Guide to the Women’s History Graduate Program Records RG 3.5.4

Summary Information

Repository

Sarah Lawrence College Archives

Creator

Sarah Lawrence College. Women's History.

Title

Women’s History Graduate Program Records

ID

RG 3.5.4

Date [bulk]

Bulk, 1979-1989

Date [inclusive]

undated, 1968-present

Extent

8.0 linear feet 8 record cartons, digital objects

Language

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Sarah Lawrence College Archives September 1995

Revision Description

 Materials added, finding aid updated and the collection rehoused by Jessie Wilkerson in October 2005. In October 2005, photographs were removed and housed with the Photograph Collection, syllabi were removed and housed in the Syllabus/Course Assignment Collection, and audiovisual materials were removed and housed with the Audio-visual collection. Additional material added, collection reprocessed, and finding aid revised in spring 2011 by Sarah Pinard. Finding aid entered into Archivists' Toolkit by Elijah Black. 2012

Terms of use

All items are closed for 20 years from the date of creation. All student records, including applications, are restricted. Photocopying of documents with student information is prohibited. See the Archivist for details. Otherwise, the collection is open to researchers.

Acquisition note

Received in various accretions from the office of the Women’s History Program. Questionnaires from the 25th reunion of the 1979 Summer Institute in Women's History were donated by Betsy Brinson as accession 2004-002. These were replaced by the original questionnaires donated in 2013 by Betsy Brinson as accession 2013-051.

Processing Information note

Questionnaires from the 25th reunion of the 1979 Summer Institute in Women's History were donated by Betsy Brinson as accession 2004-002. These were replaced by the original questionnaires donated in 2013 by Betsy Brinson as accession 2013-051. The photocopies, 2004-002, were discarded.

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Historical note

The Master of Arts Program in Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence was founded in 1972 with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, largely under the direction of Gerda Lerner. Lerner had attempted to create the program with a previous proposal in 1969, which was not accepted. The program was the first M.A. program of its kind and followed on the heels of the first women’s studies programs in the country.

In its early stages the program was co-directed by Gerda Lerner and Joan Kelly-Gadol. The program was organized into three sections: women’s studies course for undergraduates, women’s history for graduate students, and a scholarship program for returning students and returning female community leaders. The Center for Continuing Education took part in the program before implementing the Women in Community Activities program. Then the school established the Women’s Leadership Scholarship that was awarded to women who worked in women’s organizations before returning to college. After three years, however, the program lost funding for Women in Community Activities and became primarily a master’s program in Women’s History.

In the summer of 1979, the program organized and hosted the Sarah Lawrence College Summer Institute in Women’s History. A resolution calling for the creation of National Women’s History Week came out of that Institute to acknowledge and celebrate contributions made by women to the history of the United States. In 1987, Women’s History Week became Women’s History Month. Beginning in 1998, the Women’s History Program became host to annual conferences that center on the history of women’s activism and celebrate National Women’s History Month.

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Scope and Contents note

The collection contains correspondence, curricular documentation, publicity and reference materials, conference and event related materials, as well as publications from the Master of Arts Program in Women’s History. These records consist of documents from 1968 to the present. The bulk of the records date from 1979 to 1989. Audiovisual recordings and photographs are located in the Audiovisual Collection and the Photograph Collection.

Records that highlight the early development of the Women’s History Graduate Program are found throughout the collection, but most notably in the files of committee records including Advisory Committee, Graduate Studies Committee, and the Women’s Studies Steering Committee. Annual Reports, curricular planning, and directors’ correspondence also document development of the Program.

Financial data, including fundraising, grants, and financial aid are located in the administrative files of the collection. All course descriptions and schedules are located in the Curriculum files. These files also include administrative materials such as course projections, correspondence between administration and faculty, and materials concerning the Women in Community Activities program and the seminar “Women: Myth and Reality.”

The Directors and Administrators files contain the majority of correspondence in the collection. These files include correspondence between Program directors, administrative staff, and other members of the College’s faculty and staff, students, alumnae/i, the broader Sarah Lawrence Community, and correspondence with external parties, mainly other colleges and universities and grant funding organizations.

A small series of files about faculty and staff contain correspondence, appointment materials, Women’s History faculty meeting materials, and faculty lists. The history files include two histories of the Women’s History Graduate Program; one of which is a review of women’s studies programs for the Advisory Council on Women’s Education Programs by Florence Howe of SUNY Old Westbury.

The program activities and events files make up the largest portion of this collection. These materials are organized into groups that reflect the type of activity or event and their association with College-sponsored programs. Annual conferences, Women’s History Month activities, lectures, and documentation of the Summer Institute for High School Teachers and the Summer Institute in Women’s History for Leaders of Women’s Organizations are located in the program activities files. This includes correspondence, flyers, evaluations, participant lists, and calendars.

The reference files consist of a significant number of bibliographies about the history of women by Sarah Lawrence faculty. These date from 1974 to 1984. Press releases and Women’s History Program newsletters and brochures are also located in the reference files.

The final series of records is about students and alumnae/i. This includes alphabetical student files, which are restricted, as well as general folders that contain directories, correspondence, lists and descriptions of student theses, graduate student meeting materials, and a file on student activism.

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Series Description

These records are arranged in eight series:

Series I. Administrative Files

Series II. Curriculum

Series III. Directors and Administrators

Series IV. Faculty and Staff

Series V. History

Series VI. Program Activities and Events

Series VII. Reference

Series VIII. Students and Alumnae/i

Series I. Administrative Files Contains administrative records including committee meeting minutes and background material, and financial aid and fundraising. Grant files include proposals to the New York Council for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation and others. Memos and procedures on applications, descriptions and correspondence about the Coordinator position, and general program descriptions and proposals are also located in this series. Finally there is a sub-series of reports, both annual and evaluation, and a sub-series of statistics. The Administrative Files series is divided into six sub-series: Sub-series A. Committees, Sub-series B. Finance, Sub-series C. General, Sub-series D. Recruitment, Sub-series E. Reports, and Sub-series F. Statistics. The Finance sub-series is further organized into three sub-series: Budget, Financial Aid, and Fundraising and Grants.

Series II. Curriculum In addition to course schedules and descriptions this series contains papers documenting Outreach programs including the High School In-Service Program, “Looking at Ourselves,” the Masters School, and the Program to Integrate Women’s Studies into Community Life. The Curriculum series also contains committee material for the Curriculum Committee and the Committee Planning the Interdisciplinary Lecture Course on Women’s Studies. The planning files house grant proposals, notes from the Advisory Committee on Appointments and the Curriculum Committee, and memos and correspondence with administration and faculty. The folder titled “Project G.R.O.W.T.H.” contains course descriptions, grant proposals, and correspondence for a cooperative project between Sarah Lawrence College and the Girls Club of America. The project aimed to give teenage girls from the inner city the opportunity to study and explore the accomplishments of women and to receive academic credit for their work.

Series III. Directors and Administrators This series is organized in two sub-series: Directors and Administrators. These sub-series are further arranged in chronological order by dates of the person’s tenure. The majority of these files contain correspondence between the Directors of the Program and external people and organizations, on-campus faculty, staff, and students, and alumnae/i. Of particular note is correspondence in Carole Nichols’ files about the Campbell Soup Company Boycott. The Directors and Administrators series also houses speeches, lectures, and writings.

Series IV. Faculty and Staff This is a small series of appointment materials, correspondence between the administration and faculty and staff, correspondence about donning, as well as Women’s Studies faculty meeting documentation and faculty lists. The folders in this series are arranged alphabetically by title.

Series V. History There are two folders in this series. The first, “Seven Years Later: Women’s Studies Programs in 1976” is a review of Women’s Studies Programs for the advisory council on Women’s Education Programs. The second, “Women’s History Program 1972-1982” is a brief history of the Sarah Lawrence Program written by Carole Nichols.

Series VI. Program Activities and Events This series is arranged in five sub-series: Sub-series A. Conferences and Workshops, Sub-series B. Events, Sub-series C. Lectures, Sub-series D. Summer Institute for High School Teachers and Sub-series E. Summer Institute in Women’s History for Leaders of Women’s Organizations. Sub-series A. Conferences and Workshops contain all Annual Conference material from 1999 to present. This material includes programs, correspondence, flyers, and transcripts of lectures and speeches. This series also houses information about conferences and workshops that took place prior to the establishment of the annual conference. There is significant documentation about the Festival of India Colloquium. The College hosted a colloquium of Indian and United States women scholars in June of 1985 as part of the International Festival of India. The colloquium aimed to explore the effects of development, new technology, and industrialization on the roles of women in India and the United States. Files about the colloquium include papers published as part of the festival, correspondence, and reports.

This sub-series also has noteworthy material about the Future of Housework Conference. This conference, officially titled “The Future of Housework, the Role of the Housewife, and the Sharing Arrangements for Child Care,” was organized to bring together individuals interested in women’s studies to discuss the economic and social status of housework in the U.S. Conference proceedings, participant lists, funding material, and questionnaires are located in these files.

Calendars of events, publicity, flyers, and correspondence are located in Sub-series B. Events. Sub-series C. Lectures contains lecture series posters as well as material from the Lunchtime Lecture Series, “Own Your Own” Lecture Series, Women of Color Lecture Series, and the Woman’s World/Woman’s Place Lecture Series.

Sub-series D. Summer Institute for High School Teachers was a three week program sponsored by the American Historical Association. The Institute, which was conducted by the Women’s History Program with consultation from a National Advisory Board, aimed to introduce and incorporate Women’s History into the high school curriculum. The official title of the program was the “Summer Institute on the Integration of Women’s History into the High School Curriculum.” There is a considerable amount of correspondence between the College, external organizations, and the American Historical Association in this sub-series. The original proposals and preliminary and final reports on the Institute are also in these files. The Seminar folders house student group packets which are curricular materials developed by the participants that were to be tested in the high school classroom.

The Summer Institute in Women’s History for Leaders of Women’s Organizations was a 17 day institute sponsored by the Women’s Action Alliance in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution and funded by the Lilly Foundation. Its purpose was to spread the knowledge of women’s history to activist women and to make women’s history an important part of the life of women’s organizations. In addition to administrative materials and correspondence, Sub-Series E. contains seminar materials, 2004 reunion information, and a folder of bibliographies.

Series VII. Reference This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Of particular note in this series are the bibliographies authored by Sarah Lawrence faculty. They cover the history of American women, Chinese-American women, European women, and the Black Women’s History Project. Gerda Lerner and Joan Kelly-Gadol authored many of these publications. The series also contains advertisements for the Women’s History Graduate Program, clippings, press releases, and newsletters.

Series VIII. Students and Alumnae/i This series is arranged in two sub-series: Sub-series A. Alphabetical Student Files and Sub-series B. General. All alphabetical student files and student lists are restricted. Materials in the General sub-series include memos and correspondence to students and alumnae/i from the administration and faculty regarding financial aid, employment opportunities at the College, masters’ essays and theses, and transfer credits. Other files relating to applicants and registration, graduate student meetings, student groups, and activism are also located in this sub-series. The activism file includes student petitions and proposals to support and expand the Program. Women’s History Graduate Program alumnae/i directories are also housed in this sub-series.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• Rockefeller Foundation.

Genre(s)

• Annual reports
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Conferences
• Correspondence
• Curricula
• Proceedings
• Speeches
• Workshops (seminars)

Personal Name(s)

• James, Tara
• Kelly, Joan, 1928-1982
• Kessler-Harris, Alice
• Lerner, Gerda, 1920-2013
• Murolo, Priscilla, 1949-
• Papachristou, Judith
• Perry, Elisabeth
• Swerdlow, Amy
• Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia, 1943-

Subject(s)

• Women's History Week

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Collection Inventory