Manuscripts/15. Women
Record Group Term
Identifier: Manuscripts/15
Found in 56 Collections and/or Records:
Elma Ina Lewis papers
Collection
Identifier: M038
Overview
Elma Lewis was born on September 15, 1921 in Boston, Mass. She taught dance, drama, and speech therapy, and established the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in 1950, the National Center of Afro-American Artists in 1968, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in 1969.
Dates:
1917-1998
Sara R. Ehrmann papers
Collection
Identifier: M039
Overview
Sara R. Ehrmann (1895-1993) was a Boston-area civic leader best known for her work as an opponent of capital punishment. Ehrmann's career as a capital punishment abolitionist began in 1925 when her husband Herbert B. Ehrmann became an associate counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists convicted of murder and condemned to death. Sara Ehrmann was a key leader of the Massachusetts Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty (1928-1969) and the American League to...
Dates:
1845-1993; Majority of material found within 1924-1988
Women's School (Cambridge, Mass.) records
Collection
Identifier: M023
Overview
The Women's School was established in 1971 by 20 women who were involved with the Women's Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school was founded as an alternative source of feminist education, and its ideologies were based on socialist feminism. The school was operated by a collective and classes were taught by volunteers. All collective members, students and teachers were women. Registration fees were kept low so that all women would be able to participate. In 1973, the collective...
Dates:
1971-1992
Women Against Violence Against Women records
Collection
Identifier: M025
Overview
The Boston chapter of Women Against Violence Against Women was founded in 1977, a year after the national organization was founded in Los Angeles by anti-pornography activist Marcia Womongold. The Boston chapter was formed in response to a billboard advertisement for "Black and Blue" by the Rolling Stones. Women Against Violence Against Women protested the glorification and acceptance of violence against women as promoted by the film and recording industries. In 1978, the Boston chapter...
Dates:
1972-1985
Somerville Women's Educational Center, Inc. records
Collection
Identifier: M026
Overview
The Somerville Women's Educational Center (SWC) was founded in 1976 and incorporated the following year. It emerged from an idea of the planning group of the Somerville Women's Fair, and in the fall of 1976, 40 women met to form committees to organize the Center. Several groups and projects evolved out of the Center, including the Matching Services Project, the Mothers Group, and the Women's Chorus. One of SWC's largest projects was the Somerville Women Against Rape. A combination of...
Dates:
1975-1983; Majority of material found within 1977-1981
Coalition to Stop Institutional Violence records
Collection
Identifier: M027
Overview
The Coalition to Stop Institutional Violence was founded in Boston in 1975 in response to the proposed establishment of a "special unit for violent women" at Worcester State Hospital. Comprising ex-mental patients, mental health workers, and prisoner rights groups, the Coalition launched an extensive letter-writing campaign forcing the Department of Mental Health to hold public hearings on the need for the unit. Widespread opposition to the plan prevented the unit from ever opening. The...
Dates:
1972-1989; Majority of material found within 1976-1981
Boston-Bouvé College records
Collection
Identifier: M041
Overview
The Boston School of Physical Education was founded in 1913. Co-founder Marjorie Bouvé became the first director. In 1925, citing differences with the corporation, Bouvé resigned from the Boston School of Physical Education and opened the Bouvé School, Incorporated. In 1930, the Boston School of Physical Education and the Bouvé School merged to form the Bouvé-Boston School of Physical Education with Marjorie Bouvé as the director. In 1930, the Bouvé-Boston School of Physical Education...
Dates:
1885-2011; Majority of material found within 1925-1970
Women's Action Coalition (Boston, Mass.) records
Collection
Identifier: M060
Overview
The Women's Action Coalition was a national organization of women committed to taking direct action on issues related to the rights of women. Members saw visible, public resistance as a means to achieve economic parity and representation for women; an end to sexism, homophobia, racism, religious prejudice, and violence against women; and recognition of women's rights to health care, child care, housing, and reproductive freedom. The Women's Action Coalition chapter in Boston held its first...
Dates:
1992-1997
Women's Educational Center (Cambridge, Mass.) records
Collection
Identifier: M047
Overview
In 1970, Bread and Roses, a group of Socialist-Feminist women in Boston, Massachusetts, began searching for a building to house a center for women. In March 1971, Bread and Roses seized an unoccupied building, owned by Harvard University, on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Bread and Roses held the building for ten days, offering free classes and child care before they were forced out. Sympathetic individuals donated $5,000, and in June 1971, Bread and Roses bought a house in Cambridge. The...
Dates:
1971-2002
The Oral History Center records
Collection
Identifier: M073
Overview
In 1978, Cindy Cohen began "From Hearing My Mother Talk," an oral history project involving interviews with 11 women in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the theme of transitions in women's lives. Cohen received funding from the Cambridge Arts Council, which published her work in 1979. This oral history project inspired Cohen to initiate the "Cambridge Women's Oral History Project" in 1980. Its success led to multiple related projects, including "Let Life Be Yours," "Transitions in Women's Lives,"...
Dates:
1978-1998
West Roxbury Women's Club records
Collection
Identifier: M078
Overview
The West Roxbury Women's Club was organized on February 6, 1911. The Club's mission was to promote education and philanthropy, and to encourage united thought and action for social service. The West Roxbury Women's Club sponsored regular seminars and social activities, such as an annual International Day, literature and art days, and musical events, and was involved in philanthropic activities, such as knitting afghans for veteran's hospitals. Club members also helped to organize regular...
Dates:
1965-1973
Melnea A. Cass papers
Collection
Identifier: M079
Overview
Community and civil rights activist Melnea Agnes Cass was born on June 16, 1896 in Richmond, Virginia. She received numerous awards, including three honorary doctoral degrees for her involvement in community improvement and civil rights in the Boston area. She was known as "The First Lady of Roxbury." She died on December 16, 1978.
Dates:
1954-1979
Sondra Gayle Stein papers
Collection
Identifier: M093
Overview
Sondra Gayle Stein was a member of several organizations in Boston, Massachusetts that addressed women's rights and concerns, including the Abortion Action Coalition and the Coalition for Women's Safety. The Abortion Action Coalition began in 1977 to oppose the Doyle-Flynn anti-abortion amendment, which would have cut state funding for abortions. The Abortion Action Coalition also focused on issues of birth control, maternity leave, teen pregnancy, and child care. The Abortion Action...
Dates:
1977-1990
Phyllis M. Ryan papers
Collection
Identifier: M094
Overview
Phyllis Milgroom Ryan (1927-1998) began her career as a political activist while a student at Northeastern University. Following her graduation from Northeastern University in 1950, she worked as a psychiatric social worker in the Massachusetts state mental health system. In 1951, she married William J. Ryan, Jr. with whom she shared a passion for social justice and collaborated in political action for the next several decades. By the early 1960s Phyllis M. Ryan served as a media advisor and...
Dates:
1959-1988; Majority of material found within 1961-1988
Catherine L. Allen papers
Collection
Identifier: M084
Overview
Catherine Louise Allen was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1909. She began her career as an educator in Georgia schools in 1936. After receiving a master's degree from Columbia University, she was appointed professor of physical education and recreation at the University of Tennessee in 1941. During World War II, Allen served as director of special activities in the Pacific region for the Red Cross from 1944 to 1946. After the war, she returned to Tennessee to teach until 1955, when she moved...
Dates:
1928-2002
Minnie L. Lynn papers
Collection
Identifier: M085
Overview
A leader and scholar of physical education, Minnie Lynetta Lynn was born in Pennsylvania in 1902. After receiving her bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1928, she taught physical education in Cleveland grade schools until 1930, when she assumed the directorship of health and physical education at McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, a position she held until 1941. Lynn received a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1937 and earned a PhD from the University of...
Dates:
1902-1991
Kelley Ready papers
Collection
Identifier: M088
Overview
Kelley Ready is a human rights activist and anthropology professor. She was especially active in the organization Friends of Committee of Mothers and Relatives of Political Prisoners, Disappeared and Assassinated of El Salvador, Monsignor "Oscar Arnulfo Romero" (CoMadres). This group supports the parent organization CoMadres by writing letters, holding meetings and events to make their struggles known, and providing financial support. The main organization was founded in December 1977 by El...
Dates:
1981-1994; Majority of material found within 1985-1989
Marjorie Bouvé papers
Collection
Identifier: M089
Overview
A leader in physical education, Marjorie Bouvé was born in 1879 in Hull, Massachusetts. She attended school at the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University. While attending school, Bouvé operated Ye Squirlijig puzzles, handcrafting hundreds of wooden jigsaw puzzles. In 1913, Bouvé and six other women founded the Boston School of Physical Education. In 1925, citing disagreements with the corporation, Bouvé withdrew from Boston School...
Dates:
1892-1972; Majority of material found within 1892-1918
The Women's Coffeehouse records
Collection
Identifier: M120
Overview
The Women's Coffeehouse began in October 1979 when a small group of women from the Women's Educational Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts met to discuss plans to open a Coffeehouse operated by and for women. They felt that women of all ages, nationalities, body types, economic status, and disabilities lacked a space to safely enjoy cultural activities together. The objective of the Women's Coffeehouse was to provide "an active, participative, grass roots environment" (The Women's...
Dates:
1978-1989
The Boston Area Feminist Coalition records
Collection
Identifier: M121
Overview
The Boston Area Feminist Coalition (BAFC) was founded in the summer of 1981 when local feminists became frustrated with the fragmentation they were witnessing in the Women's Movement. The founders of the Feminist Coalition felt that even though many local groups were working toward the same goals, they operated too independently of one another to be successful. BAFC founders, Nancy Wheeler, Diane Raymond, Sara Freedman and Pam Chamberlain, wanted to provide a forum for these separate groups...
Dates:
1981-1983
Female Liberation: A Radical Feminist Organization records
Collection
Identifier: M122
Overview
Female Liberation was a small group of women activists seeking to confront issues, such as self-defense, equal wages, birth control, consumerism, and the media's portrayal of women. To meet these goals, they published weekly newsletters and a journal of women's poetry and essays, held public meetings and classes and demonstrated to protest perceived injustices. Although the organization went through several incarnations during its seven year history, it's goal throughout was to create a...
Dates:
1968-1974
Reproductive Rights National Network records
Collection
Identifier: M137
Overview
The Reproductive Rights National Network was an umbrella organization that connected about 50 feminist affiliates between 1978 and 1984, when it dissolved due to lack of funding. While the national organization collapsed, the Boston affiliate survived until 1995. The Network developed out of a socialist project in Chicago during the late 1970s, when activists took a proactive approach to the abortion debate in the wake of Roe v. Wade. In 1978, Reproductive Rights National Network formed to...
Dates:
1969-1995; Majority of material found within 1980-1995
Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women's Service Groups collection
Collection
Identifier: M138
Overview
During the winter of 1978, a group of feminists gathered to discuss forming an organization to support battered women and to combat domestic violence in Massachusetts. The discussion resulted in the formation of the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered Women's Service Groups, a statewide organization that would both finance local organizations and address the needs of battered women across Massachusetts. In its 20 years of activity, the coalition organized fundraising efforts, political...
Dates:
1979-1981
Mobilization for Survival: Feminist Task Force records
Collection
Identifier: M140
Overview
In 1977, a group of activists formed the Boston chapter of Mobilization for Survival, an organization dedicated to nuclear disarmament and peace. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mobilization for Survival rallied against a variety of anti-military and anti-nuclear causes such as the American presence in Central America and nuclear proliferation. In 1985, a group of feminists in the Boston chapter met to create a Feminist Task Force within the organization to address women's issues...
Dates:
1985-1987
Sister Courage records
Collection
Identifier: M123
Overview
Sister Courage was an all female, volunteer collective newspaper dedicated to providing a forum where women could contribute their experiences and ideas while developing feminist theory. This non-profit feminist newspaper was founded in 1974 by 40 women to address issues such as health, day care, housing, union organization, and employment. The goals of the newspaper were to improve communication among Boston area women's groups, develop feminist theory and strategy, and analyze the way...
Dates:
1974-1980
The Coalition to Take Back the Night records
Collection
Identifier: M142
Overview
In 1978 a group of women from Boston area community organizations gathered to organize demonstrations opposing acts of intimidation and violence against women. The group modeled itself after an international protest movement known as Reclaim the Night, which began in Belgium in 1976 when women attending the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women walked through the streets carrying candles to protest the continuation of violence against women. Protesters in San Francisco held the...
Dates:
1978-1991
Carmen A. Pola papers
Collection
Identifier: M159
Overview
Community activist Carmen A. Pola was born Carmen A. Villanueva Garcia in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, in 1939. In 1955 she moved to the continental United States with her family, settling briefly in the Bronx, New York, before moving to Oakland, California, where the family worked in agriculture. In 1960 she married Juan Pola, and they have five children. While in California, Pola became involved in community activism, participating in a number of grassroots organizations concerned with...
Dates:
1970-2006; Majority of material found within 1975-2000
Boston Women's Pentagon Action (Cambridge, Mass.) collection
Collection
Identifier: M143
Overview
Boston Women's Pentagon Action was a local chapter of the Woman's Pentagon Action, a decentralized, national feminist organization focused on anti-military, environmental, and social activism. The Women's Pentagon Action was born out of a 1980 meeting of activist women in the Northeastern United States. Concerned with the threat of nuclear proliferation, the Women's Pentagon Action was formed to organize and lead protests advocating human rights and non-violence. In November of 1980, the...
Dates:
1980-1986
Boston Women's Union records
Collection
Identifier: M145
Overview
The Boston Area Socialist Feminist Organization was founded in 1973 to fill a perceived need for an autonomous, socialist, feminist, nonsectarian political group. In 1975, the name of the organization was changed to the Boston Women's Union. The goals of the organization were to facilitate communication and coordination among existing women's groups, establish a visible socialist feminist political presence in Boston, and educate others about socialist feminism. The organization held study...
Dates:
1973-1981
Boston Coalition of Black Women, Inc. records
Collection
Identifier: M146
Overview
The Boston Coalition of Black Women, Inc. was founded as the Boston Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women to provide African American women in Boston with a social and political forum. Founding members included: Vivian Beard, Joan Wallace Benjamin, Carol Nicholson Bolling, Patricia Bush, Callie Crossley, Alice Delgardo, Barbara Edelin, Carolyn Golden Hebsgaard, Karen Holmes Ward, Deborah Jackson, Vickie Jones, Dani Monroe, Deborah Murphy, Carolyn Sawyer, Dianne Young, and...
Dates:
1993-2007
Greater Boston Chapter of the Older Women's League records
Collection
Identifier: M196
Overview
Per its mission shared with the National Older Women's League (OWL), the Greater Boston OWL was a voluntary membership organization that addresses social, economic, and political concerns of midlife and older women through advocacy, education and empowerment. The Older Women's League began as a national organization in 1980 following the White House Mini Conference on Aging in Des Moines, Iowa. The Greater Boston OWL Chapter began with 15 women in the spring of 1982 as a part of the...
Dates:
circa 1983-2010; Majority of material found within 2000-2008
Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) records
Collection
Identifier: M185
Overview
The Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) was founded in 1986 to increase the number and diversity of women in the Massachusetts labor movement and increase women's effectiveness as organizers in their unions and community organizations. Through a variety of educational programs, WILD sought to prepare women leaders on all fronts. In addition to leadership development workshops, WILD also offered workshops addressing barriers their participants might face, particularly racism...
Dates:
1971-2003; Majority of material found within 1987-2003
Travelers Aid Family Services of Boston records
Collection
Identifier: M187
Overview
Travelers Aid Family Services (TAFS) was established in 1916 as a result of increasing awareness of the need to provide services for the vast numbers of immigrants coming to the United States. In 1920, TAFS was formally incorporated as the Travelers Aid Society of Boston. In 1958, TAFS's mission was "to provide information, advice, guidance, and protection to all travelers, who by reason of unfamiliarity with the city, inexperience, unemployment, illness, infirmity, or other disability are...
Dates:
1891-2008; Majority of material found within 1930-1995
Doris Shalit Oberg papers
Collection
Identifier: M190
Overview
Doris Shalit Oberg graduated from the infirmary as a dental hygienist in 1933 and remained an active member of the Alumni Association, planning reunions until her death on March 19, 1993. She also attended the Museum of Fine Arts School of Art and remained affiliated there. She was an active member of the Quincy Historical Society from 1954, and she served as both vice-president and first female president of the organization in 1982. She was married to Mr. Rudolph Oberg, former director of...
Dates:
1933-1983
Faculty Wives records
Collection
Identifier: A005
Overview
Northeastern University's (NU) Faculty Wives was formed in 1941 to promote social contact among the wives of the university's rapidly expanding faculty. Etta Ell, the wife of NU's second president, Carl Ell, founded Faculty Wives. The organization sponsored back-to-school celebrations, holiday fund-raising parties, and spring luncheons. Money received from fund-raising activities supported student scholarships, building funds, and campus improvement activities. The Faculty Wives disbanded in...
Dates:
1941-1971
50th Anniversary of Undergraduate Women records
Collection
Identifier: A030
Overview
In 1943 Northeastern University enrolled women in its undergraduate day divisions for the first time. In May 1993 NU's Women's Studies Program and Office of University Relations organized events to celebrate the 33 women who enrolled in 1943 and honor all the undergraduate women of Northeastern. As part of Undergraduate Women at Northeastern University Month, the 50th Anniversary of Undergraduate Women celebration included three major events: a reunion for the women who enrolled in 1943, a...
Dates:
1943-1947; 1993
Committee on the Status of Women records
Collection
Identifier: A065
Overview
The Committee on the Status of Women at Northeastern University (NU) was founded in the spring of 1985 to explore issues of concern to full-time female employees. Decision Research Corporation conducted the survey called Women Working at NU and compiled its results. The surveys were sent out in May 1986 to all full-time female employees at NU. Recommendations based on the survey were sent to the Executive Vice President John Curry on October 6, 1986 and then released to the Northeastern...
Dates:
1986-1987
Muriel S. and Otto P. Snowden papers
Collection
Identifier: M017
Overview
Muriel S. and Otto P. Snowden were the founders and co-directors of Freedom House, a center for neighborhood improvement and community activism in the racially mixed neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts. From 1949 until their retirement in 1984, the Snowdens were influential leaders in Boston's African American community. Muriel S. Snowden was raised in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, graduated from Radcliffe College in 1938, and attended the New York School of Social Work from 1943-1945. She...
Dates:
1911-1990; Majority of material found within 1947-1985
The Second Wave: A Magazine of the New Feminism records
Collection
Identifier: M019
Overview
The Second Wave: A Magazine for the New Feminism was produced by the Boston-based organization Female Liberation. The magazine was produced solely by women for a female readership. In February 1974, Female Liberation disbanded as a result of conflicts between members who belonged to the Socialist Workers Party and the majority who did not. The Second Wave was the only Female Liberation publication to continue after the parent organization dissolved. The Second Wave was based on ideological...
Dates:
1971-1984
Emma Jean Lang Avery papers
Collection
Identifier: M003
Overview
Emma Jean Lang Avery was born in Boston in 1893 or 1894. She attended Boston University from 1916 to 1923, graduating from the College of Business Administration with honors. Avery then attended Northeastern University's Evening School of Law from September 1923 to June 1927, and received her LLB in 1927. In 1931, she returned to NU to take the Comprehensive Review course offered to law students in their fourth year, most likely in preparation for the Massachusetts Bar Exam. It is unclear...
Dates:
1916-1931
Katherine Gillette Osborne papers
Collection
Identifier: M006
Overview
Katherine Gillette Osborne founded the Boston Students Union in 1910. She was resident director of Students House, the residence for women students run by the Union, from 1910 until her death in 1943. Both of the buildings formerly occupied by Students House (81 St. Stephen Street and, later, 96 The Fenway) are now owned by Northeastern University.
Dates:
1874-1942
Abortion Action Coalition records
Collection
Identifier: M021
Overview
The Abortion Action Coalition, a project of the Women's Educational Center (Cambridge, MA), was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977 to oppose the Doyle-Flynn anti-abortion amendment, which proposed cutting state funding for abortions. The Coalition organized community activities and held discussion forums and educational meetings. The Coalition also worked with local unions and community groups to create a wider action network. Members spoke at demonstrations, on talk shows, and to...
Dates:
1970-1982
Boston Women's Music Collective records
Collection
Identifier: M022
Historical Note
The Boston Women's Music Collective was founded in June 1975 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Its purpose was to support women's music and women composers, musicians, and performers. The Boston Women's Music Collective published a monthly newsletter and sponsored events featuring a variety of musical genres for women with different interests, lifestyles, and talents. Scope and Content Note The Boston Women's Music Collective records document...
Dates:
1975-1978
Carolyn W. Darack papers
Collection
Identifier: M204
Overview
Carolyn Hooky W. Darack was an activist in the Boston area for social rights and public health. Carolyn grew up in Brookline and attended Simmons College School for Social Work (1942?). During the 1950's she worked with Ehrmann on abolishing capital punishment in Massachusetts. During this time, her name was Carolyn W. Mork. Her first husband was Arnold P. Mork. He and Carolyn had three children: Arnold Jr., David, and Doretta. She later remarried (Melvin Darack) after her first husband...
Dates:
1928-1960
Frieda Garcia papers
Collection
Identifier: M222
Abstract
Frieda Garcia is a community activist and leader who has worked primarily in Boston's South End and Roxbury neighborhoods since the mid 1960s, when she first settled in Boston. She initially found work under Hubie Jones, who became a mentor, at the Roxbury Multi-Service Center. A few years later, in 1969, Jones urged her to become a part of a new organization that was forming to meet the needs of Boston's growing Hispanic community. Garcia became the first director of the resulting...
Dates:
1886-2022; Majority of material found within 1963-2014
Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (Jeane Neville) records
Collection
Identifier: M224
Overview
The collection documents the first decade of the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (RTH), a housing advocacy organization founded in 1969 to oppose Harvard University’s proposed expansion into the Mission Hill neighborhood. RTH was successful in pressuring Harvard to create a relocation housing development instead, and in 1976, RTH was able to plan and develop the mixed-income affordable housing community Mission Park. The collection captures the unfolding of events, and the back and forth...
Dates:
1962-2021; Majority of material found within 1969-1980