Register of the Los Angeles Women's Liberation Movement Collection, 1970-1976
Processed by Adele Wallace; supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Xiuzhi Zhou.
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org
© 2000
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Register of the Los Angeles Women's Liberation Movement Collection, 1970-1976
Collection Number: MSS 023
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 S. Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, California 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org
- Processed by:
- Adele Wallace
- Date Completed:
- 1999
© 2000 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Los Angeles Women's Liberation Movement Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1970-1976
Collection number: MSS 023
Creator:
Smith, Barbara
Extent: 1 record storage box
1 cubic feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles.
The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged
to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for
Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be
allowed only with the express written permission of the Library's
director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from
a collection. When the Southern California Library for Social Studies
and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the
physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Los Angeles Women's Liberation Movement Collection, Southern California Library for Social Studies
and Research, Los Angeles.
Background
The collection was donated by Barbara Smith, a local activist in the women's movement in the 1970s. She was very active in
the L.A. Women's Liberation Center (also known as the Los Angeles Women's Center) where she played a key role in organizing
the Liberation School. Later she was active in the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and with
Federally Employed Women (FEW).
The Los Angeles Women's Liberation Center was founded in 1970. Among its activities were consciousness raising and campaigns
regarding issues affecting women, issues such as abortion rights, prisoner rights, gay and lesbian rights, and labor conditions.
Scope and Content
The collection is divided into three series:
L.A. WOMEN'S LIBERATION CENTER,
NOW, and
FEW.
The following local periodicals associated with the Women's Liberation Center are separated from the collection:
-
Everywoman - May, 1970 - May, 1972
-
Women's Center Newsletter - June, 1972 - December 1972.
-
Sister - January, 1973 - March, 1976
The
L. A. WOMEN'S LIBERATION CENTER series contains numerous issues of the Center's newsletter as well as various other documents related to the Center. Folder
3 includes early papers describing a proposed women's center for L.A. and the original working structure of the Center as
of January 5, 1970. It includes a list of the original board of directors, member organizations, and contact persons. Folder
8 contains documents relating to the Feminist Women's Health Center's legal battles over its advocacy of menstrual extraction
as a method of abortion. Folder 4 contains articles on the Feminist Theater.
The center's monthly newsletters are particularly useful in identifying key individuals and activities of the early L.A. women's
liberation movement. Vol. 1, No. 3 contains an account of the participation of the Women's Center Labor Committee in a 1970
strike of the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE), Local 854, at the Van Nuys RCA plant. Vol. 1, No. 5 has an
account by a participant from the Center in the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium, a large demonstration in East L.A. to
protest the draft and the Vietnam War. Vol. 2, No. 10 notes the campaign of Margaret Wright, a Center activist
and representative of Women Against Repression (a black women's liberation group) to run for the L.A. Board of Education.
Vol. 2, No. 5 includes the call for a meeting to plan the founding of a westside women's center as well as the newsletters
of the newly-formed Westside Center.
Folder 11 of the
NOW series contains a report on the 1973 National NOW conference held in Los Angeles.
LOS ANGELES WOMEN'S LIBERATION CENTER
Box 1, Folder 1-2
L.A. Women's Liberation Center Newsletter June, 1970 - May, 1972, nds
Box 1, Folder 3
Articles - History of the Center nds
Box 1, Folder 4
Fliers, programs, reports 1970 - 1972, nds
Box 1, Folder 6
Liberation School, lists of instructors & class descriptions, nds
Box 1, Folder 7
Consciousness Raising - lists, articles, nds
Box 1, Folder 8
Feminist Women's Health Center. Correspondence, announcements July, 1972 - November, 1972.
NOW (NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN)
Box 1, Folder 9
Articles, Reports, Fliers 1970, 1971, NDS
Box 1, Folder 10,11, 12
L.A. Chapter NOW Newsletter 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976
FEW (FEDERALLY EMPLOYED WOMEN)
Box 1, Folder 13
Announcements, minutes 1972 - 1973
Box 1, Folder 14
Career Women Seminar 1973