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.
