Evelyn Perkins Ames was an author and poet. Many of her works, which included books, short stories, articles, and poems, focused on wildlife and the environment. She was widely published and was a member of the Poetry Society of America, Pen and Brush, and The Women Poets. She was also a director of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund and Milton Academy, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Lindisfarne Association. The collection includes drafts of Ames' books, poetry, short stories and articles, as well as speeches and talks, reviews written by and about Ames, interviews, diaries, dream journals, notebooks, and correspondence. It also includes a marble bust of Ames.

The Cambridge Plant Club, one of the oldest garden clubs in the country was founded in 1889. In 1966 it merged with the Cambridge Garden Club (founded in 1938) to form the Cambridge Plant and Garden Club. The club has received many awards for its civic planting and landscaping projects in Cambridge, as well as prizes for exhibitions in the Spring Flower Shows of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Its conservation committee has been active in the nuclear freeze movement and in efforts to control hazardous waste and water pollution. This collection includes reports, histories, publications, minutes, and other records. It also includes photographs, and some landscape plans.

Ariel Dougherty is a feminist film maker. She is interested in ecofeminism and environmental activism, and her filmmaking began to reflect those interests in the late 1980s. She became involved with two live public access shows, "The Recycling Show" and "Cultural Democracy/Ecology," a biweekly show that she hosted focusing on feminist culture, media criticism, and the environment. She worked on projects relating to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil in 1992. She also worked on a television special, "Sustaining our Planetary Home," and a video "From the Interior, Colonized," about women's positions on bio-technology. This collection contains biographical and personal materials, correspondence, materials related to her work with Women Make Movies, her film projects and films and material pertaining to her workshops, conferences, and teaching, as well as her artwork, photographs, and memorabilia. Related material can be found in the Audiovisual Collection of Ariel Dougherty.

Susan Faludi was an American Journalist and author. She was a graduate of Harvard University and wrote for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Miami Herald. In the 1990s, she did research for a book on Judi Bari, a prominent environmentalist and organizer against corporate logging in California's redwood forests, who was nearly killed by a car bomb in 1990. The book was never published, however this collection includes research files, printed material, legal documents, and audiovisual material assembled by Faludi in the course of her research on the Judi Bari case. It also includes clippings and articles about her published works, and her website.

Elizabeth Farians was an educator, theologian, social justice activist, and eco-feminist. She co-founded the organization Feminists for Animal Rights, an organization dedicated to ending all forms of abuse against women and animals. She was actively involved in many of animal rights organizations protesting factory farms, circuses, and animal testing for product development. Series III of the Papers of Elizabeth Farians focuses on her activist work and the organizations with which she was involved. Subseries C of Series III concerns her work in the eco-feminist and animal rights movements.

The Fishermen's Wives of Gloucester Association is non-profit organization focused on the New England fishing industry. The group was formed in 1969, and in the late 1970s the FWGA became active at the state, federal, and international level lobbying for the federal government to prohibit oil drilling in Georges Bank. They forged ties with other leaders in the fishing industry to protest oil drilling, overfishing, and pollution. This collection contains staff notes, research, grant proposals, oral histories, and other material regarding the accomplishments and history of the GFWA. It also includes material related to significant issues affecting the fishing industry in New England, North America, and globally. The Schlesinger also holds a number of GFWA publications, including Pisces, Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Newsletter, and Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association Newsletter.

Susan Griffin was a writer, eco-feminist, philosopher, and social critic, who described her writings as drawing "connections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women, and racism." She addresses climate change, war, colonialism, the body, and democracy in her body of work. This collection contains biographical and personal materials, correspondence, joirnals and notebooks, books, plays, poetry and other writings as well as material pertaining to her speaking engagements, teaching, and events. There are also audio-visual materials and memorabilia.

Elinor Coleman Guggeinheimer was a public official and civic worker. She was involved in projects across a variety of disciplines, many of which she led, including the founding of the Day Care Council of New York and the Day Care and Child Development Council of America. Her work related to environmentalism is largely centered around her work with the New York City Planning Commission. She was involved with many aspects of the planning and organization of the New York City parks system, and wrote and lectured on the topics of urban recreation and park planning. This collection contains information about her work with the task force on Education for Recreation and Leadership, a small parks program, and information about several specific parks in New York, as well as individual planning projects that she took part in.

Harriet Louise Hardy was a physicial and specialist in occupational medicine. She had a lifelong association with Massachusetts General Hospital, and worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and, later, the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Hygiene. She was very interested in industrially-produced disease, and discovered that exposure to beryllium, at the time widely used in flourescent light bulb factories, caused tuberculosis-like symptoms and was often fatal. She founded the Beryllium Case Registry at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1952. She also worked with Dr. Alice Hamilton, who was an earlier pioneer in industrial toxicology. The collection includes biographical materials and materials related to her personal life, correspondence with and about Alice Hamilton, her articles and presentations, materials relating to her teaching and other institutional affiliations, other correspondence, and patient records.

The artist known as Hera was born Betty Lynn Calvert in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1940. She studied at Mount Holyoke College and graduated from the University of Dallas in 1970 and Southern Methodist University with her M.F.A. in 1974. She lives in New York City and is known for her environmental sculptures. This collection contains her curricula vitae, announcements of openings, articles about Hera, and forty slides of her work.

Vilma Hunt was a scientist, researcher, writer, environmental activist, and feminist. She worked in a variety of academic and administrative roles on the topic of environmental health and protection. This collection contains correspondence on the topic of her research activities and her work with the Environmental Protection Agency and other material related to that work. It also contains material related to her activism with the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, the New England Consortium Work Environment Laboratory, and photographs and audio visual material. Related material can be found in the Additional Papers of Vilma R. Hunt.

Marti Kheel was an ecofeminist pioneer, animal advocate, and scholar. She first became active on behalf of animals in Canada, beginning with helping to find homes for stray cats. When she moved to Oakland, California in 1980, she became involved with a number of groups which advocated for animal rights. In 1982 she co-founded Feminists for Animal Rights, which grew into an international educational non-profit that raised public awareness surrounding the issues connecting treatment of animals and women. She published regularly and extensively, and attended conferences where she spoke on issues related to environmental and feminist ethics and animal rights. The collection contains her biographical and personal materials, her writings, materials pertaining to her activist and professional career, and photographs and audiovisual material.

Massachusetts government official Evelyn F. Murphy was born in 1940 in Panama, where her father was serving in the United States Army. Murphy served as Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs (1975-1979) and Secretary of Economic Affairs (1983-1985) before being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1987, the first woman in the history of the Commonwealth to hold an office created by the constitution. Later in life she joined the corporate world in the law, banking, and health insurance sectors. This collection includes a variety of material related to her time as Secretary of Environmental Affairs including speeches, documents, and photographs.

Ellen Silbergeld is an environmental toxicologist and research scientist, particularly interested in neuropharmacology, toxicology, lead poisoning, and environmental risk assessment. She has studied the effects of dioxins and PCBs on humans. She was the director of the Toxic Chemicals Program and chief toxics scientist for the Environmental defense Fund, and later became Environmental Health Chair at the same institution. She has also advised both national and international organizations and advocacy groups, and has been influential in determining policies related to environmental hazards. This collection contains personal materials, including her curricula vitae, her professional correspondence, materials related to her professional activities, her writings, and materials that she kept for reference. Related material can be found in the Additional Papers of Ellen K. Silbergeld.

Silent Spring Institute was founded in 1994 by a group of women within the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition as a non-profit scientific research organization. It is dedicated to identifying links between the environment and women's health, particularly in respect to breast cancer. Its findings regarding environmental toxins and breast cancer have led to other initiatives, including household exposure studies, a study of the marketing of personal care products containing endocrine disruptors to women since the 1950s, and others. It is unique in that its research model employs activists, scientists, and the people affected by breast cancer.

Founded in 1914 to connect women from around the country with their shared love of gardening and agriculture, the Woman's National Farm and Garden Association has since broadened its mission to include education, scholarship, and conservation. Today, the WNFGA is an environmental group with many branches, garden clubs, and special interest environmental associations. Additional material can be found in the Additional Records of the Woman's National Farm and Garden Association.

The Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace & Justice was founded in 1983 as a place for women to gather in order to protest the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe. The 52 acre tract of land abutted the Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York. The original primary goals of Encampment were to create awareness about and opposition to the United States' plans to deploy missiles to Europe, to forge links between the factions of the women's movement working for peace and those working for social justice, and to create a vision of the world if militarism were not a predominate force. It quickly grew to embrace a range of issues including environmentalism, speciesism and vegetarianism. Related material can be found in the Papers of Leeann Irwin.