Oral history collection of the Women's Action Organization, 1970-1979
Overview
Audtio recordings and transcripts of interviews focusing on women and their involvement in the beginnings of the women’s reform movement in the United States Department of State during the early 1970s, conducted by the Women's Action Organization, formed to address some of the long-standing inequities in the treatment of women in the State Department and its "sister" Foreign Service agencies.
Dates
- Creation: 1970-1979
Creator
- Women's Action Organization (Organization)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the oral history interviews of the Women's Action Organization is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library.
Copying. Transcripts and tapes may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
.83 linear feet ((2 file boxes) plus 1 volume, 18 audiotapes)The oral history collection of the Women's Action Organization contains audio recordings and transcripts of interviews focusing on the professional lives of the interviewees and their involvement in the beginnings of the women's reform movement in the United States Department of State in the early 1970s. Also included are supplemental materials donated by Jean Joyce consisting of correspondence, bulletins, and other materials regarding Women's Action Organization and State Department policy reforms.
HISTORY
The Women's Action Organization (WAO) was formed in November 1970 to address some of the long standing inequities in the treatment of women in the State Department and its "sister" Foreign Service agencies: United States Information Agency and the Agency for International Development. For further background on the WAO, see the introduction to the oral history interviews.
Jean Joyce, who in 1970 was senior reports advisor in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and one of the founders of WAO, conceived the idea of interviewing those involved in the formation of WAO. She conducted interviews with ten women and two men and was in turn interviewed by Valerie Kreutzer. The interviews were transcribed by the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, which is the repository for related records of the Women's Action Organization.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession numbers: 77-M117, 79-M277, 83-M7
CONTAINER LIST
- Box 1: 1-13
- Box 2: 15-35
Processing Information
Preliminary inventory: August 1985
By: Anne Engelhart, Elizabeth O. Shenton
Additional material added: June 2023
By: Johanna Carll
Creator
- Women's Action Organization (Organization)
- Title
- Women's Action Organization. Oral history collection of the Women's Action Organization, 1970-1979: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch00983
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.