Records of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, 1966-2009
Overview
Records of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession including administrative files; officers' papers; financial and membership records; project files; electronic files; and the organization's web site regarding the advancement of women historians and women's history.
Dates
- Creation: 1966-2009
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Access is unrestricted, with the following exceptions: correspondence (#8.18, 9.6-9.16, 10.5, 10.12, 10.15) shall be closed to all research for fifteen years from the date of creation; and membership records (#16.3) are closed for fifteen years from the date of creation. An exception can be made with the written permission of two of the current officers of the Coordinating Council for Women in History. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
10.43 linear feet ((25 file boxes) plus 1 folio+ box, 7 oversize folders, 1 audiotape, and electronic records)This collection contains administrative files; officers' papers; financial and membership records; project files; electronic files; and the affiliated Coordinating Council for Women in History web site, which is being captured periodically as part of Harvard University Library's Web Archive Collection (WAX). The collection is divided into three series.
Series I, ADMINISTRATIVE, 1966-2009 (#1.1-10.15, E.1), contains records documenting the development of the organization and its ongoing work. The series is divided into three subseries.
Subseries A, Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, 1966-1984 (#1.1-4.5), includes founding documents, general correspondence, files relating to the history and description of the organization as well as purpose statements, reports, and resolutions. Material documents the earliest efforts of the committee as it was established and as its founding members, such as Gerda Lerner and Berenice Carroll, worked to organize women historians and improve the status of women within the historical profession. See also Series I, Subseries B, Officers, for the files of early committee leadership.
Subseries B, Officers, 1968-1992 (#4.6-8.4, T-401.1), contains conference material, correspondence, research material, and working files from Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession leadership. Items document communications among Committee officers on subjects such as organizing strategies and membership issues; communications with representatives from the American Historical Association and other professional organizations about women in the workplace; and material regarding the research projects of women officers such as Arnita Jones' file about Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen (#4.15). Files are arranged alphabetically and some retain original folder titles, which appear in quotation marks. Files may also include information found elsewhere in the collection. See also Series I, Subseries A, Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, and Series III, Projects, for related files of committee leadership.
Subseries C, Coordinating Council for Women in History, 1987-2009 (#8.5-10.15, E.1), contains administrative files relating to the current incarnation of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, following a merger with the Conference Group on Women's History in approximately 1995. Files document recent administrative efforts regarding structure and direction and document actions of the board and participation in professional conferences. Items include board meeting minutes, by-laws, conference material, correspondence, and other meeting agendas and minutes. Files are arranged alphabetically.
Series II, FINANCIAL AND MEMBERSHIP, 1971-2005 (#10.16-16.15, 26F+B.1-26F+B.13, OD.1-OD.7), contains financial information and membership records arranged alphabetically. Financial records document the financial health of the committee and include bank statements, disbursement sheets, financial reports, and grant material. Membership files document women historians who were active in the organization and include forms, membership lists, and membership questionnaire responses.
Series III, PROJECTS, 1970-2008 (#16.16-25.20), contains files relating to special projects of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession. Files are arranged alphabetically by project name, beginning with documents regarding the American Historical Association. Members of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession worked to improve the status of women in the historical profession and within the American Historical Association specifically. Documents regard efforts to nominate women to American Historical Association committees and councils and to persuade American Historical Association leadership to hold the group's annual conference only in states that supported passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Other project files regard the Catherine Prelinger Graduate Student Award and the women's history course bulletin project. The Prelinger files include inquiries, personal statements, and research proposals regarding an annual scholarship awarded to women students re-entering the historical profession. The women's history course bulletin project aimed at collecting and distributing information from United States college and university professors regarding courses offered in women's history and women's studies. Women historians submitted syllabi and general information by using forms removed from the back page of the Committee's newsletter. For additional information regarding officers' efforts on special projects, see Series I, Subseries A, Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, and Subseries B, Officers.
Additional material received as electronic files will be reformatted at some future date for inclusion in this collection.
HISTORY
The Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession was founded at an annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Washington, DC, in December 1969. The organizing meeting was held in response to a letter circulated by Berenice A. Carroll requesting that American Historical Association council take a number of steps to improve the status of women in the historical profession.
Twenty-five historians signed up at the first meeting of Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession. At that time, participants agreed that the purpose of the committee would be to encourage the recruitment of women into the historical profession and to advance the status of women at all levels within that profession; to oppose discrimination against women in the profession; and to encourage and help develop research and instruction in the field of women's history.
At the first meeting of December 27, 1969, seven participants, including five faculty members, one graduate student, and one undergraduate student agreed to serve as members of a temporary steering committee to develop the structure of a more permanent organization. Berenice Carroll and Gerda Lerner agreed to serve as co-chairs, while the group chose Hilda Smith to act as secretary-treasurer. Other steering committee members included Jo Tice Bloom, Linda K. Kerber, Edythe Lutzker, Constance A. Myers, and Sherrin M. Wyntjes.
The day-to-day operations of the Committee were conducted by the officers of the organization and through the decisions and actions of the steering committee, which held its own meetings during various national conventions of the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, and the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women. The direction of the organization consequently reflected both the voting of the membership at national meetings and the wishes of similar regional associations. Membership was open to all persons interested in Committee objectives. The organization also published a newsletter to keep members informed of committee actions and developments in the profession.
The organization was affiliated with the Conference Group on Women's History, which became an independent group in 1974 and which functioned to advance the field of women's history. The two groups shared leadership positions, membership, and cooperative publication arrangements until approximately 1995, when the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession merged with the Conference Group on Women's History to form the Coordinating Council for Women in History. The Coordinating Council for Women in History is a voluntary, educational non-profit committed to exploring the diverse experiences and histories of all women. Its primary goals are to educate men and women on the status of women in the historical profession and to promote research and interpretation in areas of women's history. It further seeks to broaden both the organization of women historians and the study of women's history to represent as fully as possible the diversity of women in the United States and internationally. The Coordinating Council for Women in History is affiliated with the American Historical Association, the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, the International Federation for Research in Women's History, and other associations of professional historians.
ARRANGEMENT
The collection is arranged in three series:
- Series I. Administrative and organizational, 1966-2009 (#1.1-10.15, E.1)
- Series II. Financial and membership, 1971-2005 (#10.16-16.15, 26F+B.1-26F+B.13, OD.1-OD.7)
- Series III. Projects, 1970-2008 (#16.16-25.20)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession numbers: 77-M82, 77-M99, 77-M109, 78-M1, 79-M39, 80-M111, 90-M11, 2000-M52, 2000-M141, 2001-M157, 2002-M139, 2005-M67, 2005-M105, 2008-M74, 2009-M4, 2009-M69.
The records of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession were given to the Schlesinger Library by the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession between June 1977 and April 2009.
Processing Information
Processed: July 2011
By: Mary O. Murphy, with assistance from Camille Torres.
Genre / Form
Topical
- Associations, institutions, etc.--United States
- Career development--United States
- Feminism and higher education--United States
- Feminists--United States
- Historians--United States
- History--Study and teaching (Higher)--United States
- Sex discrimination in higher education--United States
- Universities and colleges--Faculty
- Women historians--United States
- Women scholars--United States
- Women--History
- Women--Scholarships, fellowships, etc.
- Women--Social networks--United States
- Women--Societies and clubs
Subject
- Lerner, Gerda, 1920-2013 (Person)
- Title
- Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession. Records of the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, 1966-2009: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by gifts from generous supporters of the Schlesinger Library to the Maximum Access Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch01368
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.