Several new collections have already been donated to the Women & Leadership Archives this year by prominent women and women’s organizations. This fulfills a major focus of the WLA to preserve the material of women’s history. Many of the recent donations share a common dedication to Feminist Theology. A short synopsis of each donors is below.
Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz Papers Although the majority of her professional papers are held at the Union Theological Seminary Archives, Dr. Isasi-Diaz has donated some of her second-wave women’s liberation theology material to the Women and Leadership Archives. Dr. Isasi-Diaz was born in Cuba in 1943. She received her Masters of Divinity, Masters in Philosophy, and Doctorate in Theology (Social Ethics) from Union Theological Seminary in New York. She is the author or co-author of nine books and numerous articles, many of which focus on Mujerista Theology.
Phyllis Zagano Papers Now Senior Research Associate-in-Residence at Hofstra University, Dr. Zagano earned a Bachelor’s degree, three Master’s degrees, and a PhD in her long career as a theologian. While Boston University holds a number of her publications, LUC is receiving these plus original manuscripts and unpublished writings and research files. A former visiting professor of Catholic Studies Yale Divinity School and Aquinas Chair of Catholic Studies at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Dr. Zagano is the author or editor of twelve books and several dozen articles. For five years she hosted a monthly talk show on the National Public Radio affiliate WBUR-FM and was a founding co-chair of the Roman Catholic Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion. She has been awarded Fulbright Fellowship to lecture at the Mary Immaculate College of the University of Limerick in Spring 2009.
Massachusetts Women-Church Convergence Records In late January 2008 the WLA received a donation of materials from the Massachusetts Women-Church Convergence. After nearly twenty years of activity, the group dissolved in 2007 and as a consequence decided to donate their organizational records, photographs, and oral interviews to the WLA. The MW-CC held its first meeting in 1988 and was committed to eliminating sexism in the Catholic Church specifically and in society as a whole. MW-CC sponsored many conferences and programs that addressed women’s inequality including The Lost Coin Women’s Fund, to support women in economic need, and Respectful Witnessing, to call for the ordination of women.
