Scope and Contents
The Pennsylvania National Organization for Women papers contain materials pertaining to PA NOW's activities and women's rights issues. The types of materials include newspaper clippings, articles, magazines and publications, correspondence, meeting notes, activism materials and kits, t-shirts, as well as national, state, and regional conference materials. A majority of the records date from 1975-1996.
The papers contain information on these major subjects: abortion, affirmative action, children, civil rights, education, the Equal Rights Amendment, feminism, the gender gap, health issues and health care, insurance rate equality, labor issues and rights, LGBT rights, women and the media, the state of Pennsylvania's NOW political action committee, pornography, poverty, religious and right wing activism, reproduction, violence against women, welfare, and women's rights.
Copyright and Rights Information
The Pennsylvania National Organization for Women papers are the physical property of Bryn Mawr College Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the issuing organization, legislative body, or authors or authors' heirs and assigns.
Biographical / Historical
The Pennsylvania National Organization for Women (PA NOW) is a nonprofit women's rights advocacy group founded in 1971. PA NOW is a division of the National Organization for Women, the largest feminist organization in America. The National Organization for Women was founded in 1966 and has over 500,000 members and 550 branches in 50 states. NOW also has its own, non-partisan, political action committee (NOW/PAC) that supports candidates in federal elections. Many state organizations and local chapters of NOW also have political action committees which support candidates for state and local government offices.
The National Organization for Women focuses on six core issues: promoting abortion rights and reproductive freedom; achieving economic equality; ending sex discrimination; championing civil rights; promoting diversity and stopping racism; and ending violence against women. NOW members participate in rallies, marches, counter-protests, lobbying, class-action lawsuits, and political organizing to advocate for their causes.
References:
panow.org and now.org
