In the Archives: Socialist Feminism Pamphlets of the 1970s

To celebrate Archives Month, I will be posting highlights from our collections throughout October. I hope that this will turn into a regular series. To learn more about Archives Month, visit the Society of American Archivists website.

The collection that I would like to highlight this week is the Judith Smith collection of socialist feminist pamphlets, 1970-1981. In the 1970s, Smith was part of a group of women that organized and ran the Somerville Women’s Health Project, a health clinic which offered free medical care to low-income women and children. She was also a member of the Boston’s Women Union and its orientation committee, the Tuesday Night Orientation Group. The committee was later renamed the Tuesday Night Socialist Feminist Group and continued to meet until 2001, even after the Boston Women’s Union dissolved. Smith is a professor in the American Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Smith’s collection comprises 28 pamphlets and booklets, many of them published by local small presses, on a variety of topics, including race, class, sexism, women’s liberation, women’s wages, housework, family, and witchcraft. Browse the gallery below for a selection of pamphlet covers from Smith’s collection, which she donated to University Archives and Special Collections in 2005.

Bunch, Charlotte and Nancy Myron. Class and Feminism. Baltimore, MD: Diana Press, 1974.

Edmond, Wendy and Suzie Fleming. All Work and No Pay: Women, Housework, and the Wages Due. Bristol, England: Power of Women Collective and Falling Wall Press, 1975.

Ehrenreich, Barbara and Deirdre English. Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers. 2nd ed. Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press, 1973.

Long, Priscilla. Mother Jones, Woman Organizer and Her Relations with Miners’ Wives, Working Women, and the Suffrage Movement. Cambridge, MA: Red Sun Press, 1976.

Multicultural Project for Communication & Education. Caring for Children in a Social Context: Eliminating Racism, Sexism and Other Patterns of Discrimination. Cambridge, MA: 1981.

Warrior, Betsy and Lisa Leghorn. Houseworker’s Handbook. 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: Leghorn and Warrior, 1975.

Women’s Work Project. Separated & Unequal: Discrimination Against Women Workers After World War II (The U.A.W. 1944-54).

Buhle, Mari Jo. Women and the Socialist Party, 1901-1914. Somerville, MA: New England Free Press.

View the finding aid for the Judith Smith collection here.

For questions about this collection or to schedule a research appointment, please contact library.archives@umb.edu or 617-287-5469.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.