An educator, lesbian feminist, writer, and activist, Charlotte Bunch organized a women's caucus within the Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and represented the United States women's liberation movement during a peace trip to North Vietnam and Laos. She subsequently helped organize the first International Conference of North American and Indochinese Women held in Toronto, Canada, in 1971. Her collections include documentation regarding Bunch’s anti-Vietnam War activities, including pamphlets, buttons, posters, statements, and photographs. See also Additional Papers of Charlotte Bunch

Navy captain Winifred Quick Collins was commissioned as an ensign in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in August 1942, and in 1948 was in the first group of women commissioned in the United States Navy. In 1957 she was appointed Chief of Naval Personnel for Women, the most senior position for which women were eligible; she was the only woman line officer with the rank of captain. She retired in 1962 and was active in a number of organizations, including the National Navy League, in which she was the first woman elected vice president and director (1965).

A feminist lesbian author and activist, Barbara Deming protested the war in Vietnam. In 1966, she, A.J. Muste, Brad Lyttle, and others went to Saigon, seat of the United States-supported South Vietnamese government, to stage a protest. They were expelled from the country. At the end of the year, she went with three other American women to North Vietnam to meet Ho Chi Minh and members of the National Liberation Front and to tour areas devastated by United States forces. The papers document the peace movement in the 1960s, particularly the War Resisters League, the Committee for Nonviolent Action, Women Strike for Peace, and its use of nonviolent direct action.

Navy captain Grace Brewster Murray Hopper is the inventor of COBOL, a computer language, and helped program the first large-scale digital computer, Mark I. She also worked with Mark II and Mark III computers. This collection consists of videotape and typed transcripts of three interviews for the 60 Minutes television program.

A pacifist and feminist, Rankin was the first congresswoman, representing Montana in 1917-1919 and in 1941-1943; she was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. participation in both world wars. In the 1920s she worked for the National Consumers' League and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and founded the Georgia Peace Society. In the 1930s, she worked for the National Council for Prevention of War. From 1945 to the early 1970s, she traveled extensively, especially in India, opposed the Vietnam War, and worked for the Equal Rights Amendment. This collection best documents Rankin’s vote against U.S. entry into WWII and the consequent public reaction, though both terms in congress are covered.

Elizabeth Reynard was assistant director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II. This collection includes correspondence, articles, reports, newsletters, manuals, photos, clippings, phonograph records, and other material reflecting Reynard's career in the Navy, including her assignments with the WAVES at WAVES training school, the Naval Training School, and on the U.S.S. Hunter. There is also information about WAVES personnel and organization regulations and about other units of military women in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. Some materials in this collection have been digitized and are available through the finding aid.

Peace activist Cynthia Rich was a member of Voice of Women--New England (VOW-NE), a group formed in 1961 to work "toward the goal of a world without war" by focusing on such issues as war toys, atmospheric nuclear testing, civil defense, and foreign policy decisions. It attempted to influence politicians and others through letters, speeches, peace demonstrations, and educational programs. From 1965 through 1968, Rich represented VOW-NE at Coalition Politics, an organization designed to facilitate the exchange of information among peace groups in New England. The Rich papers include letters to politicians and to other peace activists. Most of the papers relate to VOW-NE. The group's focus on civil defense and disarmament is documented by correspondence, clippings, flyers, speeches, and reports that address both sides of the issue. Also included are correspondence, minutes, reports, and statements of the organization Coalition Politics.

In 1943, Ruth Cheney Streeter became the first woman to attain the rank of major in the United States Marine Corps and became the first director of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve. She retired in 1945 as a colonel. This collection contains a typescript copy of History of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve: A Critical Analysis of Its Development and Operation, 1943-1945, written for the Department of the Navy by Streeter and Colonel Katherine A. Towle, assistant director and later director of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Also included is a 1981 article about Streeter and two images from Streeter's self-published book, Tales of an Ancient Marine.

Warren served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), which later became the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She became a commissioned officer in 1942 and held the following positions before leaving the service in 1946: Commanding Officer of WAAC Operations Company, New York Air Defense Wing, First Fighter Command; Assistant Director of Training, WAC Training Centers; War Department Personnel Center, Camp Atterbury, Indiana; and Purchasing and Contracting Officer, Camp Atterbury. The collection includes clippings, orders, memos, training manuals, photographs, and printed material relating to her military service.

Medical anthropologist Hazel Marie Hitson Weidman joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) in 1943; she attended boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training School at Hunter College, Bronx, New York. After taking aptitude tests during boot camp, Weidman was sent to the Atlanta Naval Air Station to learn to instruct pilots in celestial navigation, which encompassed instrumental flight and radio navigation. During the war she served at several naval air bases including the New Orleans Naval Air Station and the Alameda and Livermore Naval Air Stations in California. Included in the collection are love letters received by Weidman during World War II, which offer glimpses into the lives of Navy and Army pilots during the war and the difficulties of maintaining long-distance romances during wartime.