The Women: Position and Progress Collection contains manuscript and published material, including books, dating from the early 19th century to the 1970's. It documents both dominant attitudes about middle- and upper class women's roles and gender-conscious women's and men's efforts to expand and overturn those roles, and illustrates the impact of such efforts on women's status and position in Western societies. The collection consists primarily of published sources such as articles, printed lectures and sermons, newspaper clippings, and pamphlets, but also includes a significant amount of unique manuscript material such as household bills and inventories, letters, lists, and notes. About half the material in the collection dates from the 19th century. Articles, books and pamphlets reflect widely divergent views on women's roles including etiquette manuals and advice books with titles such as "How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter," and "The Young Bride's Book." Anti-feminist attitudes are primarily represented in a variety of 20th century articles and essays from both scholarly and popular publications. Far more evident are feminist points of view as expressed in magazine and newspaper articles, scholarly essays, and speeches.
