Women's History Sources: University Archives: Records and Collections (Rutgers University Librares: Special Collection and University Archives)

Entries: A - B | C - D | E - G | H - K | L - M | N - O | P - R | S - T | U - Z | University Records
Indexes: Subjects and Titles | Personal and Corporate Names | Place Names

The Rutgers University Archives serves as the final repository for the historical records of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Its primary purpose is to document this history of the University � its programs, services, and community members � and to provide source material for interested persons who seek to evaluate the impact of the University and its members on the history of American social, cultural, and intellectual development. Because the University Archives documents the diversity of Rutgers University in a comprehensive manner, it houses many extensive collections with varied provenance, functions and formats. These collections, which are not separately listed in this guide, also provide documentation on women at Rutgers. They include the Photograph Collection, the Vertical File, Rutgers Publications, Annual Reports, and Minutes. General subjects covered by the collections, which span all colleges and units, are: teaching and classroom activities, faculty and staff, alumni, academic departments, alumni events, special events and community programs, commencement, class portraits, buildings and grounds of all the campuses (New Brunswick, Newark and Camden), athletics, student organizations and student life. Specific student life content includes dances, New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College) student organizations, and Queens Players (a coed theater group) to name a few. These collections, which cover all aspects of the University, go well beyond written documentation and encompass the wide spectrum of audio-visual materials including ephemera, photographs or illustrations, broadsides, etc.

Rutgers University. Board of Trustees.

Records, 1911-1933.

ca. 1.5 cubic ft.

Minutes and correspondence of the Board relate, in part, to the establishment of the New Jersey College for Women, in 1918 as a coordinate college of Rutgers, and to the administration of the new college. Includes reports of the committee on relations with the women's college and information on NJC faculty and staff appointments, financial matters, candidates for degrees and difficulties in the relationship of Rutgers College, NJC and other Rutgers Schools within the state. Also includes correspondence in which students, administrators, and the New Jersey State Federation of Women's clubs protest a reorganization through which NJC would have been made coeducational, material relating to a substantial budget cut in 1932, the appointment of given women to the Board of Trustees and the leave of absence, resignation and death of Mabel Smith Douglass, the first dean of the College.

Collection Number: RG 03

Rutgers University. Office of the President. (William H.S. Demarest)

Records, 1904-1924.

ca. 12 cubic ft.

Records, among which is correspondence concerning the founding and early years of the Douglass College, originally named the New Jersey College for Women (NJC). Included in the correspondence is a personal letter in which Mabel Smith Douglass, dean of NJC, thanks Demarest for her appointment as Dean, describes her love for the students and mentions an illness from which she suffered.

Collection Number: RG 4/A11

Rutgers University. Office of the President. (Robert C. Clothier)

Records, 1925-1952.

35 cubic ft.

Records of the Office of the President during the administration of Robert C. Clothier consist of Subject Files, Committee Files, and Faculty files which include correspondence, documents, and reports pertaining to the New Jersey College for Women (Douglass College) from 1922 to 1952. Topics include Search Committee for New Dean, faculty, relationship with Rutgers, academic departments and programs, the Bergel-Hauptmann case, students, and administrative functions. Some files also concern women's groups and clubs within Rutgers and in New Jersey.

Collection Number: RG 4/A14

Rutgers University. Office of the President. (Mason Welch Gross)

Records, 1947-1972.

101 mss. boxes.

Records of the Office of the President during the administration of Mason Welch Gross, include correspondence, documents, and reports pertaining to the plans to transform Rutgers College into a coeducational college. Also includes records and correspondence with the Dean of Douglass college, Margery Somers Foster. In addition to files concerning co-education (Box 15) are files dealing with the Rutgers College Planning Committee, campus disturbances and activism, Livingston College (a co-educational college est. 1969), student affairs and services, and student organizations and activities.

Collection number: RG 04/A16/01

Rutgers University. Office of Vice-President for Academic Affairs. (Henry Winkler)

Records, 1964-1975.

3 cubic ft.

The records of the VP for Academic Affairs, the chief academic officer of Rutgers University, include correspondence, reports, minutes concerning topics such as co-education, the various colleges, institutes, graduate programs, and the Federated College Reorganization plans (1970-1971).

RG 04/D3/01

Rutgers University. President's Select Committee for Lesbian and Gay Concerns.

Records, 1988-ca.1991.

4 cubic ft. (11 mss. boxes).

In February of 1988, President Edward Bloustein responded to both Dr. Cavin's study and emphatic petitions of the Rutgers University Lesbian and Gay Alliance (RULGA) by creating the President's Select Committee for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Chaired by Dean James D. Anderson, the Select Committee consisted of twenty-nine members, including faculty, students, administrators, and alumni. In preparation for the formal report, the committee began collecting information by surveying students, faculty, and staff, investigating curricula, programs and policies at other universities, and engaging in extensive educational and outreach efforts. The report, In Every Classroom, was released in 1989 and offered 133 recommendations for institutional change. As a national model for universities working towards similar ends, the report led to the establishment of the Office of Diverse Community Affairs and Lesbian Gay Affairs in 1992.

The collection is divided into nine subgroups each representing the Committee's nine Task Groups: Curricula and Academic Affairs, Ending Homophobia, Special Concerns of Lesbians, special concerns of People of Color, Personnel Benefits and Services, University Publications, Student Life and Services, Special Concerns of the Camden Campus, and Special Concerns of the Newark Campus.

The records consists of materials documenting the climate at Rutgers University prior to the committee's formation (1971-1988), chronologies of meetings and events, biographical sketches of members, official committee reports and minutes, task group minutes and reports, survey and resources material, statistical material correspondence, financial information, and grant applications.

Collection Number: RG 11/L

Rutgers University. Office of the Provost.

Richard Schlatter (RG 15/A0/12) Box 9 consists of materials relating to co-education at Rutgers College. Carter Smith (RG 15/E0/3) Box 1 consists of materials relating to co-education at Rutgers College.

Rutgers University. Dean of Student Affairs. (Earle Clifford)

Records, 1964-1974.

20 cubic ft.

Records of the Dean of Student Affairs include correspondence, reports, and minutes concerning varying topics which include Co-education Planning Committee (Box 1) and Commission on Resident College (Box 6), student aid and student affairs cabinet, student groups and activities, housing, recreation, and health services.

Collection Number: RG 15/F2/01

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Dean. (Mabel Smith Douglass)

Records, 1877-1963.

6 cubic ft.

Founder and first dean of the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College), an affiliate of Rutgers University; born Mabel Smith; married William Shipman Douglass.

Personal papers and official files from Douglass' tenure as dean of the New Jersey College for Women, including correspondence, speeches, financial records, reports, catalogs, yearbooks, campus and faculty publications, motion pictures, photographs, clippings and memorabilia pertaining to the establishment, development and history of the College. Also includes material about Douglass' failing health and resignation as dean, her disappearance and death in 1933 and the discovery and burial of her body in 1963. Correspondence of her daughter Edith (Douglass) Roth (d. 1948), who willed her mother's papers to the College, is also included.

Materials concerning the College include Douglass' correspondence with Rutgers president William H.S. Demarest about the establishment of the school and with other colleges and universities about women's schools and students, statistical analyses of college programs for women, records of fund raising and building dedications and interviews with people reminiscing about Douglass and the College during its early years.

Also available in four reels of microfilm.

Collection Number: RG 19/A1

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Dean.

Records, Group I, 1887-1973.

46 cubic ft. (ca. 150 mss. boxes).

Records from the founding of the college in 1918, including materials documenting the effort from 1887-1918 to establish a state's women's college in New Jersey together with annual reports, minutes, Rutgers University Board of Trustees Committee files, general files, appointment and promotion records, committee files, budgets, curricula files and commencement activities.

The records include considerable correspondence, memos, policy statements, reports and general information on subjects of concern to the Dean. Included also are annual reports from departments, administrative offices and support units as well as those to the University president and governing boards. Other types of records include: agendas, applications for positions, curriculum information, financial records and budget information, lists, minutes, programs, press releases, proposals and plans, rosters and schedules.

Series designations are: Christmas Festival (service); Commencement; Annual Reports; Trustees' Committee on NJC/Douglass; Building and Development; General Files; Appointments and Promotions; Committees; Budget Records.

Collection Number: RG 19/A2

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Dean.

Records (Group II), 1965-1981 (bulk 1972-1976).

3 cubic ft.

The Dean's records, Group II, are comprised of the General Files of the Deans of Douglass College and represent the administration of three deans: Margery Somers Foster (1967-1975), Paula Brownlee (1975-1976, acting) and Jewel Plummer Cobb (1976-1981).

The records document a vast array of communications that took place between the Dean's office and various departmental and administrative branches of Douglass College as well as communications with university administration and personnel as a whole. Includes reports, financial records, minutes, memoranda, and correspondence dealing with budgetary matters, statistical analyses, program and curricular proposals, personnel issues and evaluations of faculty and staff, policies and procedures, and reorganization.

Collection Number: RG 19/A3

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Dean.

Records (Group III), ca. 1970-1995.

94 cubic ft.

There are 66 boxes of chronologically organized files closed from the years 1983 to 1995, 21 boxes of general files (1918-ca. 1990), 5 boxes of miscellaneous materials, and 2 boxes of meeting tapes.

Collection Number: RG 19/A4

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of Assistant and Associate Deans.

Records, 1944-1969.

5 cubic ft.

The positions of assistant and associate deans were created to assist the dean in handling the administrative duties of the college. Throughout the years the positions have been adjusted to accommodate the changing needs of the college and its student body.

The records consist of one series of General files which include correspondence, reports, forms, policy statements, and brochures which document various subjects relating to the college. Subjects include: academic freedom, alumnae relations, academic departments, faculty/staff, and student life.

Collection Number: RG 19/BO/1

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Secretary.

Records, 1914-1975 (bulk 1940-1975).

23 cubic ft.

The Office of the Secretary of Douglass College was created in 1951 and evolved from the position of Director of Public Information.

Records dealing with public affairs begin in 1930 and are comprised of two groups of records. The first group consists of 16 cubic feet of Subject files, or general files containing correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, and personnel records dating inclusively from 1914-1975 (bulk 1950s-1960s). Topics include, but are not restricted to, alumni, student life, buildings and grounds, historical collections, academic programs, faculty and benefactors biographies, events and publicity.

The second group consists of 7 cubic feet of material which are predominantly biographical files for staff and inactive faculty which include forms, clippings, correspondence and obituaries; also radio scripts and speeches.

Collection Number: RG 19/C1/01

Rutgers University. Douglass College. Office of the Secretary.

Photographs, 1914-1975 (bulk 1940-1970).

50 flat photographic boxes (8x10).

The photograph series from the Office of the Secretary of Douglass College was seperated from the main records of that office and are roughly organized into subject areas relating to Douglass College such as: faculty/staff, buildings, people, and campus events/scenes. Also includes negatives and oversized photographs.

Collection Number: RG 19/C1/1

New Jersey College for Women. Library School.

Records, 1927-1952.

9 cubic ft.

Undergraduate program begun in 1927; eliminated upon establishment of Rutgers University's Graduate School of Library Service in 1953 which was renamed the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies in 1978. In 1982 it was merged into the newly established School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies.

Records include histories, annual reports, policies, correspondence, faculty records, student records, enrollment files, curricula materials, and activities files.

See also School of Communication, Library, and Information Sciences (RG 28)

Collection Number: RG 19/H2/1

Rutgers University. Rutgers College. Dean of Students. Office of Student Development. Office of Student Activities.

Student Organization Files, 1932-1987.

Contains correspondence, reports, publicity, budgetary documentation, and minutes of various student organizations including Black Level of Our Devoted Sisterhood, Rutgers University Lesbian and Gay Alliance, various Women's clubs, Women's Crisis Center, and the Women's Feminist Collective.

Collection Number: RG 23/B2a.1-5

Rutgers University. Rutgers College. Office of the Dean.

Records, 1932-1981.

38 cubic ft.

Departments and Programs: 1959-1980; 14 cubic ft. (RG 23/G1/1) records contain correspondence between different departments and programs within the University and between deans, departments, and programs including the women's studies program. Also includes syllabi.

Records: 1932-1976; 13 cubic ft. (RG 23/G1/2 ) mainly correspondence between different university committees pertaining to functions of the university such as student residence, academics and extracurricular activities. Included are materials relating to co-education, student unrest, Douglass College, planning committees for the New Brunswick Colleges, student counseling.

General Office Files, 1953-1981; 8 cubic ft. (RG 23/G1/6 ) contain materials regarding student organizations, scholarships, technology and other topics including Fraternities and Sororities, Career Day for Women, Female Visitation Policy, Women's Center, and Co-Education.

Committee Files, 1941-1981; 3 cubic ft. (RG 23/G1/14) consist of correspondence, minutes, and reports generated by Rutgers College committees (1959-1981) as well as University-wide committees (1941-1981) including the Ad-Hoc Committee on Coeducation (Box 2) and the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Status of Women (Box 3).

Collection Number: RG 23/G1/1-14

Rutgers University. Rutgers Psychological Clinic.

Records, 1929-1965.

1 cubic ft.

The records of the Rutgers Psychological Clinic derive from the files of Dr. Anna Starr, the first woman on the Rutgers College faculty. Included are clinical and annual reports (1929-1957); files pertaining to activities in connection with psychological testing, speech therapy, World War II, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gifts, Freshmen Reading Surveys, and the 25th anniversary conference; statistics (1929-1945) including an in-depth analysis of Middlesex County (New Jersey) patients from 1929 to 1935; files (1937-1965) including a master's pertaining to the Rutgers Drawing Test, a nonverbal intelligence test developed by Anna Starr that was administered to preschool children; clippings, brochures, and other publications pertaining to the clinic; and some records of and writings by Henry E. Starr, the first director.

Also included is a history (1970?) of the clinic written by Dr. Anna Starr, other historical notes and essays, a scrapbook (1938-1956), and five motion picture films (n.d.) documenting testing of children.

Finding aid available, including an online version.

Collection Number: RG 30/C1/01

Women's League of Rutgers University.

Records, 1932-1985.

4 cubic ft.

The Women's League of Rutgers University, a women's service organization within the Rutgers community, was founded in 1932 by Mrs. Robert C. Clothier, wife of the University President. It was established as a service organization to help promote the friendly relations of its members and to cooperate in advancing the interests of the university and community. Membership was originally comprised of faculty wives, but it is open to all women of the University family; it includes women who are academic faculty, wives of faculty, or relatives of the faculty community. Prior to 1932, the social life at Rutgers was planned by the wives of the Deans of the Colleges. Since each college planned its own activities, the Women's League was welcomed as a unifying force between the several colleges.

These records contain the organizational records of the WLRU arranged in four subgroups with seventeen sub-subgroups containing fifteen series, the records of the Women's League of Rutgers University span the period 1932-1985, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1930's to 1960. Included are minutes of Board and annual meetings, committee records, records of various activities, scrapbooks, newsletters, lists programs, correspondence, by-laws and the constitution, reports, minutes, correspondence, financial reports, agendas, policies, contracts, lists, publications, programs, inventories, notes, fliers, invitations, awards, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings.

Collection Number: RG 52/C0/1

Rutgers-Douglass Students Against Nuclear Energy (SANE)

Records, 1959-1964 (bulk 1961-1964).

2 cubic ft. (5 mss. boxes).

Rutgers-Douglass SANE was a chapter of the National Committee for a SANE nuclear policy. Its objectives were general and complete disarmament, cessation of all nuclear testing, and a strengthened United Nations. The Douglass SANE chapter had it's charter approved on June 20, 1963; the Rutgers SANE chapter on March 18, 1963. However, the group was active prior to this official recognition and many activities of the two chapters were combined. The bulk of correspondence is Nancy Silver's and dates from 1962 to 1964. Nancy Silver graduated from Douglass College in 1964 with a B.A. in Political Science.

The majority of the records span the years 1961 to 1964 and include minutes, lists of members, bookkeeping records, meeting notes, fund raising records, lists of speakers, correspondence, flyers, and informational booklets. Information from the national group, other peace organizations, and subject files are also included. There are also some letters to Nancy Silver from prominent politicians, including Hubert Humphrey and Harrison Williams.

Collection Number: 48/H6/01

Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Rutgers University.

Records, 1969-2000.

5 cubic ft.

The Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Alliance at Rutgers University, was founded as the Rutgers Homophile League in 1969. The records document the main group and also the individuals and organizations within and outside of the University who contributed to this prominent student organization. The collection comprises the records of the organization, its student members, and alumni, who participated in the activities of the organization as it has evolved over the past three decades. It includes textual records such as broadsides, correspondence, photographs, telephone logbooks, minutes, clippings, pamphlets, newsletters, and press releases and ephemera (t-shirts, political buttons, posters, etc.)

The first six series contain the bulk of the Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Alliance-related information. These series include: "Administrative," "Budget and Financial," "Publicity," "Conferences and Special Events," "Hotline," and "Press and Clippings." Following those are two series comprised of the records of two historians of this archive, David Nichols and Morris Kafka who were also responsible for the creation of the Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) of Rutgers University. The Collection also includes several series of subject files. That contain subject-specific information relating to BiGLARU. such as on-campus events, but are not limited to information about the University. These series are: "Select Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns"; "External Events and Activities," "AIDS/Health," "Religion," and "Politics"; geographical subject series � Rutgers University, New Jersey, Regional, and National. Some of the oldest information is included in these series from the Gay Liberation Front of New York (1969-1971). Following these series are the newsletters collected by the Bisexual, Lesbian, and Gay Alliance which span three decades of activism and organizing, arranged geographically; they include New Jersey, Regional and National.

Collection Number: RG 48/H7

Rutgers University. College of Nursing. Office of the Dean.

Records, 1952-1994.

23.3 cubic ft.

Records of the College of Nursing, originally part of the University of Newark, was founded in 1943 and then acquired by Rutgers in 1946. Deans of the College include: Ella V. Stonseby (1951-1963), L. Bernice Chapman (1964-1973), Eleanor Gray Knudson (1974-1976), Beverly H. Bowns (1977-1981), and Dorothy DeMaio (1981-).

The records are organized into eleven series: Accreditation files, By-Laws, Committees, Dean's Office Files, Departments, Faculty, Grants, Historical Background, Programs of Study, Statistical Data, and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Proposed Masters in Nursing Controversy.

The collection includes correspondence, memos, by-laws, minutes, course materials, reports, budgets, newspaper clippings, resumes, speeches, grant applications and faculty evaluations. The formation and earliest years of the school are documented in the accreditation Files and Historical Background series. Curriculum and faculty are well documented as are the accreditation and grant application processes.

Collection Number: RG N3/A0

Rutgers University. College of Nursing. Graduate Psychiatric Program.

Office Records, 1955-1981.

3.2 cubic ft.

Rutgers' graduate psychiatric nursing program was first proposed in 1954. Funding for five years was obtained from the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) in July 1955 and a twelve month masters program began with planning in the 1955-56 academic year. Six full time students were admitted September 1956 and four graduated in 1957. Hildegard E. Peplau Ed.D. � a pioneer in psychiatric nursing who developed the concept of interpersonal relations � was director of the program from 1954 to 1974. The records reveal extensive work on the role of clinical specialists in psychiatric nursing from 1955 through 1958. Dr. Peplau also served as the Interim Executive Director of the American Nurses Association (ANA) in 1970, as the ANA president from 1970-72, was third Vice-president of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) 1973-79.

Shirley Smoyak, a 1959 graduate of the program, was chair of Graduate Program in Advanced Psychiatric Nursing from 1972-1989. In addition to presiding a chair of the Psychiatric department, she oversaw the expansion of the College of Nursing from Newark to New Brunswick and Camden, and was Graduate Director of the entire department, both New Brunswick and Newark from 1977 until 1989.

The records of the Graduate Program in Psychiatric Nursing originated in the program director's office and cover the years 1955-1981 and are arranged in five subseries. Accreditation series documents the initial accreditation of the College of Nursing with the National League for Nursing (NLN) in 1955 as well as ongoing re-accreditation.

The Administration and Faculty Series contains records of the early development of the program including letters of support from New Jersey mental institutions; the philosophy of the original eight year design of nursing education, and early program objectives and course descriptions; the Graduate Committee, Department Reports, Faculty Personnel Files and Papers and Research in Psychiatric Nursing, which consists of faculty contributions to psychiatric nursing conferences as well as faculty research.

Curriculum and course material series includes course outlines, exams from 1957 through 1980, and a proposal from 1960 to develop a doctoral program in psychiatric nursing which did not materialize, criteria for student work and clinical sites, extensive work on the development of psychiatric concepts and processes as well as material relevant to the development of the advanced practice role. The fiscal series contains extensive documentation of the grant process from 1955 through 1981. The Students and Graduates series contains records relevant to masters theses of early graduates as well as follow-up surveys on early graduates.

Collection Number: RG N3/B4/1

Cavin, Susan, 1948-

Papers, 1971-1991.

4 cubic ft. (10 mss. boxes).

Items relating to Cavin's activities as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Rutgers Community. These include drafts of and correspondence relating to her dissertation, An Hysterical and Cross-Cultural Analysis of Sex-Ratios, Female Sexuality, and Homo-sexual Segregation versus Integration patterns in relation to the Liberation of Women, publicity materials, and other writings by Cavin including: her poetry pamphlet, Me and Them Sirens Running All Night Long, an article on lesbian social protest, materials on the Gay and Lesbian Press Association of which Cavin was president from 1984-1985, and materials regarding her involvement with civil disobedience actions at a march on Washington on October 13, 1987.

Cavin's involvement with the Women's Studies program of Rutgers University is represented in a small series of materials relating directly to her courses, in the Rutgers University Sexual Orientation survey which developed out of her course "Homosexuality and Society." The survey, carried out in the spring of 1987, was instrumental in alerting the Rutgers community to the pervasive presence of homophobia on the campuses; it was also germane to the formation of the President's Select Committee on Gay and Lesbian Concerns (originally called the President's Select Committee on Sexual Orientation). The activities of the President's Select Committee are represented through numerous documents (May 1988-April 1991) reporting the findings and recommendations of special task forces, press reports, agendas for meetings and various ephemera.

Cavin also collected materials relating to gay and lesbian and other aspects of political life on and around the campus including newspapers, leaflets and other ephemera provides a small sampling of cultural, political and commercial developments in the gay and lesbian community nationwide from 1978 to 1989. Finally, the Susan Cavin Papers contain records of B.A.D. News, a New York Lesbian newspaper, financial and circulation materials, artwork, and page layouts for a number of issues.

Collection Number: R-MC 007

Kozel, Sue (Susan Jennifer)

Rutgers grass roots-progressive activist files, 1921-1993 (bulk 1979-1993).

11.5 cubic ft.

The Rutgers Grass Roots - Progressive Activist Files comprise the records of Sue Kozel and Chris Berzinski, two student activists who came to Rutgers in the late 1970s and who continued their involvement in activism, both at Rutgers and in the larger community, after graduating from the University.

The files in the "Academic Excellence/Standards - Defining a University", and the "General Subject Files" series were kept by Kozel and Berzinski for reference. The series "Kozel: Representative Student Activist" contains material generated by Sue Kozel in her day-to-day activities while the "Labor" series contains her Ph.D. (not completed) research material. This collection is comprised primarily of textual records such as broadsides, correspondence, legislation, minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, press releases, reports, resolutions, a day book, and photographs.

The records document the activities of Kozel and Berzinski as activists, and document the issues that concerned them, the people with whom they came into contact, including Louis Chandler, Rutgers Professor Emeritus and member of the Manhattan Project, and Edward J. Bloustein, Rutgers University President, and the groups in which they became active, such as the Rutgers Coalition for Total Divestment (RCTD)/Coalition for Total Divestment and the Committee to Organize Student Workers (COSW).

Collection Number: R-MC 020

Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II.

Oral history interviews of the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II, 1994-[ongoing].

165 transcripts; ca. 500 cassette tapes.

The collection is organized into two series: I. Transcripts of Interviews, and II. Sound recording cassettes. On July 1, 1994, the Department of History at Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey established the Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II with an initial gift of $100,000 from the Rutgers College Class of 1942. Under the direction of Professor G. Kurt Piehler (1994-1998) and Sandra Stewart Holyoak (1999-present), this archive records the personal experiences of the men and women who served on the home front and overseas and men and women of Rutgers and Douglass who came of age during the 1930s and 1940s. In-depth interviews were conducted with individuals who lived through the Second World War beginning with an initial target group of Rutgers College alumni and Douglass College alumnae formally, New Jersey College for Women. Of the interviewees, to date, twelve women are represented in the collection.

Selected interviews also available online.

Finding aid available, including an online version.

Collection Number: R-MC 025

Women at Rutgers collection, 1993-1995.

1 cubic ft.

This collection is the result of an undergraduate honors course taught by Mary Trigg and consists of transcripts and tapes of interviews conducted by the students and also the resultant research papers on topics relating to women at Rutgers from the 1960s to the present. Topics include: faculty at Rutgers College, female student activism and feminism on campus, co-education at Rutgers College, athletics, Livingston College, academic curricula, African-American women at Rutgers, womens' health issues and women in science.

Collection Number: R-MC 040

Kangler, Clara (Mary Clara), 1917-1947.

Clara and Elsie Kangler papers, 1917-1955.

2 cubic ft.

Clara was born in 1917 and this collection traces her life predominately through her education as an undergraduate at New Jersey College for Women and as a graduate student at Columbia University and then her working career as a writer in Miami, Florida. On September 17, 1947 Clara committed suicide.

The Elsie and Clara Kangler Papers contain the correspondence, memorabilia, writings, and biographical materials of two sisters. Most of the materials concern Clara, they were collected by Elsie, Clara's sister (after her death). The correspondence is primarily made up of letters written back and forth between the two while Clara resided in Miami, Florida.

Biographical series (1925-1947) consists of a certificate of baptism, a certified copy of Clara's birth certificate, a social security card and a sheet of paper showing her work history. Correspondence series (May 1946-January 1948) contains 77 letters, a majority of which were exchanged between Elsie and Clara during Clara's 9 month stay in Miami (November 1946 to July 1947). Death series (1947-1948) constitutes all materials relating to the death of Clara Kangler on September 17, 1947. Education series (1936-1944) contains all materials pertaining to Clara Kangler's education, from eighth grade to her Masters degree, including eight notebooks of course work from her undergraduate career at the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College). Memorabilia series (1928-1955) contains greeting cards, a photograph, notes, a diary (1930-1934 covering Clara's high school years), book plates, etc. Miscellaneous series (1923-1947) contains a rough draft of the book Clara started writing while she was in Miami. The scrapbook (1923-1955; bulk 1923-1942) includes school mementos such as report cards, sports programs, contest listings, student memberships, school letter, emblems and other memorabilia from grammar school, Bound Brook High School, and the New Jersey College for Women.

Publication: Kramer, Deirdre A., and Dana R. Bowling, "A Life of Promise, A Life Foreshortened" (Paper prepared for the 14th Annual Adult Development Symposium of The Society for Research in Adult Development, June, 1999).

Collection Number: R-MC 041

Home: Women's History Sources: A Guide to Manuscripts and Archival Collections
Indexes: Subjects and Titles | Personal and Corporate Names | Place Names
Entries: A - B | C - D | E - G | H - K | L - M | N - O | P - R | S - T | U - Z | University Records
Links: Special Collections and University Archives Homepage | Manuscripts | Rutgers University Archives | Margery Somers Foster Center