Bauernschmidt (1875-1962), known as Mrs. B., was a fixture in Baltimore politics from 1920 through 1950. She began her career as Executive Secretary of the Public School Association, a post she retained until 1952. Using the issues of the public schools as a platform, Mrs. B. became involved in city politics and took an active role in local and state elections through radio speeches during each primary and general election from 1927 to 1950. Mrs. B. was great copy and all the local newspapers covered her activities. Mrs. B. collected and mounted all the clippings in scrapbooks. In addition to documenting her career, the thorough coverage shows the range of news outlets in Baltimore in the first half of the twentieth century. Newspapers represented include the Sun, the Evening Sun, Afro-American, Baltimore News, Baltimore Post, News-American, and the Observer. The scrapbooks were the basis of the book Mrs. B. Speaks Her Mind: Marie Bauernschmidt, Baltimore's Political Gadfly, (Baltimore, 2015), by Cynthia Requardt.

Nine of the scrapbooks detail the work of the Public School Association from its inception in 1920 until 1940. The remaining volumes document Mrs. B's foray into political issues. There are 3 additional boxes of loose clippings that never made it into scrapbooks. These clippings from the mid-1930s deal with topics like the city budget, city police department, elections, and other issues of interest to Mrs. B.