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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Finding Aids Inventory of the Women's Action Coalition Records, 1992-1997ContentsSummary
Historical NoteOn January 28, 1992, a group of ten to fifteen friends from the New York art world called a meeting, entitled "Women Strategizing in the '90's." There were many reasons these women felt frustrated and angry, but the chief catalyst for the meeting was the recent confirmation of Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice after Anita Hill's testimony that he sexually harassed her. Between seventy-five to one hundred women came to this meeting, and the group decided to become a direct-action organization, similar to the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and the Women's Health Action Coalition (WHAM). They immediately voted on the initials "WAC." After dispute over whether the "A" should stand for "Action" or "Artists," their name officially became Women's Action Coalition. WAC's first action, at a sexual assault trial involving students from St. John's University, took place six days later. At that time, WAC created its signature "blue dot" logo (see examples in administrative and photo series), modeled after television's way of obscuring rape victims' faces on camera. Members founded the drum corps, which performed at all subsequent actions, and slogans announced, "Let women define rape." WAC was born. By the second meeting, WAC had 200 participants . By the fourth, and for the rest of the summer of 1992, about 300 women attended every Tuesday. Members created a phone tree and then discarded it as useless, as the number of NYC women involved in some way grew to thousands. The women in WAC were, for the most part, from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Most were white, many were well-educated, and many were artists and freelance workers, allowing them time to be active in the coalition. WAC conducted its meetings in a non-hierarchical manner, loosely following "Roberta's Rules of Order" and modeled after those of ACT UP. They were led by facilitators and everything was voted on by everyone. However, WAC's quick growth soon made it impossible to bring all inquiries to the floor. Members created committees for specific actions and issues. WAC was extremely visible and well organized. Their numerous actions were well-publicized and executed. WAC's mission statement, created by the media committee, contained the memorable phrase, "WAC is watching. We will take action." Art journals described their graphics as timely and thought-provoking, as well as impressive artistically, and their actions often demonstrated a flair for the theatrical. This coverage led to mass interest in the organization. Letters to WAC poured in from women across the country who read about WAC in women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan and who were eager to get involved. WAC's seemingly non-stop actions lasted well into 1993, which was the year of greatest publicity and letters to WAC. Soon, however, WAC's internal difficulties rose to the surface. Issues of race and class diversity and ethnic and sexual identity, though discussed by committees such as the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and The Lesbian Caucus, caused WAC to lose its direction. Member Tracy Ann Essoglou, in her essay, "Louder than Words: A WAC Chronicle," points to differing levels of political activist experience and WAC's "action, action, action" tendency, which prevented earlier dialogues on matters of diversity. WAC's numbers dwindled to seven or eight, and the group's last meeting was on November 6, 1995. Scope and Content NoteThe Women's Action Coalition Records trace the rise and fall of a direct-action group often counted among he "Third Wave" of feminism in the early 1990s. Materials are almost entirely concerned with WAC - NY, though there are records of the actions of WAC Boston and scattered files about other branches. The bulk of the material dates from 1992 and 1993. Some papers from 1994 and later are included. The collection contains files from various committees, especially Outreach, and administrative papers. There are few minutes from meetings and little documentation from the very beginning of the organization. Actions are generally well-represented, starting with WAC's first, the St. John's action on February 3, 1992. Perhaps the most comprehensive section of the collection is the one concerning the press (Box 6), which contains numerous articles about WAC's action and the organization itself. Photographs, mostly taken by WAC members, and ephemera such as T-shirts and stickers, also capture the feeling and composition of WAC. This collection came to The New York Public Library between November 1994 and May, 1997 and was processed in July-October of 1997. In most cases, arrangement was imposed during processing. Series DescriptionsSeries 1. Administrative Files. Boxes 1-3. Certificate of incorporation; guidelines for facilitators and treasurers; extensive proposals and correspondence relating to what eventually became the book WAC Stats; contact chapters; guidelines for starting a WAC chapter; legal papers discussing whether to become a 501(c)(3) organization; files about other cities’ WAC’s; copies of logo, new member orientation packet and response letters; phone tree; mission statement; press list; "WAC Circle," the bimonthly paper put out by WAC (see also "WACTalk," a supplement in "New Directions for Women" in Box 5, folders 15 and 16).
Series 2. Subject Files. Boxes 4-7 News clippings, brochures, leaflets, and reports on a variety of subjects concerning women, such as breast cancer, rape and sexual harassment cases, abortion, police brutality, women in prison, teenage reproductive issues, portrayal of women in the media and violence against women. Many of these files contain information on events, articles or programs monitored by WAC, but not those that led to direct action. Some incited formal or informal letter-writing by WAC, such as the naming of a pub after Jack the Ripper, a degrading article about a deceased feminist lawyer in the Harvard Law Review, and Turner Broadcasting System’s decision to run "pro-life" advertising. There are also files on topics such as boycotts and girlcotts, other organizations (Fury, Women in Black, Gabriela, ACT UP), civil disobedience and projects organized by members of WAC. Of particular interest are the press files, organized into six areas: Overviews, Art-related, Cosmo, etc., New York area, General, and Not WAC-related. The overviews were organized by WAC, perhaps as part of a press kit, and generally contain press releases as well as the more major articles written about WAC. The art-related articles are mainly from art journals and concern themselves with WAC’s artwork, logos and presentation. Many discuss the action at the Republican National Convention in Houston (1992 - "Women Ignite"). The Cosmo, etc. articles are perhaps the most important because the feature stories published in mainstream women’s magazines generated mass interest from women all over the country who then wrote to WAC, eager to start their own branches (see Series 5: Letters to WAC, Boxes 12-13). The New York area articles follow New York WAC’s actions more closely and are perhaps the most realistic outsider’s look at what the organization accomplished as well as what went on inside. Feature articles published in the Village Voice followed the creation and demise of WAC. The general press contains articles from the rest of the country, often concerning the actions or creation of a WAC branch, such as San Francisco. Articles from Houston follow WAC’s "Women Ignite" project. Articles from England and Italy give brief glimpse at what "new American feminists" are doing. The not WAC-related press file contains articles generally related to women’s issues, often issues confronted by WAC, but these articles do not directly mention WAC.
Series 3. Committee Files. Boxes 8-9 Some descriptions, correspondence, scattered minutes of meetings of some of WAC’s committees. CODAI (Committee on Diversity and Inclusion) is well represented here. Its files contain information about various "consciousness-raising" activities carried out in WAC meetings and sometimes outside of them. Dealing with issues of race and class diversity became important, especially near the final days of WAC. The largest part of the committee files are from the Outreach Committee. This committee dealt with the hundreds of letters pouring in, attempting to respond and inform women all over the country how to build their own WAC’s. These files contain outreach letters, orientation packets and contact lists, and the extensive Outreach database, listing women from the U.S. and Europe who wanted to get involved.
Series 4. Action Files Boxes 10-11 Proposals, planning information and ideas, leaflets and news clippings concerning a large part of WAC’s actions, which were formal and creative public protests against other groups or the government. The first file contains a helpful action chronology, written by WAC. This series covers such actions as the St. John’s action (see historical note), Mother’s and Father’s Days, Pink Slips for Bush and Quayle, Glen Ridge, (a rape trial involving several young men who sexually assaulted a mentally disabled woman), the 1992 Democratic and Republican national conventions, The March on Washington, and the Pace Gallery and Guggenheim actions, both protesting the lack of women and people of color represented in art shows. It also has information about less direct action-oriented projects such as Art in the Anchorage and the Postcards to Bill Clinton campaign. There is also a file containing many of the Request for Coverage letters concerning these actions.
Series 5. Letters to WAC. Boxes 12-13 Letters from women all over the country to WAC. Most simply request information, although many women took time to add words of encouragement, support and agreement with WAC’s ideals. Quite a few women volunteered to start a branch of WAC in their hometowns, though it seems very few of these materialized in the time of WAC New York, if ever. The letters are from very young teenagers, retired older women, college students, middle-aged mothers, urban women and women from more rural areas, representing enormous diversity. Most interesting is the number of letters that mention reading about WAC in one of the several women’s magazines which ran articles. In the letters from late 1992, many women mention Harper’s Bazaar. In March-May of 1993, and for quite some time later, a large number of women credit Cosmopolitan’s article about WAC. Also mentioned in the letters are articles in New York, Elle and Sassy among others (see Subject Files, Box 6: "Press"). Some letters are somewhat personal, talking about violence and rape or confronting sexism, and some directly ask for help.
Series 6. WAC Boston. Box 14 Descriptions of each action, as well as the accompanying flyers and ephemera, by the Boston branch of WAC. Boston’s WAC began in late 1992 and was still active as of early 1997. The files cover various actions and projects. Series 7. Audio/Visual Materials Subseries 1. Photographs. Boxes 15-18 Mostly black and white photos by members of WAC (perhaps members of the photo committee) at actions, as well as photos by professional photographers and some color snapshots of meetings and marches. Photos by Mary Beth Edelson, Terise Slotkin and Harriet Zucker, and a few others. Subseries 2. Video and Audio Tapes. Box 19 (12 items) As of this writing, it is not known what is recorded on the tapes. The audio tape is from a slide show put together by WAC. Some of the videos are marked, and presumably capture various actions and were recorded by WAC Productions.
Series 8. Ephemera Boxes 20-25 Signs, stickers, cards, T-shirts, and other items produced in connection with WAC’s "actions," letter-writing campaigns, and other activities; and periodicals and other printed matter by or concerning WAC. Among the more unusual items in this series are five squirt guns in the shape of penises, used to decorate banners at WAC’s 1993 demonstration at the Pace Gallery. Container ListBOX FOLDER CONTENTS
1 Series 1: Administrative
1 Action Proposal Forms
2 Archives
3 Backgrounder
4 Book offers
5 Book project
6 Book - file of Diane Kurz
7 Book project - file of L. Brandon Krall (1)
8 Book project - file of L. Brandon Krall (2)
9 WAC Stats
10 WAC Stats
11 Boston WAC
12 Buffalo WAC
13 Certificate of Incorporation
14 Chicago WAC
15 Committees
16 Conference (proposal)
17 Contact Chapters
18 Contact List
19 Economic Summit (proposed)
20 Education
2
1 Facilitator's Guide to the General Meeting
2 Financial Guidelines
3 Fundraising
4 General - WAC
5 General Correspondence
6 General Information (facilitators and treasurers)
7 General Statement sent out with letters
8 Ignite A WAC - Guidelines
9 "Issues"
10 Legal: WAC 501(c) (3)
11 Legal
12 Liaison Person
13 Logo sheet
14 Los Angeles WAC
15 Media Kit
16 Meet the Media - Guide to Press Interviews
17 Mission Statement
3
1 New Members Orientation Packet
2 NYC Response Letter
3 Orientation Packets
4 Phone Tree
5 Phone Tree Guidelines
6 Press Contacts and Lists
7 Press List
8 Sample Flyer for WAC Chapters
9 San Francisco WAC
10 Santa Fe WAC
11 "Start a WAC" Cover letter
12 WACNet Satellite Cities
13 WAC Circle
4
Series 2: Subjects
1 Abortion
2 ACT-UP
3 AIDS - Women and AIDS Working Group
4 Bake Sale - WAC and WHAM
5 Bell Communications
6 Bosnia (former Yugoslavia)
7 Boycott Colorado
8 Cancer (breast and cervical)
9 Childhood Sexual Abuse
10 Chinese Workers (Silver Palace Walkout)
11 City Health Information
12 Citywide Coalition to End Police Brutality
13 Civil Disobedience
14 Commission on the Status of Women
15 Counterimages
16 Cruz, Michael
17 Domestic Violence
18 FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting)
19 Film and Women
20 FURY (mission statement)
21 Gabriela network
22 Getting It Gazette
23 Girlcott
24 Grants/Foundations
5
1 Harvard Law
2 Housing/Women
3 Holland Tunnel
4 IFCO/ Cuba Friendshipment
5 "Jack the Ripper" pub
6 Job is a Right
7 Lesbians
8 Lifetime TV - "Stepping into the Pool"
9 Mississippi Human Rights Hearings
10 Mosbacher OpEd 4/92
11 Mother's Voices
12 National Council on Women's Health
13 National Endowment for the Arts--General
14 Chairman Neary Sexual Harassment Case
15 New Directions for Women (and WAC Talk) (1)
16 New Directions for Women (and WAC Talk) (2)
17 New Yorker - Article on Pro-Choice March on D.C. - 4/92
18 NYC School Board Elections
19 NY Times article 5/3/92
20 Operation Lift the Ban (gays in the military)
21 Operation Rescue
22 Police Brutality (Cathy Linn)
23 Pharmaceutical Companies
24 Pornography Victims Compensation Act
6
1 Press - overviews
2 Press - art related
3 Press - Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Sassy, etc.
4 Press - New York area
5 Press - general
6 Press - not WAC related
7
1 Pro-choice
2 Reading list
3 Resume Project
4 Riker's Island
5 Roe v. Wade
6 Rudywatch
7 Save our Cities Save our Children
8 Self-Defense
9 Sex workers
10 "Speak Up" workshops
11 HR840 - Stalking legislation
12 Tailhook
13 Teenage Reproductive Issues
14 Turner Broadcasting System
15 Tyson, Mike
16 United Nations sexual harassment
17 Violence
18 Violence against women
19 "The Woman Activist"
20 Women's Caucus for Art
21 Women in Black - Bosnia
22 Misc.
23 Seminars, Articles, Clips - Misc.
8
Series 3: Committees
1 Anti-censorship committee
2 Artwatch
3 CODAI - Committee on Diversity and Inclusion
4 Coalition Building - Diversity - CODAI
5 Multicultural - mostly CODAI
6 Agenda Notes for Coordinating Committee
7 Economic Violence Committee
8 Editorial Committee
9 Facilitator Committee
10 Finance Committee
11 Lesbian Issues Caucus
12 Mediawatch
13 Online- WAC
9
1 Outreach Committee
2 Outreach Committee Contact List
3 Outreach Contact List
4 Outreach - General Description
5 Outreach Letters
6 Outreach Committee :General Form Letter
7 Outreach Committee Meeting - Minutes
8 Outreach Committee: Orientation Packet
9 Outreach Database - blue folder
10
Series 4: Actions
1 Action Chronology
2 Art in the Anchorage
3 "Calling" Art Cards
4 Cardinal O'Connor
5 Democratic National Convention '92
6 Documenta
7 Father's Day Action '92
8 Firefighters
9 Figueroa, Justice (Garay Rape)
10 Glen Ridge Action
11 Guggenheim - Soho
12 Irish Consulate Protest
11
1 March in March - 3/6/94 - International Women's Day
2 March on Washington - 4/5/92
3 Mother's Day Action - 5/8/92
4 Mother's Day Action - '93
5 Pace Gallery Action - October 1993
6 Parental Notification
7 Pink Slips for Bush and Quayle
8 Postcards to Bill Clinton campaign
9 Requests for Coverage
10 St. John's file
11 St. John's clip file
12 Women Ignite
13 Misc.
12
Series 5: Letters to WAC
1 1992
2 1993 January - March
3 1993 March - April
4 1993 April - May
5 1993 June - July
6 1993 August - December
13
1 1994 January - March
2 1994 April - July
3 1994 August - November
4 Miscellaneous
5 "Not Databased Yet"
6 Various / Unanswered
14
Series 6: WAC Boston
1 WAC Boston misc.
2 New Freedom Trail - OCT. 31, 1992
3 Transaction '92
4 Body Image Brochure '93
5 Boston Pride - June '93, '94, '95, '96
6 Brighton Police Action - Feb. '93
7 Framingham 8 - Jan '93
8 Judgewatch - '93- '95
9 Labor Day - Sept. '93
10 Make-Up '93
11 March on Washington - April '93
12 Memorial Day Parade - May '93, '94
13 Operation Retaliation Clinic Actions - '93
14 Picket of Operation Rescue Members '93, '96
15 Remember our Sisters - Oct. '93
16 Sheros '93- '95
17 Shopping Action - Dec. '93
18 Women's Community Cancer Project Demo. - Sept. '93
19 Workfare '93
20 Body Image at the Mall - summer '94
21 Breast Cancer Newspaper Stuffing - Nov. '94
22 Calendar '94
23 Counter-Presence '94
24 Make Sexism History '94
25 Taking Space: Women Building Activism '94
26 Teens and Sex - fall '94
27 Abortion access at Malden Hospital - Oct. '95
28 Deck the Gap - Dec. '95
29 Fingerprint This '95
30 Promote Masturbation - spring '95
31 State House Action - Jan '95
32 Valentine's Day - Feb '95
33 "Welfare vs. Wealthfare" Game Sheets '95
34 Whitburn wheatpasting - spring '95
35 Anthology submission - winter '96-7
36 Economic Insecurity Rat Race - April '96
37 Rubbing Up Against the Law - Feb '96
38 Bosnia march
15
Series 7: Audiovisual
Subseries 1: Photos
1 Slides, contact sheets and negatives by Star Black - 1992 - Pride '94
2 St. John's Photos by Mary Beth Edelson (2/10/92)
3 March on Washington (4/5/92) by Mary Beth Edelson
4 Copies of Photos by Ellen Moses
5 Photos by Lynda Rodolitz 1992
6 Terise Slotkin - "WAC Slide Show" (also see audio tape)
7 Washington D.C. photos (4/5/92) by Terise Slotkin
8 Figueroa photo file (4/16/92) by Terise Slotkin
9 Moynihan action (4/22/92) by Terise Slotkin
10 Photos and slides by Harriet Zucker
11 Photos from Chico, CA WAC
12 Photocopies of photos - misc.
13 WAC Snapshots
16
(Binders)
"The Queer Book" - Meredith Allen
"WAC 1992-1994" - Meredith Allen
Photos - Carol Gehring
17
(Binders)
"Women's Action Coalition" - Stephanie K. Damoff
"How To Plan an Action" - Mary Beth Edelson
Artwork from Mary Beth Edelson
Photos - Lisa Kahane
18
binder - "Women's Action Coalition" - Katherine O'Brien
photos by Ellen Moses
contact sheets by Harriet Zucker
19
Subseries 2: audio/video
one audio tape - "WAC Houston '92 - Sound for Slide Show"
one video tape from WAC Boston
ten video tapes from WAC New York
BOX CONTENTS
20
Series 8: Ephemera
"Legal Observer" and "Clinic Defender" signs
"Support Lesbian Visibility" stickers (small and large)
"Women in Film" pins and "Women Ignite - Houston '92" pins
WAC return address stamp (and stamp pads)
Guggenheim protest "art cards"
"Postcards to Bill Clinton" campaign - postcards
"Stop Sexist Advertising" stickers
"Lesbian Rights are Civil Rights" transparency
21
T-shirts
(3 black with WAC symbol, one white with WAC symbol, 2 "Dykes
Take the Mall - March on Washington '93," one white with black and
blue WAC symbol, one white "All of the Above")
22
Five dildo squirt guns used at Pace Gallery Action (10/23/93). They
were filled with paint which was squirted on to banners.
23
Two banners (decorated with dildo squirt guns) from Pace Gallery
Action (10/23/93)
24
Printed matter by, sent to, or about WAC
But Is It Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism - edited by Nina Felshin
Listen Up! Voices from the Next Feminist Generation - edited by
Barbara Findlen
The Power of Feminist Art - edited by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard
WAC Stats: The Facts About Women
Woe to the Women - The Bible Tells Me So - Annie Laurie Gaylor
Referral Guide to Health and Social Services for the Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Communities of New York City
25
(Oversized periodicals)
Two copies of Village Voice that contain articles about WAC
(also found in Press - New York area - in Subject series).
All other magazines do not contain WAC-related articles, but were
included in collection and contain articles about women's issues.
26
Correspondence (Letters to WAC) closed until 2075.
27 Pink slips (from Pink Slips for Bush and Quayle action)
Melanie A. Yolles |