Council on the Status of Women records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSP 49

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Council on the Status of Women records document the activities and impact of the Council on the Status of Women at Purdue University. The collection provides a comprehensive picture of the various activities and causes that Council was involved in during its tenure. Also included are some news clippings about notable members and relevant stories about women’s rights in the news. The collection would likely be useful for researchers interested in women’s rights, affirmative action, equality and diversity in the university, women in higher education, advocacy in the university, and prominent women at Purdue University. Types of materials are in both physical and digital format and include: correspondence, papers, minutes, financial records, reports, newsletters and news clippings, handouts, and machine readable media, audio-visual materials, etc.

Dates

Creation: 1988 - 2012

Creator

Purdue University. Council on the Status of Women (Organization)

Language of Materials

Collection material is in English.

Access Information

Majority of the collection is open for research. Some physical and digital materials in series one have been restricted.

Copyright and Use Information

Historical Information

The Council on the Status of Women was founded at Purdue in 1988 to provide a space for women faculty and staff to network and advocate for women’s rights at the university. The Council was also instrumental in the founding of the Women’s Resource Center at Purdue. During the Council’s tenure, they worked for the equal status and rights of women and other minorities at Purdue. They provided input for job searches for positions related to these goals and for the development of the Women’s Resource Center and Office for Diversity. In addition to the many programs and presentations they sponsored, the Council also sponsored a mentorship program for junior faculty and several important studies and reports. These studies included several reports on the overall status of women at Purdue, work and family reports, and flexible scheduling and work-life balance studies. They also advocated on behalf of Myra Mason and her Lilly Report on Diversity. In addition, the Council played an important role in facilitating the change of university policies on birth control, same sex partnerships and benefits, child and elder care, and work-life balance related benefits. The group is perhaps best known, however, for its institution of and sponsorship of the Violet Haas Award, which honors an individual (usually a woman) affiliated with the university who has worked for women’s rights. The Violet Haas Award continues as a legacy of the Council in spite of the group’s dissolution in 2011.

Extent

3.318 Cubic Feet (Nine letter-size full-width manuscript boxes, two oversize folders, one flat box, one legal-size folder)

262 Gigabytes : 850 digital files

Additional Description

Arrangement

The Council on the Status of Women records is arranged into four series.

Administrative
Activities
Violet Haas Award
Other Media

Physical Access Information

Digital content is found in each series. Access to digital copies is available in the Archives and Special Collections reading room.

Acquisition Information

Materials donated by Judith Ware and Joan Marshall on June 7, 2013.

Additional materials belonging to the Council on the Status of Women were found in the College of Liberal Arts records accession in May, 2019. These items were integrated into the collection.

Audio visual materials were transferred to digital format for preservation and access purposes in 2015.

Related Materials

MSP 97 Purdue Women's Club records, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, Purdue University Libraries.

Processing Information

Whenever possible, original order of the materials has been retained. Excess duplicates, receipts, blank templates, and mailing lists have been removed. All materials have been placed in archival housing. All newsprint has been photocopied and in most cases original newspaper clippings have been discarded. Some clippings containing images of people or color graphics, or front pages of newspapers, have been preserved for display purposes, with photocopies made available for research. Oversized maps, blueprints, diagrams, certificates, and other printed material [OVS]; photographs; and artifacts have been separated and grouped into individual series for preservation purposes. Audio-visual materials were digitized by an external contractor and files have been transferred to an archives server for preservation and access purposes. Born digital records and digitized materials were processed by Carly Dearborn in 2019.

Related Names

Subject

Mason, Myra (Person)
Purdue University. Council on the Status of Women (Organization)
Purdue University. Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program (Organization)
Haas, Violet B., 1921- (Person)

Source

Purdue University. Council on the Status of Women (Donor, Organization)

Subjects

Genre / Form

Topical

Collecting Areas

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Council on the Status of Women records
Status: Completed
Author: Katey Watson. Previous version by Virginia Pleasant.
Date: 2019-07-12
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: English
Script of description: Latin
Language of description note: English
Edition statement: Fourth edition. Collection description was first completed February 26, 2015.

Revision Statements

2019-06-17: Materials found in the College of Liberal Arts records accession were added to the resource by Katey Watson.
2019-07-12: Record updated to reflect current description standards by Virginia Pleasant.
2020-03-05: Digital contents were described.