The collection contains materials related to the founding and history of the Career Action Center-Resource Center for Women, a job resource center active on the San Francisco Peninsula between 1973-2002.

The Resource Center for Women (1973-2002, name changed to Career Action Center in 1988) was founded in 1972 by five women, Eleanor Shelling, Mary Morley Perez, Peggy Kelly Larsen, Marylyn Morrell, and Martha Faust Hargadon, who met at a career planning workshop called "the Next Step" sponsored by the Stanford Faculty Women's Club. The nonprofit center began with a staff of volunteers and the goal of providing guidance to a variety of women in transition, including well-educated women, women re-entering the work force, women with children, widowed and divorced women, and women active in their communities as volunteers. It was supported by individual and corporate donations, membership subscriptions, and grants. The center's original mission statement read: "The Center will serve women who wish to make informed choices about the direction of their lives. It will be an active link between clients who want to use their talents more fully and the educational, volunteer, and salaried work opportunities on the San Francisco Peninsula." Its first newspaper ad read "WOMEN interested in professional part-time or short term work send resumes to Resource Center for Women, 1176 Emerson, P.A;" and its first workshop, held at Foothill College January 1973, was entitled "Focus on Choice: Women in Transition." Over two thousand women contacted the center in its first year for employment assistance, education programs, counseling, referrals, and use of the center library.

18 Linear Feet (30 manuscript boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 map folder)

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Collection is open for research.