Maria Tuma was born in Uboc, Czechoslovakia on July 12, 1895. She was educated there at the elementary level and learned primarily dressmaking and art work. In 1913, she left Czechoslovakia for the United States where she married Frank Tuma (1893-1973) in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1916.
In 1914, she was active in the Ceskeho Narodneho Sdruzeni (C.N.S.) or the Czech-American National Alliance (local chapter: Alliance of Thomas Masaryk), which was working for the liberation of Czechoslovakia, both during World War I and during World War II. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, she also joined the Czechoslovakia Society of America (a benefit insurance society). She served as secretary and treasurer for the organization's Cleveland, Ohio branch.
In 1925, she joined the Sokol Tyrs, a Cleveland Czech gymnastic-nationalistic group. Maria Tuma was the secretary for the organization from 1925-1932. During this same period, she began working for unemployment insurance and old age pensions. In 1932, she joined the Ohio Association for Unemployment Insurance and helped lobby for these issues.
In 1936, Maria Tuma began working for the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department in its Aid for the Aged program. In 1963, she joined Jednota Cesky Vlastenek (local chapter: Vlasta), the first independent Czech women's fraternal union. She retired from her job in 1968.
Maria Tuma contributed several articles to
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry on the Czech immigrant community of Cleveland
The Maria Tuma Papers, 1918-1973 and undated, consist of correspondence, membership lists, receipts, programs, pamphlets, broadsides, newspaper clippings and other materials relating to Mrs. Tuma's activities in various Czech organizations and in support of old age pensions and unemployment insurance. Also included is a composition book of her son, Charles Tuma.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and its Czech (Bohemian) immigrant community in the twentieth century. Those studying women's history, the history of unemployment insurance and old age pension, and the history of the Czech-American National Alliance will find this collection particularly useful.
The collection is arranged by subject and then chronologically.
All photographs have been removed to the WRHS Photograph and Print Collection.
Processed by James Decker in 1973.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3579 Maria Tuma Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Maria Tuma in 1973.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.