Subseries E. General, 1971-1987 (#24.14-51.7)

Subseries E, General, 1971-1987 (#24.14-51.7), primarily contains incoming correspondence, arranged in chronological groupings that cover periods of time ranging from six months to several years. Within these chronological runs, letters are arranged alphabetically by surname of sender or organization name. Frequent or notable correspondents were given their own folders during the early years of PSEW; after 1974 this practice was generally dropped. Even those correspondents with their own folders , however, may have letters in the general alphabetical files as well. Other incoming correspondence, found loose by the archivist, is filed at the end of the alphabetical runs. Often a carbon of the outgoing response is clipped or stapled to the incoming letter. Some of the outgoing letters from Sandler include recommendations for women nominated for academic deanships; others are general complaint letters to media (Playboy, Washington Post) and businesses, mainly about advertisements that failed to show women in professional or academic positions, or articles about education that she felt to be incorrect. Two sets of correspondence dating from 1971 to June 1973 and from July to December 1973 had the same color file tabs, and were sent to the Schlesinger Library together, so they have been filed together in the arrangement below. Correspondents include academics (either offering publications or asking for them); college affirmative action officers and other administrators; grant officers; women seeeking work, advice about or funding for their education (many recent college graduates enclosed resumes); government officials; lawyers involved in Title IX or other relevant cases; and other requests for information. General topics discussed in the correspondence from 1971 to 1973 include TIAA's pension policies; child care policies; maternity leave policies; HEW and implementation of laws/policies; recruitment of women (letters are both from administrators asking for relevant names, or from women asking where to send resumes). Much of the outgoing correspondence in these years from Francelia Gleaves is to African-American organizations; some of it discusses black women and their relationship to feminism. Topics discussed in 1974 correspondence include: part-time employment laws; maternity leave laws and policies; and HEW and its implementation of laws/policies. Much of the 1976 correspondence concerns Title IX and its implications for institutions. Correspondence from the mid-1980s contains letters about sexual harassment and rape from women experiencing it, studying it, or from campuses looking to learn about the issues. There are no alphabetical general correspondence files from 1977, 1979, or from any year after 1981; unfoldered correspondence from those and other years has been alphabetized by sender.