This story was originally published by Andrea Cantrell in recognition of Women’s History Month, March 1, 2010.
From Women’s clubs to Womyn’s collectives, the University Libraries offer a wide range of materials to support research in gender and cultural history. Here are a few highlights from Special Collections’ guide to Manuscript Resources for Women’s Studies and beyond.
Opened in 2010, the Diane D. Blair Papers (MC 1632) offer a range of materials on women and policy and women in politics. From 1969 to 1997, Diane Blair taught political science courses at the UofA and was active in various civic organizations. She published two books: an edited diary of America’s first elected female senator, Hattie Caraway, Silent Hattie Speaks: The Personal Journal of Senator Hattie Caraway (1979) and Arkansas Politics and Government: Do the People Rule? (1988). She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1972, headed Governor Dale Bumper’s Commission on the Status of Women in 1971, chaired Governor David Pryor’s Commission on Public Employee Rights in 1976, debated the Equal Rights Amendment with Phyllis Schlafly in the Arkansas General Assembly on Valentine’s Day in 1975, and was appointed by Governor Bill Clinton to the Arkansas Educational Television Network Commission in 1980. In 1992 Blair joined Bill Clinton’s Presidential Campaign as a senior researcher, and she served as a senior advisor in the 1996 campaign. Blair was appointed to the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1993 and 1997, which she served as chairwoman during 1996-2000. Within the Blair papers, researchers can find correspondence and reports related to Title IX funding for women’s athletics, publications from the Center for American Women in Politics and Emily’s List, and coverage of the ratification campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The Arkansas Cookbook collection offers more than 1,000 hard-to-find community, advertising, church, and club publications, dating from 1929 to the present day. Here you will find such classics as Pel-Freeze Rabbit Recipes, Burnt Offerings, and Don’t Sit in… Cook Out!. As many chuckles as these clever titles offer, the books serve as important documents of the food, foodways, social history, and culture of Arkansas. Read more about this collection in a 2004 Research Frontiers article or in the first issue of Arkansauce.
The Fayetteville Women’s Library was founded by Diana Woodall and “Guthrie” (the publisher of Up and Coming, a Fayetteville feminist/lesbian newsletter) in 1982 to provide access to publications concerning women, particularly feminists and lesbians. The materials in Special Collections’ Manuscript Collection 1180 include books, periodicals, reprints, clippings, and other vertical file material on general subjects concerning women, including women’s rights, abortion rights, health, and violence against women. Files also pertain to local and regional feminist and lesbian activities. The balance of the collection consists of books and feminist and lesbian periodicals from all over the United States. Books from this collection can be found both in Special Collections and in the Main circulating library. Researchers can browse a combined list of book and periodical titles in this collection by searching the subject “Fayetteville Women’s Collection” in the library