Jane Maud Campbell was born in Liverpool, England. When she was twelve, her family moved to the United States, and she attended a private school in Richmond, Virginia. She went on to work as an assistant at the Free Public Library in Newark, New Jersey. In 1902 she was made Head of Public Libraries in Passaic, New Jersey. This collection consists of correspondence, speeches, and photographs of Campbell, as well as clippings about her work, libraries, and immigrants. Most of her speeches concern the use of library resources in new and creative ways to meet the needs of immigrants, with libraries and librarians in an intermediary and interpretive role. The correspondence documents some of her career changes, particularly the move from Massachusetts to Virginia. Photographs are of Campbell and of several libraries with which she was affiliated.

Elsie Miller Palmer was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and graduated from Antioch College. This collection is mainly comprised of correspondence between Elsie Miller Palmer and her family. Correspondence with her daughter, Lucile Palmer Cavender, who was a librarian, includes references to Cavender's time at Simmons College and her career as a librarian at Adelbert College, Western Reserve University, and public libraries in Middleboro and Attleboro, Massachusetts.

The Cambridge Homes for Aged People was incorporated on June 10, 1887, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to provide housing and other assistance to "respectable aged and indigent men and women." The vast majority of residents have been women. This collection includes transcripts and audiotapes from an oral history project with residents. In Erika Chadbourn's oral history interview, she discusses her childhood and schooling in Germany and her family's immigration to the United States in 1934. She also describes her work as a librarian, and eventual job as curator of manuscripts at Harvard Law School Library.

Born in Cambridge and educated at the Cambridge Latin School, Florence May Wyman Currier graduated from Radcliffe (A.B. 1903). She worked as a cataloger at Widener Library until her marriage to Frank Currier in 1908 and the collection consists of diaries describing her time in this job.

The first woman to head a metropolitan library system in the United States, Linda Anne Eastman helped develop adult education programs, the open shelf system, school and children's libraries, and a book distribution program for home-bound individuals. She continued a tradition of innovation and excellence which made the Cleveland Public Library one of the best libraries in the United States. After graduating from West High School, Eastman taught in the Cleveland public schools for seven years (1885-1892). After serving as assistant librarian and cataloguer in the Dayton Public Library (1895-1896), she returned to the Cleveland Public Library and became vice-librarian to William H. Brett. Eastman succeeded Brett as librarian after his death in 1918, and remained in this position until her retirement in November 1938. She taught library science at Western Reserve University and was active in the American Library Association. This collection includes correspondence, biographical material, and writings including a manuscript of Portrait of a Librarian: William Howard Brett.

Anne Engelhart, archivist and librarian, studied at Vassar College (1969-1971) before leaving for Europe where she became involved in the study of Renaissance and baroque music and historically informed performance practice, attending the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland), the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and studying with baroque flutist Barthold Kuijken while living in Bruges, Belgium. In 1975 she returned to the United States and studied at Brandeis University (1975-1976) before finishing at New England Conservatory (BM 1978). In 1984 she completed an MLIS from Simmons and in 1992 she received an MLA in history from the Harvard Extension School. Engelhart began part-time work at the Schlesinger Library in 1977, initially as a staff assistant for the Black Women Oral History Project, and later as Assistant Curator of Manuscripts, and Head of Collection Services before retiring in 2018. The papers document Engelhart's childhood travels to Europe and China; her close relationships with her parents, family, and friends; her experiences living abroad in the early 1970s while studying early music; her marriage and efforts to get pregnant via in vitro fertilization and other treatments; parenthood; and her work at the Schlesinger Library.

Minnie Fisher was the oldest living native-born citizen of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Fisher was educated at Tougaloo College and taught in the public schools of Bolivar County. She went on to work as a city librarian, town clerk, bookkeeper, and editor. In her oral history interview she discusses her dedication to the town of Mound Bayou and her tireless work as a civil servant.
Note: More information about the Black Women Oral History Project, including links to digitized transcripts and audio files, can be found here.

Anna Spicer Gladding was born in Providence, Rhode Island, graduated from Vassar College, and studied early childhood education at the Merrill School in Detroit. In 1932 she began a 42-year association with the Reformatory for Women in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she was involved in the mother-child program and served as prison librarian, organist and choir director, and leader of the literary and nature study clubs. This collection includes material related to her work in the prison library.

Frances Grant was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1913 she enrolled in Radcliffe College and was the first black woman elected to the Iota chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated in 1917, magna cum laude with a degree in classics. She went on to become a teacher of English literature at schools in New Jersey and New York. Her work as an educator included time spent as a librarian. She discusses this work in her oral history interview.
Note: More information about the Black Women Oral History Project, including links to digitized transcripts and audio files, can be found here.

The majority of this collection is correspondence and contains a rich collection of family letters, including the correspondence between Clara Lucile "Lucie" Green and her husband, Frederick Spruyt. Green worked as a librarian in Washington, D.C., and her correspondence includes descriptions of her work.

Librarian and author Elizabeth Jamison Hodges was born in Atlanta, Ga., and attended schools in New York and in the Boston area before graduating from Radcliffe (A.B. 1931) and Simmons colleges (B.S. 1937). Hodges worked as a librarian at the Boston Public Library (1937-1941), Detroit Public Library (1941-1943), and at public libraries in Watertown, Leominster, Belmont, and Arlington, Mass. Following World War II, she served as Command Librarian for the Third Army in Germany, setting up libraries for American occupation troops. The author of four children's books, including The Three Princes of Serendip (1964), Hodges taught writing and was coordinator of creative writing for twenty years at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement. This collection consists of diaries, which include references to Hodges’ career as a librarian, particularly during and after WWII. Other papers include correspondence with fellow librarians as well as her professional resume.

World traveler, lecturer, social worker, librarian, and journalist Marion Angeline Howlett was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the mid-1940s she began work as a librarian and social worker at the South End Boys' Club in Boston and, later, at the Charles Hayden Memorial Clubhouse of the South Boston Boys' Club. This collection includes written accounts of Howlett's work as a librarian for the South End Boys’ Club as well as promotional library materials.

Frances Kolb was an educational consultant and historian. A longtime activist with the National Organization for Women (NOW), Kolb was a founder of the Pittsburgh chapter, Eastern Regional Director (1973-1975), and a member of NOW's national board (1975-1977). She served as NOW's archivist and was preparing a history of NOW before her death from breast cancer in 1991. This collection consists of correspondence, clippings, research notes, printed material, audiocassettes, memorabilia, and writings by Kolb, focusing mainly on her work for NOW and her research documenting the history of NOW. See also the Audiotape Collection of Frances Arick Kolb, which consists of audio interviews conducted by Frances Kolb with past NOW officers and members, regarding the formation of NOW and their roles in the organization.

Esther Lissner was a librarian at the Boston Public Library. A graduate of Boston Girls Latin School, she attended Wellesley College from 1908 to 1909. Esther Lissner entered Radcliffe College in 1909, graduating cum laude in 1913. After graduation she took additional courses at Radcliffe. In 1914 she became a cataloguer at the Boston Public Library, from which she retired in 1960. The collection consists of scrapbooks of memorabilia from Boston Girls Latin School, Wellesley College, Radcliffe College, and Boston Public Library.

Miriam Matthews earned her bachelor's degree (1926) and her certificate of librarianship (1927) from University of California at Berkeley. She went on to become the first black director of a branch public library in Los Angeles. She also collected approximately 4,600 black-and-white photographs documenting the African American experience in Los Angeles and California prior to 1910. In 2004, the Hyde Park branch of the Los Angeles Public Library was renamed in her honor. She describes her important work in her oral history interview.
Note: More information about the Black Women Oral History Project, including links to digitized transcripts and audio files, can be found here.

A librarian, bibliographer, and authority on rare books, Lucy Eugenia Osborne served as custodian of the Chapin Library at Williams College from 1922 to 1947. This collection includes biographical material, letters, articles, photographs, and an unpublished manuscript on the history of rare books.

The Kathy Davis oral history interviews contain audiocassettes and some transcripts of interviews Davis conducted with founders, staff, and contributors of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective concerning the history of the Collective and the evolution of Our Bodies, Ourselves within and outside the United States. Jamie Penney (T-330.17) came to the Collective in 1990 as the staff librarian. In her interview she discusses the organizational structure and environment throughout the 1990s, as well as the creation of vocabulary for the Women's Health Thesaurus and the development of the Collective's library.

Archivist and historian Virginia Cardwell Purdy was born in Columbia, South Carolina. She worked as a librarian at the Library of Congress (1964-1966); historian (1966-1969) and keeper of the catalog of American portraits (1966-1970) at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery; and finally at the National Archives until her retirement in 1989. While at the National Archives she was director of the education division and lectured and wrote widely on the use of federal records to document the history of American women. Purdy was the co-editor of Clio Was a Woman: Studies in the History of American Women (1980). Active in the Society of American Archivists, she edited its journal and was named a Fellow in 1981. This collection includes writings on the use of federal records to document the history of American women.

A writer and librarian, Ruth Elspeth Raymond attended Mount Holyoke and Radcliffe and graduated from Harvard Extension in 1943. She wrote plays, short stories, and some longer works, traveled in England, Scotland, and Canada, and worked in medical libraries in Boston. This collection consists of diaries, which include references to her career as a librarian.

Rose Sherman (Radcliffe, 1894) earned her degree in library science from Simmons in 1913. She was librarian of the new Radcliffe library from 1909-1927. From 1927 until 1934 she did part time work at the college. Sherman’s papers consist of her research material pertaining to the history and genealogy of the Fay family and other occupants of Fay House at Radcliffe College; they also include Arthur Gilman’s research papers on Fay House (1894).

Mariwyn Somers was active in the Lexington, Mass., chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), chairing its task force on health and serving as archivist. She also took part in the campaign for the state Equal Rights Amendment and for legislation to establish programs for displaced homemakers. This collection includes Lexington NOW newsletters, budgets, announcements, membership lists, a 1976 report on women in history textbooks, material from the Massachusetts ERA campaign, and other documents associated with her work.

Edna Lamprey Stantial was secretary of the Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government and archivist of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. As Maud Wood Park's close friend and secretary, Stantial helped Park gather the papers that she gave to Radcliffe College in 1943. These papers, the Woman's Rights Collection, formed the nucleus of the Women's Archives, later the Schlesinger Library. Throughout the 1950s, Stantial continued to collect papers of leading figures in the movement for women's rights. This collection includes Stantial's correspondence, notes, printed material, legal documents, and ephemera that document her role as caretaker and archivist for women active in the suffrage movement, as well as for suffrage-related organizations and historical collections.

Laura Thompson was born in England and immigrated to Chicago with her family in 1892. Although very poor, the family valued education. Laura graduated from the University of Chicago (A.B. 1901) and served for 30 years as librarian at the U.S. Dept. of Labor. This collection includes her personal and professional correspondence, writings, a commonplace book, and photographs.

Elaine D. Trehub was Archives Librarian at Mount Holyoke College. In 1992 she conducted a survey of archives at thirteen colleges in England which were founded with a mission to educate women. This collection consists of a typed paper (34 p.) entitled “Archival Resources Relating to the Higher Education of Women in England, 1994-2013,” and a two-page update from 2013. The collection also includes correspondence with English archivists about her work as well as research material, including lists of archival sources and The Role and Resources of University Repositories, issued by the Society of Archivists, November 1989.