Shirley Troyan Joseph was a native and lifelong resident of Erie County, New York. Little is known of her personal life, but she had three sons with husband Norman C. Joseph, an accountant. According to her resume, she attended the University of Michigan, where she studied Political Science, and Vanderbilt University’s Graduate School of Management. In 1972, she was appointed to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, eventually serving as vice-chair of its Executive Committee. Beginning in 1975, Joseph took on various leadership roles within the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) at the local, district, and national levels. She attended the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, and worked as a board member for the National Women’s Conference Committee. She chaired several committees and task forces for the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC) in the 1980s and 1990s. Through her participation in the UN World Conferences on Women, she was connected to an international network of Jewish women’s organizations, but her activities in the late 1990s seem to have become more locally focused, with Joseph employed in local government as Executive Director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women.
From the guide to the Shirley T. Joseph Papers, 1972-1998, (American Jewish Historical Society)
