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Voices of Feminism Oral History Project oral histories

 Collection
Identifier: SSC-MS-00535

Scope and Contents

The Voices of Feminism Oral History Project documents the persistence and diversity of organizing for women in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century. Narrators include labor, peace, and anti-racism activists; artists and writers; lesbian rights advocates; grassroots anti-violence and anti-poverty organizers; and women of color reproductive justice leaders. Interviews average 5-6 hours and cover childhood, personal life, and political work.

Each narrator's document box includes the recorded interview (on dvds or video tapes, plus audio CDs); the unedited and edited transcripts; correspondence between interviewer and narrator; a biographical survey; and the interviewer's guide. Some narrators' files include background materials and photographs.

Dates of Materials

  • Creation: 1990-2014

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Some of the oral histories in this collection have restrictions on access. Please see the notes attached to an individual interview for information about restrictions that apply to it.

Conditions Governing Use

To the extent that they own copyright, most of the narrators have assigned the copyright in their work present in these oral histories to Smith College. Whenever a narrator has retained copyright to an oral history, either permanently or for her lifetime, this information is noted in the finding aid below.

Copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection other than the oral histories, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.

Biographical / Historical

The Voices of Feminism Archival Development Project, funded by the Ford Foundation from 2002 to 2008, aimed to bring race, class, and sexual diversity to the holdings of the Sophia Smith Collection. The project consisted of several parts: a) searching for personal papers and organizational records of women of color, grassroots organizers, and others marginalized in traditional historical accounts, b) conducting oral histories, c) collaborating with Gloria Steinem as she works in her own papers and identifies potential donors, and d) developing plans for a video documentary series based on these new materials.

Project staff included Joyce Follet, director and oral historian; Kelly Anderson, oral historian; Sheila Flaherty-Jones, editor; Kathleen Banks Nutter, oral historian; Loretta Ross, consultant and oral historian; Revan Schendler, consultant and editor; Kate Weigand, oral historian. Interviews were also conducted by Martha Ackelsberg, Nancy MacLean, and Evelyn C. White.

Biographical information about each of the narrators is available in the finding aid, below.

Extent

32.896 linear feet (79 containers)

2,560 Gigabytes (1,145 files (video, audio, transcripts) )

Abstract

Oral History Project documenting the persistence and diversity of organizing for women in the United States. Narrators include labor, peace, and anti-racism activists; artists and writers; lesbian rights advocates; grassroots anti-violence and anti-poverty organizers; and women of color reproductive justice leaders. Interviews cover childhood, personal life, and political work. Most oral histories consist of audiovisual recordings and transcripts, plus some background information.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

As a preservation measure, original audiovisual materials in this collection are restricted. Digital versions of transcripts and video recordings are available online through links in the container list whenever allowed by the narrators.

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital versions of transcripts and videos are available online through links in the container list below whenever allowed by the narrators.

Related Material

In addition to their oral histories, the following women have donated their personal papers to the Sophia Smith Collection:

Papers are expected from: Patricia Reeve and Catherine Roma.

Related organizational records in the Sophia Smith Collection include:

Processing Information

Processed by Joyce Follet, Revan Schendler, and Burd Schlessinger, 2007

Processing Information

Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.

Subject

Title
Finding aid to the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project oral histories
Author
Joyce Follet, Revan Schendler, and Burd Schlessinger
Date
2007, 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
The project was made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation.

Revision Statements

  • 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
  • 2017-07-26T17:48:15-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
  • 05/23/2018: Updated to include Marian Kramer interview

Repository Details

Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository

Contact:
Neilson Library
7 Neilson Drive
Northampton MA 01063