About Special Collections
The Special Collections and University Archives Department at the Richard J. Daley library houses collections of rare books, manuscripts, maps and photographs, with particular strength in the social, political and cultural history of Chicago. The collections at the Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago document Chicago's rich history as a center for the education and practice of the medical arts.
The UIC ARCHIVES is the repository for historical records of the University of Illinois at Chicago and its predesessors as well as selected papers of prominent faculty, alumni, and administrative staff.
Organization Records and Issues
The following collections of women's activist and political organizations and issues can be found in the Special Collections Department, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. The links below lead to finding aids (lists of contents) for each collection.
Please visit Special Collections for assistance using these materials or Ask A Librarian.
- Jane Abortion Collective Oral History CollectionThe above collections document aspects of women's activism regarding abortion.
- ERA IllinoisERA Illinois was founded during the early 1970s to lobby for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
- Gray Panthers of Chicago RecordsIn 1970, six retired women formed the intergenerational Gray Panthers to advocate for improved social conditions. The organization’s records document their history, leadership, and activities on behalf of the elderly and of all people regardless of age.
- Illinois Women's Political Caucus CollectionThe Illinois Women's Political Caucus is the state branch of the National Women's Political Caucus, a nonpartisan group formed in 1971 to promote and support women candidates for political office in the United States.
- Immigrant's Protective League RecordsOrganization affiliated with the Hull-House settlement house that provided resources to new immigrants.
- Juvenile Protective Association RecordsThe Juvenile Court Committee was established in Chicago in 1904 by women reformers five years after they organized for the Cook County Juvenile Court. The Juvenile Court Committee offered aid to dependent and delinquent children during the period before the Juvenile Court itself was able to take up their cases.
- Hull-House CollectionSettlement houses provided a way for affluent, native-born Americans to learn from and help immigrants and less prosperous citizens in their own neighborhoods. Women were prominent in settlement staffing and many settlement houses became involved in local and national political issues.
- Temperance CollectionWomen were leaders in the American Temperance Movement. The Temperance Crusade witnessed some of the first mass meetings and public activities of women in the United States with church going women gathering to sing Christian hymns, make anti-alcohol statements, and sometimes entering saloons and other once predominately male social environments to encourage the cessation of the use and sale of alcohol.
- Woman’s City Club of Chicago RecordsFounded in 1910, the Woman’s City Club of Chicago was an organization concerned with civic welfare in Chicago. It dealt with such issues as housing, child welfare, women’s rights, suffrage, garbage and sewage disposal, public education, and parks and playgrounds.
- Woman's Peace Party CollectionThe Woman's Peace Party was founded in 1915 in Washington DC, by a group of American woman pacifists. Jane Addams was elected the first Chairman.
- Women for Peace RecordsWomen for Peace (originally Women Strike for Peace) was founded in 1961 to advocate nuclear disarmament and organize activities promoting peace. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chicago chapter of the group organized a variety of local protests and activities, began a Letter-A-Month Club, and published the Bulletin, containing international and national peace news.
- Women Mobilized for Chage RecordsWomen Mobilized for Change (WMC) was a Chicago based activist organization during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. WMC emerged out of a YWCA study group called Women and Metropolitan Problems and formerly organized in 1966 in reaction to that summer's housing riots on Chicago's west side.
- Women's Action Coaltion RecordsThe Women's Action Coalition (WAC) was formed by a group of friends in New York City on January 28, 1992, in response to the outrage they felt about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings. Chapters were subsequently formed in other U.S. cities including Chicago.
- Women's Suffrage CollectionThe Women's Suffrage Collection includes political pamphlets, published articles, clippings, correspondence, programs, reports, and other political literature representing the struggle of American women to secure the right to vote.
Guide Author
Ask an Archivist
Not all of our resources are available online. Special Collections encourages researchers to visit the Special Collections Reading Room and consult with an archivist.
Special Collections Reading Room Locations and Hours