Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Ellyn Bartges
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Family Memories Oral History project
Interview # FM-A-L-2009-041
Ellyn, who coached girl’s basketball at both the high school and college level, and conducted a series of oral history interviews with other coaches, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Family Memories Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: Dec 10, 2009 Location: Leslie Malpass Library, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois
Date: Dec 10, 2009 Location: Library, Western IL U, Macomb, Illinois
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Mark R. DePue
Transcription by: Kay Smith, ALPL volunteer
Edited by: Cheryl Wycoff & Rozanne Flatt, ALPL volunteers
Total Pages: 87 pages Total Time: 1:33 + 3:11 / 1.55 + 3.18 = 4:44 / 4.73 hrs
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on Nov 20, 2009.
The interview are archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2009 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
Ellyn Bartges, Family Memories, FM-A-L-2009-041
Biographical Information Overview of Interview: Ellyn L. Bartges was born on January 24th, 1960 in LaGrange, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Hinsdale in a family where sports and politics were central to their lives. Ellyn competed in four sports during high school: track, tennis, softball and basketball. In 1977, she played on one of the eight teams advancing to the championship round in Illinois’ first girl’s state basketball tournament. Ellyn graduated in 1978 and attended Iowa State University with the intention of becoming a veterinarian. She eventually changed her major to history, graduated, and enrolled in the graduate history program at Penn State University. She left Penn State in 1988 to be with her mother, who was dying from brain cancer. From 1988 through 1994 she served as an assistant woman’s basketball coach and later the head woman’s softball coach at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. Shortly after challenging the University about violations of Title IX, she moved with her partner to Macomb, Illinois where she worked in the Macomb Jr. Sr. High School library and also found work as a girl’s basketball coach at the junior high, and later the high school level. By 2002 Ellyn was working for Western Illinois University (WIU) as an Equal Opportunity Officer.
In 2002 Ellyn also returned to graduate school in History at WIU, ultimately designing and conducted an oral history project for her Master’s thesis, which included twenty-six interviews with a variety of basketball coaches, referees, administrators, and players from the high school and college level in Illinois in those crucial years following the adoption of Title IX in 1972. Ellyn has donated the collection of interviews to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, and this interview was conducted as an important supplement to that collection.
Subject Headings/Key Words: Hinsdale, Illinois; Title IX; Illinois High School Association (IHSA); AAU (Amateur Athletic Union); state of Illinois Girls Basketball Tournament – 1977; Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) Girls Basketball Tournament; Iowa State University; Penn State University; University of North Carolina – Charlotte; Western Illinois University; NCAA Women’s Basketball
Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955