My alma mater did not have an archive, so working at the Women and Leadership Archives was the first experience I had with a university archive! These two years of work have gifted me many memories and I would like to share a list of my favorites with you here (in no particular order):
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Women and Leadership Archives
Remembering the WLA: Casey’s Reflections
It is so hard to believe that my two years with the Women and Leadership Archives is coming to a close. My time here has shown me that there is never a dull day at the WLA, which has given me so many incredible memories and I am happy to share a few with you now.
Continue readingTwo Years of Memories and Discoveries: Scarlett’s Salutations
How can it be two years already? My time at the WLA has been a whirlwind of learning, creativity, and collaboration. I’m so delighted to have met and worked with such wonderful people here, and grateful for these two years!
Miranda’s Master’s Memoirs
I cannot believe two years have come and gone. It feels like last week that I was learning the ins and outs of the Women and Leadership Archives. Of course, it did not turn out the way I expected. Though, there is not much I would change about my experience. Enjoy reading some of my highlights:
Keep on reading!Artists in the WLA: Judith Roth
Artists in the WLA: Judith Roth
The Women and Leadership Archives is proud to be the home of the Judith Roth Papers. This collection includes items from 1945 until 2018, right before her passing. Roth started her life on the East Coast in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned a degree from Boston Museum School and her B.F.A from Tufts University in 1957. Eventually settling in Chicago, she continued her studies and taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College. Roth worked to promote the work of women artists, including herself. Having a varied career, Roth worked with Marshall Field & Company and the Ravenswood Community Council, saw her work displayed all the way in Switzerland, worked with dancers to capture their life, and so much more.
Social Distance Archiving: In-person Operations at the WLA
In March of 2020, the onset of COVID-19 swept through the United States bringing with it a sense of insecurity and fear, and to protect the WLA staff we transitioned to work from home. Before that happened, we heard rumors that a shutdown may occur but nothing more than three weeks. Well, here we are a year later and still nowhere near back to normal. However, WLA staff is coming back in a hybrid basis. Graduate workers are able to come back to work in-person once a week. So let me walk you through a day in the life of a graduate assistant in the age of COVID-19.
Keep on reading!Black History Month Resources
Black History Month (or African-American History Month) is an annual commemoration of Black achievements and acknowledgement of their central role in the history of the United States of America. Although only officially recognized in 1976, the month-long celebration traces its origins much further back to February 1926 as a week-long celebration known as Negro History Week. Since 1996, United States Presidents have also issued commemorative annual proclamations.
In honor of Black History Month, we are highlighting three resources at the Women and Leadership Archives – documents related to the Mundelein College United Black Association (shortened to “MuCuba”), the annual “Living in Color” issues of BROAD, a student publication by the Women’s Studies and Gender Studies program, and the papers of Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American female senator.
Continue readingVisions in Conversation: Exploring the “Visions: A Highlight of Chicago Women Artists” Digital Collection
Every archive has areas it collects in, known as a collecting focus or collection policy. At the Women and Leadership Archives, one area of collecting focus is women artists’ papers, with special interest in Chicago and Midwest-based artists (see our full collection policy here). One might wonder why such a policy exists – after all, aren’t archives supposed to take everything historical?
Continue readingUnprocessed Treasure: The Eleanor Foundation Collection
During the spring of 2020, I had plans to create an online exhibit exploring the unprocessed Eleanor Foundation collection at the Women and Leadership Archives (WLA). I began research before the pandemic, but interrupted access to physical collections halted the exhibition’s production. Reduced physical staffing for de-densification of campus and prioritization of teaching and research inquires halted the progress of making the publication of the exhibit, but the information gathered from the attempted display deserves light. This blog discusses some aspects of the Eleanor Foundation, working with an unprocessed collection, and future research potential. When I took the photos that appear in this blog, I did not intend to publish them, only to aid me in my research. Due to this, the quality of the images is lower than in other WLA blogs.
Keep on reading!Have Your Cake And Ballot Too: Cookbooks in the Fight for Suffrage
Exactly one century ago this year, the United States extended the right to vote to women. To commemorate the centennial of this event, which has helped to shape American politics and society ever since, the WLA has been featuring events, exhibits, activities, and many other ways to learn about the fight for suffrage. One little-known chapter of American suffragist tactics that we’re highlighting is the suffrage cookbook.
