Charlotte Perkins Gilman, independent thinker, prolific writer, and gifted speaker, was the intellectual leader of the women's movement from the late 1890s through the mid-1920s. Influenced by Lester F. Ward's gynaecocentric theory and Edward Bellamy's Nationalism, she was a socialist but not a Marxist; a Deist with no concern for an afterlife, considering God an impersonal working power; an advocate of economic independence for women, with the ballot of secondary importance.

The achievements of the Goldmark sisters were so various that a brief enumeration only suggests the breadth of their interests. Both sisters fought for labor reform.

The papers of Leonora O'Reilly contain correspondence, diaries, notebooks, speeches, articles, pamphlets, leaflets, and clippings reflecting her work in the labor, social reform, woman suffrage, and peace movements. The majority of the collection has been digitized and is available online

Labor reformer and suffragist, Dreier was active in the New York Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) throughout its existence (1903-1950), serving as president, 1906-1914. Her sisters were Margaret Dreier Robins, a founder and president of the National WTUL, and Dorothea and Katherine, both artists, Katherine best known as a patron of modern art.

Playwright, novelist, and activist, Ana María Simo was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, in 1943, and moved to Havana on the eve of the 1959 Cuban revolution. In 1964, as persecution of LGBTQ+ people by the Castro government increased, Simo was jailed and interrogated about the members of Ediciones El Puente. She was then forced into a psychiatric clinic for more than two months. Following her release, Simo began the long process of obtaining an exit permit and moved to Paris in January 1968. While in France, she studied sociology and linguistics with French literary and social critic Roland Barthes and participated in the May 1968 student revolution. She was active in Gouines Rouges (Red Dykes), the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF), and the Front Homosexuel d'Action Révolutionnaire (FHAR). Simo moved to New York in 1973, where she continued to write articles, fiction, and plays and also created films.

Deborah Sampson Gannett served in the United States army during the Revolutionary War. She enlisted as a private under the name Robert Shurtleft, was wounded in the battle of Tarrytown, witnessed the capture of Cornwallis, and was honorably discharged in November 1783.

Social reformer Elizabeth Glendower Evans was involved in prison reform, support of striking workers, the Massachusetts campaign for the first minimum wage act for women, the movement for women's suffrage, and peace. She was a contributing editor and financial supporter of La Follette's Magazine and the Progressive, and national director of the American Civil Liberties Union (1920-1937).

Active in the fields of labor, education, women's rights, and consumer affairs, (Brigham Young University, B.A., 1927; Columbia University Teachers College, 1930) Esther Peterson was involved in union organizing, worker education, and labor and consumer legislation lobbying. She was head of the Women's Bureau (1961-1964), Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards (1961-1969), executive vice chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women (1961-1963), Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs (1964-1967, 1977-1981), legislative representative for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1969-1970), consumer adviser to Giant Food, Inc. (1970-1977), and representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the International Organization of Consumers Unions (1983-1993).

This collection consists of correspondence, speeches, reports, clippings, printed material, and photographs documenting some of Maida Springer Kemp's trade union activity in the United States and her extensive work on behalf of the emerging trade union movement in Africa. The emphasis is on Kemp's work in Africa--in particular the Trade Union Scholarship Program for Africa, an AFL-CIO effort, and her efforts to provide assistance to union leaders--from the mid 1950s through 1980, especially in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanganyika, Uganda, and the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

The Wages for Housework collection of Molly Ladd-Taylor contains flyers, position papers, clippings, correspondence, and other materials documenting Ladd-Taylor's involvement in the Wages for Housework movement, a grassroots women's network that advocated for recognition and compensation for unwaged work and sought to improve women's lives through advocacy for issues such as health care, reproductive rights, and the decriminalization of sex work. The collection documents the work of organizations in the United States, England, and Canada including Wages for Housework groups in all three countries and affiliated organizations including Wages Due Lesbians, Black Women for Wages for Housework, the English Collective of Prostitutes, U.S. PROStitutes Collective (US PROS), and the No Bad Women, Just Bad Laws Coalition. Individuals represented in the material include Silvia Federici, Margaret Prescod, Selma James, and Wilmette Brown. Also included in the collection are internal working documents, memos, correspondence, drafts of statements, questionnaires, and other materials produced by the Oberlin and Cleveland Wages for Housework chapters, which Ladd-Taylor led while attending Oberlin College in the 1970s. Folders were created by Ladd-Taylor and arranged alphabetically by the archivist.