Under the auspices of the Schlesinger Library, the Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African-American women between 1976 and 1981. The project sought a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the women interviewed for the project were active in the protest movements of their era. Among these include interviews with Margaret Walker Alexander, author, poet, teacher, and recipient of Yale Award for Younger Poets, and Alice Walker Dunnigan, the first Black woman journalist admitted to Congressional press galleries and White House correspondent. Access to the audio and transcripts of the interviews are available via the Research Guide for the Black Women Oral History Project.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an author, speaker, and independent thinker who was an intellectual leader of the women's movement from the late 1890s through the mid-1920s. Among her most notable works is the short story, "The Lady in the Yellow Wallpaper." This collection, which contains material relevant to her writing, has been digitized in its entirety. The Schlesinger holds a wide breadth of material related to Gilman, much of which has been digitized. Please see the Charlotte Perkins Gilman research guide for more information about accessing the digitized materials.

June Jordan was an award-winning author, poet, and social and political activist. Shortly after withdrawing from college, Jordan received an award from the Rockefeller Foundation. She worked as a freelance writer to supplement her income, producing both fiction and nonfiction, and read her poetry at paid engagements. She went on to become an educator, and used her talents to address issues of discrimination based on race and gender, as well as other politically controversial issues. She published prolifically on the themes of discrimination, equality, global poverty, and religious tolerance, among others. The audio collection of June Jordan contains digitized recordings of her radio appearances, readings of her work, and speaking engagements, available in the finding aid for the Audio Collection of June Jordan.

Elizabeth Winthrop Moulton was an author, artist, and journalist. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1946 and took on an assistant role at Mademoiselle magazine until 1949, when she became a freelance writer under the name of Betsy Day. Her short stories appeared in Redbook, McCall's, and Virginia Quarterly review. Her first novel, Fatal Demonstrations, appeared in 1980, and she had completed five more, all unpublished, by the time of her death in 2013. The collection includes stories and articles written by Moulton, some of which have been digitized and are available in the finding aid for the Papers of Elizabeth Moulton.

Ida Pruitt was a writer, educator, and social worker born in China to Southern Baptist missionaries. After receiving her college education and studying social work in Boston and Philadelphia, Pruitt returned to China as a teacher and principal. During the Japanese occupation she and social reformer Rewi Alley organized Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, an international committee that worked to promote Chinese self-sufficiency. She was the author and translator of a number of books. Marjorie King met Pruitt in the 1980s while she was working on her dissertation at Temple University. King published a biography of Pruitt. Every item in this collection, which documents Pruitt's personal life and unpublished writings, has been digitized and is available in the finding aid for the Papers of Ida Pruitt and Marjorie King.

The Radcliffe Poetry Club published an anthology of the work of its members from 1928 to 1938. Seven of these anthologies have been digitized and are available online in Harvard List View.

Dorothy West was an African American writer from Boston, Massachusetts. Her father had been a slave as a child and became a successful businessman. She began writing when she was very young, and her story "The Typewriter" won second prize in a 1926 contest in the journal Opportunity. She then moved to New York City and became part of the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1930s, West was editor and publisher of two African American literary journals, Challenge and New Challenge. She later began writing novels. The collection contains drafts, manuscripts, published stories and articles, and other items to do with her writing career. Materials from this collection have been digitized and are available in the finding aid for the Papers of Dorothy West. Dorothy West was also interviewed as part of the Black Woman Oral History Project. The audio and transcripts of that interview can be found in the Guide to the Black Woman Oral History Project.

Ann Sayre Wiseman was an artist and writer from New York. She taught art and served as Art Director of the Stuart Country Day School in New Jersey, and later became the Program Director at the Boston Children's Museum. She later returned to school and became and art and dream therapist. She wrote numerous books on crafts, creativity, children and nightmares, and expressive therapy. This collection includes digitized drafts of Wiseman's writings, available in the finding aid for the Papers of Ann Sayre Wiseman.