Collection, 1987-1988"
42. Celeste Administration, press clippings and editorials, Nov. 1983 - March 1989
43. Ohio Issues and Events, press clipping and editorials, March 1987 - June 1990
44. Miscellaneous Press Clippings, subjects: Sister Marguerite Wolf (with attached memo), Sister Henrietta, Austrian politics (from Austrian newspapers)

Series 7: Miscellaneous Correspondence

45. Correspondence with media, personal notes, memos

Series 8: Photographs

46. Miscellaneous black and white photographs, individual portraits of Dagmar, one proof sheet with memo, photographs of Celeste family