Manuscripts Collection
Rasmussen was born Jereen Wharton circa 1934. She grew up in Saint Paul's Midway neighborhood, and attended Hamline University, but dropped out at age 20 and married. She and her husband had a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Matthew.
Rasmussen became politically active in the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s she and five other women formed the DFL Feminist Caucus. She became the first director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Minnesota in 1979, holding that position until 1985. In 1986 she was hired as Washington, D.C. director of Human Serve, a New York-based group advocating for liberalized voter registration. She returned to Minnesota, and became administrator of the Midwest Health Center for Women in 1989.
An active DFL party member throughout her career, Rasmussen served on several campaign committees and ran for State Senate in 1970. She was also a member of the Shoreview DFL branch and helped found the DFL Women's Caucus. Rasmussen was elected as a national board member of the National Abortion Federation in 1994.
Rasmussen died July 13, 2018 in Eden Prairie at the age of 84.
Biographical and family information, personal correspondence, speech transcripts, appointment books and calendars, correspondence, minutes, printed materials, legislative files, newspaper clippings, some photographs, and related papers reflecting Rasmussen's activities in the pro-choice movements, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and in various women's political and feminist organizations, particularly the Minnesota branches of the Abortion Rights Council and Planned Parenthood. The collection also includes some information on public opinion polls concerning abortion, on religion and abortion and religion and state, and printed materials generated by right-wing and left-wing political organizations.
Rasmussen's active participation in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is reflected in correspondence with Hubert H. Humphrey (1960s) and the DFL Feminist Caucus (1974-1986), her unsuccessful campaign for the 49th Senatorial District seat (1970), pro-choice activities on the precinct level (1980s), and delegate and committee representation in the national Democratic party.
Accession number: 13,069; 14,478; 16,906; 16,970
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, October 1986; additions by Kathryn A. Johnson, January 1991; additions by David B. Peterson, August 2014.
Catalog ID number: 990017135530104294
Includes correspondence with Hubert H. Humphrey
Tatum elementary School, Saint Paul.
Rasmussen's restraining order against pro-life picketers outside her residence.
Includes abortion related materials.
Includes images of Rudy Perpich, Wendell Anderson, Nelson Rockefeller, Bella Abzug, John Blatnik, and Jeri Rasmussen.
Includes minutes.
A fund raising project.
Includes Rasmussen's correspondence as director, press releases, Planned Parenthood newsletters, topical files, and related miscellany.
Includes information about protestors, targeted clinics and doctors, picketing at Rasmussen's house, restraining orders, and picketing legislation.
Files include newsletters, meeting minutes, speeches made by Rasmussen, and information on clinic violence.
Includes volunteer files, pro-life legislative materials, correspondence, and related miscellany.
Includes correspondence, as well as information and publications related to advocacy, pro-life organizations, and proposed abortion legislation.
Includes campaign advertisements and mailings from various DFL political candidates.
Includes DFL correspondence and publications, as well as a Women in the DFL report.
Includes political information regarding abortion, Wonder Woman nomination, and feminism.
Panel discussion at the National Abortion Federation.
Contains footage of a staff meeting, prayer vigil, and Christmas party.