Collection Highlight | Oregon Women’s Political History Collection
In honor of Women’s History Month, Special Collections and University Archives is highlighting the Oregon Women’s Political History Collection.
The Oregon Women’s Political History Collection comprises over a dozen individual manuscript collections. These collections constitute over 200 linear feet of manuscript material and represent women’s political and activist work in Oregon in the latter half of the twentieth century. The collection was started in the 1990s as a collaborative collection development effort among UO Libraries, the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS), and the Friends of the Oregon Women’s Political History Collection.
The collections include:
- Anderson, Jean Fuller Papers (Coll 312) 1978-1990, Finding aid
- Davis, Eleanor Papers (Coll 351) 1963-1989 Finding aid
- Dost, Jeanne Papers (Coll 366) 1972-1988 Finding aid
- Dunn, Nancy Papers (Coll 362) 1986-1990 Finding aid
- Eugene Women’s Crisis Center Records (Coll 313) 1977-1991 Finding aid
- Fadeley, Nancy Papers (Coll 349) 1971-1989 Finding aid
- Frye, Helen Papers (Coll 348) 1971-2011 Finding aid
- Hendriksen, Margie Papers (Coll 365) 1971-1992 Finding aid
- Kafoury, Gretchen Papers (Coll 353) 1971-1983 Finding aid
- Milligan, Marian Papers (Coll 370) 1974-1983 Finding aid
- Novick, Jane Papers (Coll 368) 1968-1990 Finding aid
- Oregon Now Records (Coll 371) 1971-2006 Finding aid
- Oregon Women’s Political Caucus Records (Coll 369) 1971-1999 Finding aid
- Ryles, Nancy Papers (Coll 364) 1972-1990 Finding aid
The activist women represented in these collections worked to increase women’s political engagement in Oregon and empower women to fully participate in elective politics and government agencies at the local, county, and state levels. The story of women’s political work in Oregon in the mid-to-late twentieth century has not been fully told; these primary documents–the sources necessary for the writing of history–are essential to that process. Through support by LSTA funding administered by the Oregon State Library, grant project staff were able to process, catalog, and publish finding aids for these collections and provide access to these collections.
Researchers can find out more about related SCUA collections documenting Women, Gender, and Sexuality in our research guides.
