Uncovering Women's Work for Equality Across the 20th Century: An Archival Processing Project of the Sophia Smith Collection

FAIN: PW-50534-10

Smith College (Northampton, MA 01060-2916)
Sherrill Redmon (Project Director: July 2009 to October 2012)
Maida Goodwin (Project Director: October 2012 to October 2013)

The arrangement and description of nine manuscript collections totaling 670 linear feet documenting the history of 20th-century women's social and political activism.

This project will arrange, describe, and make accessible nine manuscript collections that document 20th century U.S. women's social and political activism and the beliefs and values that drove it. The collections document a cross section of contemporary women social activists whose experiences as advocates of gender and racial equality illustrate how women's participation in the public arena suggests a broader definition of political participation. The scope and variety of these collections will inform emerging treatments of 20th century history that increasingly consider the complicated interplay of gender, race, and class. A project archivist and a manuscripts processor will work for 2 years with SSC staff to process the collections, write detailed, online searchable, descriptive inventories, create on-line catalog records, and announce openings to appropriate journals and listservs.