Skip to Main Content
Gale homepage

LibGuides

Gale Research Complete: Archives Unbound Guide

A subject focused guide for the Archives Unbound Collections available in Gale Research Complete

Women's Studies

Women Organizing Transnationally: The Committee of Correspondence, 1952-1969

Source Institution:
Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
Extent:
56,645 images
Date Range:
1952-1969
 
The Committee of Correspondence Records, 1952-1989, provide a rich collection from which to explore gendered aspects of Cold War liberalism, the United States government's clandestine and overt cultural propaganda operations, women's relationships to US foreign policy, and the varied goals and methods of women's international organizations that interacted in United Nations forums and at international conferences during the first two decades of the Cold War. The records include extensive official correspondence as well as hundreds of letters to and from correspondents throughout the world documenting the work of the organization. In addition there are official records; minutes; complete files of multi- lingual publications entitled "Community Action Series" and "Meeting Community Needs;" miscellaneous publications; conferences and workshop material; oral history transcripts, 1988-89, with related biographical material and writings by individuals; and card files on individual participants, filed by country. The country files also contain published materials pertaining to the status and problems of the world's women.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activist, Political Activist, and Woman

Source Institution:
Amistad Research Center
Extent:
28,577 images
Date Range:
1966-1978
 
Fannie Lou Hamer was an voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in that capacity. Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant activist of civil rights.
The Fannie Lou Hamer papers contain more than three thousand pieces of correspondence plus financial records, programs, photographs, newspaper articles, invitations, and other printed items. The papers are arranged in the following series: Personal, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Freedom Farms Corporation, Delta Ministry, Mississippians United to Elect Negro Candidates, Delta Opportunities Corporation, and Collected Materials.

Women, War and Society, 1914-1918

Source Institution:
The Imperial War Museum, London
Extent:
115,225 images
Date Range:
1914-1918
 
The First World War had a revolutionary and permanent impact on the personal, social and professional lives of all women. Their essential contribution to the war in Europe is fully documented in this definitive collection of primary source materials brought together in the Imperial War Museum, London. These unique documents - charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations - are published here for the first time in fully-searchable form, along with interpretative essays from leading scholars. Together these documents form an indispensable resource for the study of 20th-Century social, political, military and gender history.

The International Women's Movement: The Pan Pacific/Southeast Asia Women's Association, 1950-1985

Source Institution:
Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
Extent:
9,921 images
Date Range:
1938-2006
 
Formerly known as the Pan Pacific Women's Association of the U.S.A., the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association was founded in 1930 to strengthen international understanding and friendship among the women of Asia and the Pacific and women of the U.S.A. The group promoted cooperation among women of these regions for the study and improvement of social, economic, and cultural conditions; engaged in studies on Asian and Pacific affairs; provided hospitality to temporary residents and visitors from Pacific and Asian areas; and presented programs of educational and social interest, dealing with the customs and cultures of Asian and Pacific countries.

International Women's Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues

Source Institution:
Various Libraries
Extent:
103,870 images
Date Range:
1786-1933
 
Historical women's periodicals provide an important resource to scholars interested in the lives of women, the role of women in society and, in particular, the development of the public lives of women as the push for women's rights—woman suffrage, fair pay, better working conditions, for example—grew in the United States and England. Some of the titles in this collection were conceived and published by men, for women; others, conceived and published by male editors with strong input from female assistant editors or managers; others were conceived and published by women, for women. The strongest suffrage and anti-suffrage writing was done by women for women's periodicals. Thus a variety of viewpoints are here presented for study.

Women's Issues and Their Advocacy Within the White House, 1974-1977

Source Institution:
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Extent:
54,111 images
Date Range:
1974-1977
 
This collection documents Patricia Lindh's and Jeanne Holm's liaison with women's groups and their advocacy within the White House on issues of special interest to women. Includes material accumulated by presidential Counselor Anne Armstrong and Office of Women's Programs Director Karen Keesling. Topics include liaison activities with over 300 women's organizations, agency women's groups and program units, advisory committees on women and women appointees; public policy; and legislation and regulation of women's civil rights in the government and the economy.

Sexuality and Gender

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Collections

Source Institution:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
Extent:
40,293 images
Date Range:
1955-1984
 
 
As outspoken lesbian organizers for civil rights, civil liberties, and human dignity whose personal relationship fueled decades of political activism, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin created and helped shape the modern gay and feminist movements. They are stellar examples of engaged citizens: women of extraordinary courage, persistence, intelligence, humor, and decency, who refused to be silenced by fear. Not only were they founders in 1955 of the first lesbian rights organization in U.S. history, the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), but they also were instrumental in the formation and growth of other related social movements, including the contemporary women's rights movement.
 
The worlds of material from the Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Papers are presented here in two segments, each one a treasure trove for researchers, activists, and all those interested in contemporary social movement history. Part I—Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin, and the Daughters of Bilitis—provides extensive information on the founding and growth of the homophile movement, especially the Daughters of Bilitis and The Ladder, including early meeting minutes, correspondence, chapter records, membership data, and manuscripts unavailable elsewhere. Part II—Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin: Beyond the Daughters of Bilitis—provides valuable sources on a range of other issues and groups. In particular, the files detailing the impact of Martin's book Battered Wives—and the heart-wrenching correspondence it evoked from women in small towns and big cities, all of whom were grateful that their personal "problem" had been exposed as a social ill—are particularly strong and have yet to be thoroughly explored by researchers. In all, the availability of this collection can only further interest in two remarkable 20th century women leaders and the pioneering people and organizations they inspired.

Politics, Social Activism and Community Support: Selected Gay and Lesbian Periodicals and Newsletters

Source Institution:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered (GLBT) Historical Society, San Francisco
Extent:
191,035 images
Date Range:
1947-2004
 
This collection of periodicals focuses on newsletters issued by gay and lesbian political and social activist organizations throughout the country and on periodicals devoted to gay and lesbian political and social activist agendas—he "public" face of gay and lesbian activism. In addition, this collection includes serial literature on its "private" face, exploring the challenges and complexities of building gay and lesbian communities inside and outside of a "straight" world, the need for psychological reinforcement through support groups in an effort combat an often hostile environment, and the yearning for spiritual confirmation of one's identity and life choices. Carefully selected for rarity from the thousands of titles in the GLBT Historical Society archives, the collection features more than 200 newsletter and periodical titles totaling nearly 8,000 issues. This product is strong in newsletters from organizations that began their work during the formative years of the gay and lesbian movement. Most of these organizations are now defunct and their newsletters are the only record of their history and contribution to the movement.

In Response to the AIDS Crisis: Records of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1983-1994

Source Institution:
History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine
Extent:
37,091 images
Date Range:
1983-1994
 
This collection includes briefing books, hearing and meeting transcripts, reports, and press clippings document the activities of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome from 1983-1994.

The National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was an independent body created in 1989 by federal statute (Public Law 100-607). The mission of the National Commission was to advise Congress and the President on the development of "a consistent national policy" concerning the HIV epidemic. The statute created the Commission for a period of up to four years, which expired on September 3, 1993.

The Homophile Movement: Papers of Donald Stewart Lucas, 1941-1976

Source Institution:
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, San Francisco, California. Source Note: Donald Stewart Lucas Papers, 1941-1998, Accession number: 1997-25, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, San Francisco, California. 
Extent:
15,131 images
Date Range:
1941-1976
This collection documents the activist and professional activities of Donald S. Lucas. The vast majority of the collection dates from 1953 to 1969. The Lucas collection contains an abundance of material relating to the early homosexual civil rights movement (the homophile movement) and the San Francisco manifestation of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. The strength of the collection lies in the administrative and work files of the Mattachine Society, the Mattachine Review, Pan-Graphic Press, and the Central City Target Area of the San Francisco EOC. The collection includes: correspondence, meeting minutes, constitutions and by-laws, newsletters, manuscripts, financial documents, reports, statistics, legal decisions, surveys, counseling records, funding proposals, and subject files.