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RESOURCE FILES ON WOMEN'S INTEREST GROUPS

 Series
Identifier: 5

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Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Women's Resource and Action Center's records date from 1960 to 2006 and measure 16 linear feet in 45 boxes. The records are arranged in twelve series: Administration, Programming and services, Publicity, Subsidiary organizations, Resources, At the Center research files, WRAC Oral History Project, Oversize Materials, Photographs, Newsletters, Artifacts, and Audiovisual. The WRAC records document the growth and development of a local feminist organization.

The Administration series (1971-1997) includes WRAC's constitution and mission statements as well as advisory board records, financial information, reports, correspondence, evidence of WRAC's political action, logs and minutes, and other documents related to the organization's administrative and bureaucratic functions. Materials document activities and changes on multiple levels. For instance, desk logs provide a micro-level view of daily activities while the correspondence between the WRAC coordinator and Philip Jones, of the Office of the Vice President of Student Services and Dean of Academic Affairs, includes slightly broader, weekly updates; annual reports summarize the events of an entire year.

The Programming and services series (1960-1997) documents WRAC's outreach to the local community. It contains information on workshops, events, and on-going services provided by WRAC. These activities touch on issues such as divorce, career planning, racism, health, class, pornography, sexuality, and equal rights. Eight videos from WRAC's anniversaries document celebrations that include speeches, musical performances, and discussion sessions from the 20th anniversary conference.

The Publicity series (1976-2000) consists of three parts. The General folder contains WRAC brochures and flyers. The three Programs folders include flyers, calendars, and other materials promoting specific events. Much of this material refers to WRAC's brown bag lunches, a series of noon hour talks sponsored by WRAC. Larger posters of events conclude the series.

The Subsidiary organizations series (1975-1993) includes the records of organizations directly connected to WRAC. The largest portion of these records relate to the Women's Coffeehouse (also known as the Studio Project) and the Association of Student Women (ASW). The Women's Coffeehouse opened in 1979 as a local women-only space available "for almost any kind of event." Its location was kept confidential and advertising was posted only at women-oriented spaces such as WRAC and the Plains Woman Bookstore. This series includes organizational and financial records of the Coffeehouse.

The Association of Student Women (ASW) operated as a collective organization interested in changing "subtle and not so subtle oppressive, restrictive, and sexist attitudes regarding women." The WRAC coordinator acted as an advisor to the group. ASW sponsored speakers and activities, and was also involved in the Street Lighting and Safety Project. Photographs documenting Iowa City's lighting problem are included in this series. The series includes records of six other local groups sponsored by WRAC that addressed issues such as lesbian and gay identity, sexual assault, domestic violence, and the history of women's oppression.

The Resources series (1972-1989) begins with information about groups not formally related to WRAC but nevertheless of interest to its constituency. In some instances, WRAC networked with these groups. For example, WRAC and the Johnson County/Iowa City chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) cosponsored a Women's Equality Day event. The series contains files with information for women on local services in Iowa, some especially for women new to the area. Thirty-five topical files contain pamphlets and publications from national organizations on women's issues; a cross-reference guide is included at the beginning of the topical files. The series concludes with newspaper clippings, bibliographies on women's studies topics, theses, dissertations, and self-published books.

The At the Center research files series (2002) contains information related to the creation of a history of WRAC, At the Center: Thirty Years of Activism and Communities published in 2002 for WRAC's thirtieth anniversary. The series includes correspondence, history, publication details, and a copy of the book itself. Oral history interviews were conducted in conjunction with the publication of At the Center and the thirtieth anniversary. The WRAC Oral History Project series (2001-2003) contains transcriptions and audiocassettes of the interviews. A few women sent memoirs, also included in the series.

The Oversize materials series contains photograph albums from WRAC, business cards of women owned businesses located in Iowa City, oversized posters, and a paste-up for WRAC's 10th anniversary t-shirt.

The Photographs series (undated) consists of unlabeled loose photographs of the WRAC building and others of unidentified people, slides, and a photo album.

The Newsletters series (1975-2012) contains scattered issues of WRAC's newsletter, including current issues as well as clip art and cartoons related to feminism and women's issues used for mock-ups.

The Artifacts series (1984-2002) consists of eleven t-shirts of Iowa events sponsored by or related to WRAC. The series includes shirts from Iowa City lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) events, Iowa women's music festivals, Take Back the Night marches, and the Third World Directions conference co-sponsored by WRAC.

The audiovisual series contains several recordings of programs held at the Women's Resource and Action Center.

Dates

  • Creation: 1960-2006

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The records are open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 16.00 Linear Feet

From the Collection: Artifacts in Box 27: 18 audiocassettes [AC270, 904-920, 1583], 23 videocassettes [V362-370], [960 - 963] Photographs in boxes 7, 11, 22-23, 44 boxes

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)