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Macpherson Second-Wave Feminist Collection

 Collection
Identifier: D-Mss-0985

  • Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Macpherson Second-Wave Feminist Collection includes feminist publications, newlsetters, newspaper clippings, newspaper/magazine articles, political writings, scholarly writings, addresses, reports, programs, directories, bibliographies, posters, and oversized materials related to the second-wave feminist movement.

A few materials in the collection pre-date the second-wave feminist movement. The earliest item is a 1911 booklet describing the legal status of women in the state of New York, from the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. This item has been included in a folder about women’s civil and legal rights as it is useful to track these advances over time. Other early materials include those from the late 1940s through the 1950s which provide context for the time leading up to the second-wave feminist and women’s liberation movements. Efforts have been made to assemble a folder of more intersectional materials relating to Black feminists, lesbian feminists, Indigenous women, anti-war protests, and the intersection between gender and class.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1942-1999
  • Creation: Majority of material found in 1950-1985

Language of Material

Languages represented in the collection: English and French.

Access

Collection open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Ella Strong Denison Library.

Biographical / Historical

The second-wave feminist movement began in the early 1960s and lasted through the 1980s. Second-wave feminists built on the victory of women’s suffrage in 1920 in the United States to tackle issues such as reproductive rights, workplace equality, domestic labor, sexual violence, and fight for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Some second-wave feminist groups were more intersectional, taking race and sexuality into account, but the mainstream movement was dominated by middle class, white women.

Extent

4.9 Linear Feet (8 document boxes, 1 oversize box)

Abstract

The Macpherson Second-Wave Feminist Collection includes feminist publications, newletters, newspaper clippings, newspaper/magazine articles, political writings, scholarly writings, addresses, reports, programs, directories, bibliographies, posters, and oversized materials related to the second-wave feminist movement, with a few excpetions of earlier materials. The Macpherson Second Wave Feminist Collection is an artificially assembled collection that has been added to the Ida Rust Macpherson Collection–-a collection established in 1936 with materials by or about women. Ella Strong Denison Library’s Ida Rust Macpherson Collection is the earliest archival collection centering feminist histories to be held at a historically women’s college.

Physical Location

Please consult repository.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

The Macpherson Second Wave Feminist Collection was assembled by Ella Strong Denison library staff and added to the Ida Rust Macpherson Collection-–a collection established in 1936 with materials by or about women.

Accruals

No additions to the collection are anticipated.

Processing History

Preliminary arrangement by library staff. Processed by Corey Solorio LoDuca, 2022.

Title
Macpherson Second-Wave Feminist Collection
Status
Completed
Date
2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the 02 - Ella Strong Denison Library Repository

Contact:
1030 Columbia Ave
Claremont 91711 United States US