Women's and Gender Studies records
Scope and Contents
The Women’s & Gender Studies records date from the program’s founding and earliest iterations until about 2011, and include budgets, board meeting minutes, annual reports, program event files, brochures, curriculum information, and more.
The records document both the activities and work of the program as well as its history. The annual reports in particular offer insight into the growth and development of the program. The Women’s History Month files relate to the program’s annual celebration of women’s history, which began by inviting a keynote speaker to give an address in March. These materials are included in the Women’s History Month files or the annual activities folder for a given year. Speaker contracts and itineraries are filed under the name of each presenter and information about speakers are also included in larger event materials. The program has sponsored conferences to educate the campus and community on women’s empowerment as well as strategies and techniques to combat sexism.
Also included are materials related to UNI’s involvement with the International Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in 1995. UNI sent a delegation of women to that conference, who then shared their experiences with the campus and community.
There are also audiovisual materials from programs and events sponsored or hosted by the Women’s Studies program as well as from the CROW Forum. Please see the inventory for an itemized list of audiovisual materials. These require special playback equipment for use and access.
Dates
- 1969 - 2017
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions. Materials are open for research.
Technical Access
Women’s Studies program recordings are recorded on videocassette and audiocassette and require special playback equipment for access and use. Use of these materials may require the production of a listening or viewing copy. SC&UA staff will determine options for use on a case by case basis.
General Use, Reproduction, and Copyright Policies
Many items housed in the Rod Library Special Collections & University Archives, including unpublished images and manuscripts, may be protected by copyright, publication rights, trademarks, or model release rights which the library does not own and for which the library cannot grant permission or licensing. Materials currently under copyright are usually still available for research and limited reproduction under Fair Use laws. However, it is the sole responsibility of the patron to determine whether or not their use of a given material falls within Fair Use guidelines and to obtain permission for said use from the rightful copyright owner.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy or similar laws, and the Iowa Open Records Law (see Iowa Code § 22.7). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Northern Iowa assumes no responsibility.
Biographical / Historical
The Women’s & Gender Studies program traces its roots to the mid-1970s, when Dr. Glenda Riley, professor of history, and Dr. Grace Ann Hovet, professor of English, created a minor in the women’s studies subject area. Its early core curriculum included courses in the History of Women in the United States, Human Relationships and Sexuality, and more. Dr. Glenda Riley served as the first program director, which eventually included a Women’s Center housed in Baker Hall.
The program continued to grow, with five minors in 1989 jumping to 53 by 1993, under the leadership of Dr. Martha Reineke, who was the women’s studies program director from 1990 to 1994. During her time as director, Reineke developed a women’s studies masters program and the Current Research on Women (CROW) Forum. Over the course of the 1990s into the early 2000s, subsequent program directors continued to create new programs and opportunities within Women’s Studies.
The Women’s Studies Advisory Board voted to change the program name from Women’s Studies to Women’s and Gender Studies in 2005. The goal was to reflect the program’s changing focus and its future direction. The name change took effect in Fall 2006.
Extent
11.46 Linear Feet (15 boxes)
Language of Materials
Undetermined
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Susan Hill, Director of Women’s Studies, transferred some of this material from the Women’s Studies Program office to SC&UA in Spring 2002.
Bibliography
Processing Information
Portions of the collection were processed and finding aid created by Susan Basye, January 1999.
Additional papers processed and finding aid prepared by Public History intern Brenna M. Vogel and University Archivist Gerald Peterson, January-April 2003 and May 2008. Other materials processed by Library Associate Dave Hoing, May 2017.
Updated by Library Associate Dave Hoing, November 2017 and November 2018. Inventory updated by student assistant Ilse Hooper, October 2024 and finding aid updated by processing archivist Tessa Wakefield, October 2024.
- Title
- Women's and Gender Studies Collection
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script