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Women and Work

 Collection
Identifier: SC-26

Collection Scope and Content Summary

This collection contains correspondence related to group members research interests, meeting and publication logistics, and grant applications. It also includes reports, meeting minutes, and photographs of group members. In the preparation of donation of the collection, group members also wrote a brief history of the women and work research group, biographies of the participants, and a partial list of meeting dates/places from 1979-2000.

There is a more detailed inventory of this collection in the Barnard Archive's collection file.

Dates

  • Creation: 1978-12 - 2019-09
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1978 - 1992

Creator

Access

This collection has no restrictions.

Publication Rights

Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. The Barnard Archives and Special Collections approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Reproduction Restrictions

Reproductions can be made for research purposes.

Biography for personal papers or Historical Background for corporate collections

The Women and Work Research Group formed in December, 1978 when the American Sociological Association’s Problems in the Discipline Committee gave Natalie Sokoloff, Christine E. Bose, and Roslyn Feldberg a grant to study women’s work experiences. The grant gave financial support for Sokoloff, Bose, and Feldberg to organize a group of 12 women scholars in a variety of fields, including historians, sociologists, economists, anthropologists, and psychologists, to share their respective work on the topic. The group had enough funding for two weekend meetings. They first met in March, 1979 and went on to meet regularly even after the grant ended in 1980 (although several members dropped out at that time).

Their first meetings were at the Barnard Women’s Center’s library, and they went on to alternate meetings between Barnard and the Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College. In the meetings through the 1980s, the group members would present papers and get feedback from each other. The group members were frugal in their planning and considerate of the spaces in which they met. Their work culminated in the publication of Hidden Aspects of Women’s Work, a collection of essays edited by Cristine Bose, Roslyn Feldberg, and Natalie Sokoloff with the Women and Work Research Group.

After the publication of this book, some members left and others met less regularly, but they maintained strong community and friendships. The group started meeting at a member’s home in Maine once each summer, until it became a tradition of a few friends sharing their writing and experiences within their distinct careers. A larger representation of the group reunited in August, 2019 at the Barnard Archives and Special Collections.

Group members included Christine E. Bose, Nancy Breen, Carol Brown, Peggy Crull, Roslyn Feldberg, Nadine Felton, Myra Marx Ferree, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Heidi Hartmann, Amy Kesselman, Alice Kessler-Harris, Susan Lehrer, Dorothy Remy, Fran Rothstein, Natalie Sokoloff, Amy Gilman Srebnick, and Carole Turbin.

Extent

.21 Linear Feet (1 half document box)

Language

English

Abstract

This collection consists of correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, photographs, and additional documentation related to the Women and Work research group. The group, which was active starting in 1979 and met regularly in various formations through the 1990s, completed research and writing projects related to women's work experience, culminating in the publication of the book Hidden Aspects of Women's Work in 1987.

Collection Arrangement

The collection is arranged first by format (documents vs photographs) and then chronologically by date.

Physical Location

This collection is located in the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library. To use this collection, please contact the Barnard Archives and Special Collections at 212.854.4079 or archives@barnard.edu.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Carole Turbin, 2019.

Accruals

Accruals not expected.

Related Materials

Related materials can be found in SC25, Christine E. Bose Wages for Housework Research Collection, and SC27, Christine E. Bose Socialist, Marxist, and Second Wave Feminist Ephemera Collection. Further related materials can be found in Christine E. Bose papers, 1975-1978; Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries and Marxist-Feminist Group Records, 1973-2000; Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository, Smith College Special Ccollections, Smith College, among other collections.

Processing History

This collection was processed and the finding aid written by Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn in October, 2021. Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard. Finding aid written in English.

Title
Guide to the Women and Work Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn
Date
2021
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
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New York NY 10027 United States