The Project
"Documenting Women's Activism and Leadership in the Chicago Area, 1945-2000" will provide
the first comprehensive survey of significant Chicago area personalities, issues, organizations,
actions, institutions, legislative initiatives and cultural innovations that contributed to change
during this exciting period in the city's history. CAWHC will serve as a central registry for
information about resources and as a catalyst for projects undertaken by the community.
Basic Elements of the Project
The project will:
- Provide a fully-accessible, online database that will identify information and archival resources for the study
of the women's activism in the Chicago area
- Conduct a survey of existing archival resources and encourage private individuals to donate historical papers
to permanent repositories
- Conduct oral history interviews with significant movement personalities and those influenced by it
We Need Your Help!
The project embraces women's activism and feminism in all of its diversity and contradictions including
advocates of equal rights, equal opportunity, women's liberation, social, radical, lesbian and liberal feminism, and
it will take a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial approach to movement issues. It will also consider the work of
women artists, theologians, and other cultural leaders who created a revolution in many areas of American life.
As a result we need your help identifying resources and gathering information. If you have materials to share, please fill out and submit one of the forms listed below.
- If you participated in women's movements for change and have experiences, information, contacts and/or archival materials that you would like to share please fill out and submit this form.
- If you are an archivist and have relevant resources in your repository, please fill out and
- If you are interested in helping with the project and have experience or skills that you think would be useful, please fill out and submit this form.
