Guide to the Women For: Orange County Records MS.R.069
Laura Clark Brown and Carole McEwan
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
(cc) 2011
The UCI Libraries
P.O. Box 19557
University of California, Irvine
Irvine 92623-9557
spcoll@uci.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: Women For: Orange County records
Creator:
Women For: Orange County
Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.069
Physical Description:
2.3 Linear Feet
(5 document boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1984-2003
Date (bulk): 1984-1996
Abstract: Women For: Orange County was founded in
1984 as a chapter of Women For:, the political activist organization based in Los Angeles,
California. The collection is comprised of organizational records, photographs and other
printed items which chronicle the group's activities from 1984 to 1998, including the Great
American Write-In and the Suffrage Day Luncheon.
Language of Material:
English .
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Preferred Citation
Women For: Orange County Records. MS.R.069. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine
Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Women For: Orange County in 1998. Additional gifts were made in: 2000, 2001, 2002,
2007, 2008.
Processing History
Preliminary processing by Laura Clark Brown in 1998. Processing completed by Carole McEwan
in 2010.
Historical Background
In 1984, ten liberal, public-spirited Orange County, California women came together to
address the issue of how to be politically effective in conservative Orange County. In an
election year these women were particularly interested in having an impact on the nuclear
arms race, but issues of interest to them also included protection of the environment and
equal rights for women among other concerns.
The first gathering consisted of 10 women who had never before all met each other. They
were Ruth Bellows, Grace Dunkley, Constance Haddad, Vivian Hall, Lynn Osen, Joyce Rothfeder,
Joan Rowland, Mary Lou Sortais, Vivian Thorp and Paula Werner. Vivian Hall recommended
affliating with a group from Los Angeles called Women For: which had been in existence for
20 years and was an established political action organization. These 10 women contributed
$950 for the establishment of an Orange County group and set the date for their first
meeting.
The first official meeting of Women For: Orange County was held February 24, 1984 at a
restaurant in Fullerton, California. The speakers were Marilyn Kizziah, coordinator of the
Los Angeles Women For:, and Selma Seligman, chairman of their politics committee. They
explained that Women For: is loosely organized and that its activities include lobbying,
letter writing and supporting important issues and candidates. Women for: is non-partisan
and independent with no political favors owed to either party, although the Democratic
platform often reflects more of Women For:'s concerns. The first officers elected were:
Vivian Hall, chair; Joan Rowland, treasurer; and Paula Werner, politics chair.
In 1991, an incident occured at the Great American Write-In involving the unexpected
participation of the Cousins Club of Orange County, representing American Jews and
Palestinians for peace. Two factions emerged in Women For: Orange County, one for and one
against the Cousins Club participating. There were meetings and correspondence in 1992
expressing strong feelings, which ended in seven members resigning, including President
Beverly Jacobs.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection comprises records from Women For: Orange County, a women's liberal
political activist organization in Orange County, California.
Organizational materials include: minutes, reports, correspondence, newsletters, press
releases and announcements, brochures and newspaper clippings. Their mailed announcements
and press releases record the speakers and topics from the twice monthly meetings. For the
Great American Write-In, there are planning committee records, participant brochures and
some political buttons,newspaper clippings, posters and a scrapbook of photographs. There
are also programs and newspaper clipppings for the Suffrage Day Luncheons.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 4 series:
- Series 1. Organizational records, 1984-2003, 1.2 linear feet
- Series 2. Great American Write-Ins, 1986-2000, 0.3 linear feet
- Series 3. Suffrage Day Luncheons, 1984-1994, 0.1 linear feet
- Series 4. Photographs,1986-1997, 0.4 linear feet
Related Collections
Related materials can be found in the following collections: Vivian Hall Papers, MS.R.008
and Health Care Council of Orange County Records, MS.R.096
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographic prints -- California -- Orange County -- 20th
century.
Activists -- California -- Orange County.
Political participation -- Women -- California -- Orange County --
History -- Sources
Posters -- 20th century.
Women -- Political activity -- California -- Orange County --
Archives
Scrapbooks -- California -- Orange County -- 20th
century
Buttons (Information artifacts)
Women For: Orange County -- Archives
Organizational records Series 1.
1984-2003
1986-1998
Physical Description: 1.5 Linear
Feet
Series Scope and Content Summary
Organizational records include bylaws, procedures, general and board meeting minutes,
treasurer's report, budgets, membership lists, correspondence and brochures. Women For:
held regular meetings twice a month with different themes and speakers, actively
publicizing them with mailed announcements, press releases and newsletters. Also
included are newspaper clippings about meetings and events and some literature
reflecting how they or their members were honored by other organizations.
Series Arrangement
This series is arranged in the same order as it was received.
box 1, folder 4-16
Minutes,
1984-1992, 1994-1996
box 1, folder 17-19, box 2, folder 1-2
Board meetings,
1990-1994
box 2, folder 4-5
Treasurer's reports,
1984-1989
box 2, folder 7
Politics Committee: Candidate questionnaires,
1986, 1996
box 2, folder 8-11
Correspondence,
1985-1997
box 3, folder 1, box 2, folder 12-13
Membership lists,
1984-1986, 1989, 1992-1997
box 3, folder 2
Membership dues,
1985-1987
box 3, folder 4
Meeting room arrangements,
1991-1992
box 3, folder 5
Women For: newsletters,
1984-1991
box 3, folder 7
Press releases,
1987-1992
box 3, folder 14-16
Newspaper clippings,
1988-1997
box 3, folder 17
Honors by and for Women for:,
1984-1993
Great American Write-Ins Series 2.
1986-2000
Physical Description: 0.3 Linear
Feet
Historical Background
The major annual event of Women For: Orange County was the Great American Write-In. For
this event 30-40 community groups active in fields including education, environmental
protection, human and civil rights and peace would gather to dissiminate information to
the public, who would in turn be invited to write to their governmental
representatives.
Series Scope and Content Summary
The planning files are arranged by year and contain some or all of the following:
committee minutes and planning documents, publicity flyers and posted announcements,
correspondence to organizations, and information about the organizations participating.
The file for the Great American Write-In for 2000 contains brochures for nearly all of
the participating organizations. There are also some newspaper clippings about this
event for 1990s.
There are five colored political buttons that represent contemporary women's issues:
sexual equality, pro-choice, RU486 (abortion pill), women legislators, and anti sexual
harrassment.
There are two handmade posters documenting the Great American Write-In held in 1991 at
the University Club on the University of California, Irvine campus.
Series Arrangement
This series is arranged as it was received.
box 3, folder 18, box 4, folder 1-7
Planning records,
1986-2000
box 4, folder 8-9
Participant brochures,
2000
box 4, folder 10
Newspaper clippings,
1987-1997
box 4, folder 11
Buttons from political organizations,
1990s
Suffrage Day Luncheons Series 3.
1984-1994
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear
Feet(2 folders)
Historical Background
The first annual Suffrage Day Luncheon in 1981, was sponsored by the Women's Network
Alert, an organization for activist Orange County women. Women For: co-hosted the
luncheon with them in the late 1980s, and early 1990s. From the 16th annual luncheon in
1997, Women For: sponsored the event on their own. Vivian Hall and Anna Freeman were
instrumental in maintaining the continuity of this event.
Scope and Content Summary
Included are the printed programs for the Suffrage Day Luncheons, and newspaper
clippings from both before and after the event.
Series Arrangement
This series is arranged in the order it was recieved.
box 4, folder 13
Newspaper clippings,
1990s
Photographs Series 4.
1986-1997
Physical Description: 0.4 Linear
Feet(1 document box)
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Included are color photographs from various Great American Write-Ins and Suffrage Day
Luncheons, most undated and with people unidentified. There are photos of various
activities from 1994 and from a meeting held in 1997, at Bolsa Chica State Beach, in
Huntington Beach, California. An undated scrapbook of color photographs mostly from the
Great American Write-In event is also included.
Series Arrangement
The photographs are arranged by function or by date as they were received.
box 5, folder 1
Great American Write-In,
1986, 1995
box 5, folder 2
Suffrage Day Luncheon,
1986, 1995
box 5, folder 4
Bolsa Chica meeting,
1997
box 5, folder 5
Great American Write-In scrapbook
circa 1900-1999
