Iowa Women's Archives
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa

WOMEN'S RESOURCE AND ACTION CENTER

RECORDS, 1960-2006 and ongoing
bulk 1971-2000

10 linear feet
artifacts and audiovisual material

Collection Overview

Biography

According to its constitution, the Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC) was founded to serve as "a cultural, social and organizational center for U. of Iowa women--students, staff, and faculty, and for all women of the Iowa City community."  As the organization has grown and prospered, this mission has been extended to the entire state of Iowa.

WRAC evolved during the second wave of the feminist movement.  In 1970 some Iowa City women formed a group called the Women's Liberation Front (WLF).  This group challenged the University of Iowa to recognize and combat sexism within the institution.  One result of this challenge was the creation of the Women's Center.  The Student Development Center (now the Office of Student Activities) provided funding and direction but the Center operated as a collective, making group policy decisions.

In the summer of 1974, a group of people revised the organizational structure of the Women's Center.  They established an advisory board to act as a governing body and changed the center's name to the "Women's Resource and Action Center" as a reflection of its expanded goals. It encompassed an on-site coordinator who worked in conjunction with the advisory board to implement WRAC policies. 

In 1976, WRAC moved to the former alumni records building on the corner of Madison and Market Streets.  Over time the University has expanded its support of WRAC.  For instance, in 1975 the WRAC coordinator’s position was changed from half-time to full-time.  WRAC's funding is somewhat complex.  According to a 1977 informational statement on WRAC's finances, WRAC was classified as a university department, a student organization, and a community organization.  It developed one budget as a department under Student Services and submitted another to the student senate for funding as a student organization.  It also received community support, primarily in the form of individual donations and volunteer time.

Over the years, WRAC has grown to be a multi-service agency which seeks both to improve the status of women as a group and to meet the needs of individual women.  In order to accomplish these goals, WRAC acts as a referral center for community and state services for women, supports a small library of feminist materials, publishes a newsletter, maintains resource information on counseling about such issues as rape, sexuality, and careers, and sponsors workshops, speakers and conferences addressing women's concerns.  Additionally, WRAC supports a variety of cultural activities.  The center has held brown bag lunch series which provide a forum for discussing a wide range of feminist issues.  It has also promoted plays, concerts, films, sports events and art exhibits.  WRAC provides office space for organizations serving the needs of women.  In the past, the Lesbian Alliance (LA), Women Against Racism (WAR), the Johnson County-Iowa City National Organization of Women and the Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP), among others, were housed at WRAC.

Scope and Content Note

The Women's Resource and Action Center's records date from 1960 to 2006 and measure 10 linear feet.  The records are arranged in ten series:  Administration, Programming and services, Publicity, Subsidiary organizations, Resources, At the Center research files, WRAC Oral History Project, Photographs, Newsletters, and Artifacts. The WRAC records document the growth and development of a local feminist organization.

The Administration series (1971-1997) includes WRAC's constitution and mission statements as well as advisory board records, financial information, reports, correspondence, evidence of WRAC's political action, logs and minutes, and other documents related to the organization's administrative and bureaucratic functions.  Materials document activities and changes on multiple levels. For instance, desk logs provide a micro-level view of daily activities while the correspondence between the WRAC coordinator and Philip Jones, of the Office of the Vice President of Student Services and Dean of Academic Affairs, includes slightly broader, weekly updates; annual reports summarize the events of an entire year.

The Programming and services series (1960-1997) documents WRAC's outreach to the local community.  It contains information on workshops, events, and on-going services provided by WRAC. These activities touch on issues such as divorce, career planning, racism, health, class, pornography, sexuality, and equal rights. Eight videos from WRAC’s anniversaries document celebrations that include speeches, musical performances, and discussion sessions from the 20th anniversary conference.

The Publicity series (1976-2000) consists of three parts.  The General folder contains WRAC brochures and flyers.  The three Programs folders include flyers, calendars, and other materials promoting specific events.  Much of this material refers to WRAC's brown bag lunches, a series of noon hour talks sponsored by WRAC. Larger posters of events conclude the series.

The Subsidiary organizations series (1975-1993) includes the records of organizations directly connected to WRAC. The largest portion of these records relate to the Women's Coffeehouse (also known as the Studio Project) and the Association of Student Women (ASW).  The Women's Coffeehouse opened in 1979 as a local women-only space available "for almost any kind of event."  Its location was kept confidential and advertising was posted only at women-oriented spaces such as WRAC and the Plains Woman Bookstore.  This series includes organizational and financial records of the Coffeehouse.

The Association of Student Women (ASW) operated as a collective organization interested in changing "subtle and not so subtle oppressive, restrictive, and sexist attitudes regarding women."  The WRAC coordinator acted as an advisor to the group.  ASW sponsored speakers and activities, and was also involved in the Street Lighting and Safety Project. Photographs documenting Iowa City’s lighting problem are included in this series. The series includes records of six other local groups sponsored by WRAC that addressed issues such as lesbian and gay identity, sexual assault, domestic violence, and the history of women’s oppression.

The Resources series (1972-1989) begins with information about groups not formally related to WRAC but nevertheless of interest to its constituency. In some instances, WRAC networked with these groups.  For example, WRAC and the Johnson County/Iowa City chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) cosponsored a Women's Equality Day event. The series contains files with information for women on local services in Iowa, some especially for women new to the area. Thirty-five topical files contain pamphlets and publications from national organizations on women’s issues; a cross-reference guide is included at the beginning of the topical files. The series concludes with newspaper clippings, bibliographies on women’s studies topics, theses, dissertations, and self-published books.

The At the Center research files series (2002) contains information related to the creation of a history of WRAC, At the Center: Thirty Years of Activism and Communities published in 2002 for WRAC’s thirtieth anniversary. The series includes correspondence, history, publication details, and a copy of the book itself. Oral history interviews were conducted in conjunction with the publication of At the Center and the thirtieth anniversary. The WRAC Oral History Project series (2001-2003) contains transcriptions and audiocassettes of the interviews. A few women sent memoirs, also included in the series.

The Photographs series (undated) consists of one folder containing a few unlabeled photographs--one of the WRAC building and others of unidentified people.  The Newsletters series (1975- ) contains scattered issues of WRAC’s newsletter, including current issues as well as clip art and cartoons related to feminism and women’s issues used for mock-ups.

The Artifacts series (1996-2002) consists of ten t-shirts of Iowa events sponsored by or related to WRAC.  The series includes shirts from Iowa City lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) events, Iowa women’s music festivals, and Take Back the Night marches.

Related Collections

Iowa Women's Political Caucus Records

The WRAC collection includes a few letters of correspondence regarding workshops that WRAC held in conjunction with the 1975 IWPC convention.  It also contains copies of IWPC by-laws and priorities.  (See Box 11, Resource files on women's interest groups, Iowa Women's Political Caucus, 1975-1978.)

Jo Rabenold Papers

Jill Jack Papers

Johnson County-Iowa City National Organization of Women Records

The WRAC records contain a few references to the Johnson County-Iowa City chapter of NOW.  WRAC offered the chapter office space and co-sponsored a Women's Equality Day event with it.  The records also contain an agenda from a NOW-sponsored fundraising workshop.  (See Box 11, Resource files on women's interest groups, NOW, 1978, 1981 and undated.)

Women Against Racism Records

 

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Summary Content List

Administration, 1971-1997 Artifacts At the Center Research Files, 2002   Newsletters, 1975- Photographs, undated  Programming and Services, 1960-1997 Publicity, 1976-1996       Resources, 1972-1989   Subsidiary Organizations, 1975-1993  WRAC Oral History Project, 2001-2003

Boxes 1-6 Box 27  Boxes 21-22 Boxes 23, 26     Boxes 7, 11, 22, 23 Boxes 6-8, 24-25, videocassettes V362-V370 Boxes 8, 25-26 Boxes 11-20 Boxes 9-11 Boxes 22-23, audiocassettes AC270, AC904-AC920

 

Box List

Box 1
	Administration
		Proposals, 1971 Operating principles and organizational charts, 1974, 1977, 1984-1985 Advisory board
			Correspondence, 1975-1986 and undated Minutes and agendas, 1974-1985 (2 folders) Annual budgets and finances
				1977-1985 (8 folders)
Box 2
				1985-1988 (3 folders) University of Iowa Foundation account records, 1987-1989
			Correspondence
				General, 1976-1987 and undated Postcards, 1981-1997 and undated Hubbard, Philip, Vice President of Student Services, 1976-1984
Box 3
				Jones, Philip, Office of the Vice President of Student Services and Dean of Academic Affairs, 1978-1984 Office of Student Activities, 1977-1979 Student Services, 1976-1980
			Facilities and equipment
				Alumni house, 1975-1982 and undated Audio visual equipment, 1982-1988 and undated Space requests and usage, 1976, 1980-1981, 1983, 1985 and undated
			Forms and fee schedules, 1984 and undated In-house policies and procedures, 1983 and undated Annual reports
				1976-1982 (5 folders)
Box 4
				1982-1993 (9 folders)
			Monthly reports, 1976-1979 (2 folders)
Box 5
			Monthly reports, 1982-1988 (4 folders)
		Weekly reports, 1981 Resource materials
			General, 1979-1981 and undated Legal policies, 1974, 1976-1978
		Staff
			Desk logs and minutes
				1981-1982 February 1984-July 1985 March 1985-October 1986 (log only) November 1986-August 1987 (log only)
Box 6
				1985-1988 (minutes only) Library subcommittee minutes, December 13, 1979
			Phone lists, 1977-1988 and undated Phone logs, 1976-1982
		University of Iowa
			Affirmative action, 1977-1983 and undated Committees, 1976 and undated Council on the Status of Women, 1976-1978, 1990 (3 folders) Toledo meetings (women's role in the University), 1974-1976
	Programming and services
		Anniversaries [shelved in the videocassette collection]
			10th anniversary slide show, 1981 (VHS, 16 minutes) [V362] 15th anniversary, 1986 (VHS, 140 minutes) [V363] 20th anniversary conference, 1991
				Brown bag welcome (VHS, 121 minutes) [V364] Patricia Tyson speech (VHS, 81 minutes) [V365] Second day session (VHS, 88 minutes) [V366] Child care session 1 (VHS, 102 minutes) [V367] Child care session 2 (VHS, 101 minutes) [V368] Coffeehouse performance (VHS, 15 minutes) [V369]
		Events
			An Evening of Virginia Woolf, 1977
Box 7
			International Women’s Convocation Program, 1997 (VHS, 100 minutes) [shelved in videocassette collection: V370] International Women's Year, 1974-1977 Louise Nevelson week, 1980 Sarah Hoagland concert, 1980-1981 Wilma Rudolph mini-marathon, 1960-1961, 1978-1979 Women's Art Celebration, 1980
		Grant proposals, 1977, 1985 and undated Health
			General, 1975-1976 and undated Tampon Safety, 1980 and undated
		Political action
			Letters to editors, 1977-1979 and undated Lobbying and legislation, 1976-1977, 1979 Bijou complaint, 1981 and undated [includes photographs] Student Health complaints, 1977 Title IX, 1976, 1979 and undated
		Porn slide show transcript, Women Against Violence Against Women, undated Pro Se marriage dissolution, 1978, 1982-1985
Box 8
		Program ideas, 1978-1981 and undated Speaker’s bureau, 1986-1988 Unemployment survey, 1983 Workshops
			Anti-racism, 1984 Career planning, 1976-1979 and undated Handouts, undated Science career perspectives, 1982 and undated Women in transition, 1976, 1978 and undated Women's survival kit, 1975, 1977, 1979 and undated Miscellaneous, 1977-1978, 1981 and undated
		Youth programming, 1975-1976, 1978 and undated
	Publicity
		General, 1976-1978, 1980 and undated Programs, 1978-1981 and undated (2 folders) Posters, 1980s and undated [shelved in map case]
Box 9
	Subsidiary organizations
		Women's Coffeehouse/Studio Project
			Records and policies, 1975, 1981-1982 and undated Financial records
				Accounts payable, 1981-1983 Bank statements, 1979-1983 (3 folders) Equipment, 1980-1982 Receipts, 1982-1983 and undated Utilities, 1980-1983
			Pledge committee, 1981-1982
Box 10
			Publicity, 1982-1983
				D.J. Adler promotional tape [shelved in the audiocassette collection: AC270] Poster, undated [shelved in map case]
		Association of Student Women (ASW)
			Policies and membership, 1978-1979 and undated Budgets and vouchers, 1977-1980 Minutes, 1978, 1980 and undated Street Lighting and Safety Project, 1976-1980 and undated
		Action Studies, 1975-1980 and undated Aid and Alternatives for Victims of Spouse Abuse (AAVSA), 1977-1978, 1980, 1983 and undated Counseling, 1983 and undated Lesbian Alliance (LA), 1978, 1983 and undated Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP), 1979-1983 and undated
Box 11
		University of Iowa Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Staff & Faculty Association
			Phone log, undated Michele J. Eliason, “Understanding Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues: An Introductory Workshop,” 1993 [includes slides] Referral notebook, 1990 Pamphlets
	Resources
		Emma Goldman Clinic Newsletters, 1978-1979 and undated Gray Panthers, 1978 and undated Iowa Men's Center, 1977-1978 Iowa Women's Political Caucus, 1975-1978 NOW, 1978, 1981 and undated Women's centers, 1976-1979, 1982 and undated Women's groups, 1974-1975, 1978 and undated Women's networks, 1979-1982 and undated University of Iowa Women's Studies program, 1977-1983 and undated
Box 12
		Using social services and legal systems, 1980s (5 folders)
Box 13
		Using social services and legal systems New to Iowa City, 1980s (2 folders) A Woman’s Directory, 1984-1985  Subject heading and cross reference guide Abortion (3 folders) Alcoholism Antiracism ¡Basta Ya! booklet
Box 14
		Bicycling Blacks Chicanas/Latinas Chicanas/Latinas newsletters Child abuse Childcare Co-op Divorce Domestic abuse Educational discrimination Environment Fat politics
Box 15
		Feminist theory (4 folders) Food stamps Gay/lesbian
Box 16
		Health International women (2 folders) International Women’s Day Iowa (2 folders) Labor (2 folders)
Box 17
		Labor Music Poetry (2 folders) Political action Pornography, 1979 Poverty Prisoners/prisons Rape Sexual abuse
Box 18
		Sexuality Socialism/feminism Sports Substance abuse Suffrage
Box 19
		Women’s lives Women's survival kit for the work world University of Iowa Des Moines Register clippings, 1977 (3 folders) Daily Iowan and Iowa City Press Citizen clippings, 1981 (2 folders)
Box 20
		Bibliographies (2 folders) Thitiya Phaobtong, “Torture and Trauma Among Southeast Asian Refugees: The Response of Social Workers,” 1989 Jane Mary Vanderbosch, “The Education of Adrienne Rich: From Revision to Revelation,” 1980 Valerie Ann Walker and Janice Wood Wetzel, “The Self Help Movement,” 1988 Denise Kusel, “Dog Kisses,” 1978; Lynn Watson, “Eclipse,” 1976 Suzann Gage, “When Birth Control Fails: How to Abort Ourselves Safely,”1979 “A Women’s Poetry Reading,” 1972 “The Short Stories of Maureen Dallas Watkins, Published in Hearst’s International-Cosmopolitan, 1927-1929, introduced and discussed by John Elliot,” 1986
Box 21
	At the Center research files
		At the Center: Celebrating Thirty Years of Activism and Communities, 2002 ISBN# permission form/copyright Essential documents Timeline Print services WRAC book party Archival research
Box 22
		Correspondence with women Correspondence with committee Interview guide
	WRAC Oral History Project
		Barcelo, Rusty, transcript of interview, 2003 Buckley, Sue, transcript of interview, 2002 [AC905] Chisholm, Kate, memoir, undated [includes photograph] DiCarlo, Monique, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC914] Fliehler, Lesanne, correspondence and biographical information, 2001-2002 Gibson, Sue, transcript of interview, 2002 [AC908] Gilbert, Gracia, correspondence, 2002 Greiner, Molly, memoir and correspondence, 2002 Haag, Laurie, transcript of iInterview, 2002 [AC906] Hoosman, Morgan, memoir and correspondence, 2002 Jack, Jill, memoir and correspondence, 2001-2002 Jones, Phillip, transcript of interview, 2002 Kostick, Susan, cCorrespondence, 2002 Kroon, Linda, transcript of interview, 2002 [AC916] Lellig, Angela, correspondence, 2002 Love, Jasmine, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC907] Martin, Jean, transcript of iInterview, 2002 [AC915] McGuire, Linda, transcript of interview, 2002 [ AC909-AC910] Molina, Papusa, transcript of interview, 2002 [AC917] Muhanji, Cherry, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC920] Mujica, Mari,correspondence and biographical information, 2002 Murray, Kit, correspondence, 2001-2002 Nelson, Kimela, correspondence and memoir, 2002 Sand, Gayle, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [ AC913]
Box 23
		Sierra, Teresa, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC911-AC912] Silander, Aaron (Anne), transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC904] Smith, Sondra, transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 [AC918-AC919] Transcript of interview and correspondence, 2002 Williams, Melissa, memoir and correspondence, 2002
	Photographs, undated
	Newsletters
		1975-2000 (5 folders)
2007 ACCESSION Box 24
	PROGRAMMING AND SERVICES
		Events
			Aharoni, Ada Brown bag luncheons Caldicott, Helen Domestic violence Film festivals, 1979-1980 International Women’s Day, 1982 Jackson/New Wave Laura X marital rape Pornography, 1984 Third World Women’s Conference, 1985 Women at Iowa Conference, 1982
		Friends and lovers support group Orientation Peeping Tom action Programs
			Dorm Employment Health, 1983 Mark IV Program data Program evaluations, 1981-1982 Program evaluations, Fall 1982 Program ideas
Box 25
			Programming Programming volunteers Project Hard Times, Simcha Plisner
		Workshops
			Antiracism Career planning Fundraising Gaut, Jan Introduction to self hypnosis Reentering women Sex roles awareness, 1979 Women and money Working women
		Releases for art show, 1980 Video project Women in research and resource list Women’s art caucus, 1981 Women artists series
	PUBLICITY
		1980-1984 and undated 1982-1989 and undated Fall 1983 September 1984 October 1984 December 1984 March 1985 May and June 1985 1986-1987 1987-1988
Box 26
		1990-1996 and undated (2 folders) 1990-2000 and undated Press releases and public service announcements We Be Wimmin, 1989
	NEWSLETTERS
		2001-2005 2006-
Box 27
	ARTIFACTS
		T-shirts

 

 

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