Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Access
Arrangement
Scope and Content of Collection
Organizational History
Acquisition Information
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Career Action Center-
Resource
Center for
Women
Records
Creator:
Career Action Center
Identifier/Call Number: M1654
Identifier/Call Number: 2999
Physical Description:
18 Linear Feet
(30 manuscript boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 map folder)
Date (inclusive): 1972-2002
Abstract: 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.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Career Action Center-
Resource
Center for
Women
Records
, M1654, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into seven series:
Series I. History
Series II. Administrative Records
Series III.Financial Records and Fund Development
Series IV. Programs and Publications
Series V. Audio/Visual Materials
Series VI. Addendum 2013
Series VII. Addendum 2021-119
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection includes administrative records, financial records, photographs, scrapbooks, publications, program materials,
video and audio tapes 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.
Organizational History
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.
Bertha Bodek Kalson served as the center librarian from 1974 to 1989, starting with a shoe box of clippings and developing
a collection that became a model for local organizations. The collection included college catalogs, statistical surveys,
career guides, materials on women's organizations, subject files and video tapes. By 2000 membership was down and the center
was struggling to survive as a low-cost career services provider. After exploring merger possibilities the center closed
in 2002. Its library was donated to the North Valley Job Training Consortium and a fund for career development was established
through the Women's Foundation.
Career Action Center Directors
Eleanor R. Shelling, 1974-1979
Judith Ousterhout, Executive Director, 1979-1984
Gail Stypula, Executive Director, 1984-1988
Diane Pelosi Saign, Executive Director, 1990-1998
Sharon Bray, Chief Executive Officer, 1998-2000
Emily Mora, Chief Executive Officer, 2000-2001
Acquisition Information
The Career Action Center Records were given to Stanford University for the Department of Special Collections by Marylyn Morrell
in March 2008 and July 2013.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Career Action Center