The collection is composed of the NLAPW Sacramento Chapter's scrapbooks, photographs, musical works, publications, membership invitations, member Christmas cards, correspondence, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, programs, and reports, poems and art, legal files, scholarship letters, sponsored events, member information, and business administrative records from several positions within the NLAPW Sacramento Chapter, namely secretary, historian, and treasurer. The collection also consists of materials from the NLAPW Headquarters in Washington, D.C., such as newsletters and one publication. Additionally included in the collection are oversized materials and one artifact. The date range of the collection is 1925-2017, with the bulk of materials dating from 1990-2010.

The National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) was founded in 1897 in Washington, D.C. and is the oldest women's art organization in the United States, with a history of over 120 years. After being excluded from male-only organizations in the 1800s, three women decided to establish a club that promoted women writers, artists, and composers. Those women were the original founders of the National League of American Pen Women, Marian Longfellow O'Donoghue, Margaret Sullivan Burke, and Anna Sanborn Hamilton, who then grew their organization to seventeen founding members in total. Fellow creatives were ecstatic about the Pen Women and their mission, and in one year membership had grown to over 50 members across the United States. In 1921, the National League of American Pen Women was fully established as an organization and had 35 branches in various states. Now, the National League of American Pen Women has more than 1,600 members across the United States and over 80 branches where they have supported upwards of 55,000 women creatives.

9.35 Linear Feet (9 boxes, photo archives, and 1 oversized folder)

All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to the archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.

The collection is open for research.