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Women in Development collection

 Collection 0130-MDHC

This collection consists of pamphlets, government documents, and reports published by international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank and by government agencies in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Indonesian that facilitate research on women and women's issues internationally. The collection contains "working" or "occasional" papers sponsored by organizations in countries, unpublished papers and speeches, and journal offprints. Also included are published conference papers, monographs, annual reports, bibliographies, brochures, news clippings, newsletters and journal issues. Among the major topics addressed are agriculture; education; employment; project design and evaluation; and water, health, and sanitation. Additional addenda to the collection are unprocessed.

Dates

  • 1944-1990
  • Majority of material found within 1975-1985

Use and Access to Collection

This collection is open for research. Other accessions may be unprocessed. For more information contact the curator.

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.

Extent

12.50 Linear Feet

Scope and Content of Collection

The Women in Development collection contains a wide range of material covering the period from 1944 to 1990 with the bulk of the material dating from 1978 to 1983. This pamphlet collection consists of items written predominantly in English but including documents written in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Norwegian, Portuguese and Indonesian. The collection contains "working or "occasional" papers sponsored by organizations in countries, unpublished papers and speeches, and journal offprints. Also included are published conference papers, monographs, annual reports, bibliographies, brochures, news clippings, newsletters and journal issues.

This collection is designed to facilitate research on women and women's issues internationally; included are extensive files arranged by country or region of the world. Among the major topics addressed are agriculture; education; employment; project design and evaluation; and water, health and sanitation. The collection also offers a historical view of the operations of an agency dedicated to international development.

Administrative History

In March 1990, the Agency for International Development/Women in Development (AID/WID) program contacted the Women's Studies program at the University of Maryland at College Park to ascertain their interest in the Women in Development (WID) collection. AID/WID wanted to donate their archival library collection of books, government documents, working papers, unpublished papers, pamphlets, audio-visual materials, and other items to a library that would provide access to the collection and to which they could refer potential researchers. They welcomed proposals from libraries in the Washington D.C. region as well as libraries specializing in women's studies outside the metropolitan area. The Woman Studies program contacted Betty Day, the Women's Studies bibliographer, who, with the assistance of Hugh O'Connor of Government Documents, prepared a proposal. In addition, Dr. William E. Kirwan, president of the University of Maryland at College Park, and a number of faculty members wrote letters of support to show how the collections would support research and teaching on women in developing countries at the University. In the fall of 1990, Day was informed that the collection would be given to the University of Maryland.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in two series.

Series 1
Subject Files
Series 2
Geographical Files

Custodial History and Acquisition Information

The Women in Development collection was donated to the University of Maryland at College Park Libraries by the Agency for International Development/Women in Development program in fall of 1990. Additional accessions were received in 1996 and 1999.

Related Material

Related material can be found in the University of Maryland Libraries' Women's Studies pamphlets and the National Women Studies Association records.

Processing Information

In November 1990 the materials in the Women in Development collection were sorted; federal and international government documents were transferred to the Government Documents Department, monographs were sent to the Technical Services Division of the University Libraries to be cataloged for addition to the Libraries to be cataloged for addition to the Libraries' general collection, and manuscript/pamphlet materials were transferred to the Historical Manuscripts and Archives Department of the Special Collections and University Archives.

In preparing this collection for patron use, duplicated items, office correspondence, and news letters were sorted out. Office correspondence was returned to the Agency for International Development/Women in Development program, duplicates were discarded and long runs of newsletters were sent to the Technical Services Division of the University Libraries to be cataloged for the general library collection; individual and scattered issues of newsletters were integrated into the Women in Development Collection. The materials were then organized into the Subject and Geographical series, using acid-free folders and boxes. Paper clips, staples and other fasteners were removed and replaced with plastic clips; items too thick to be clipped have been filed between sheets of acid-free bond paper. Lastly, the guide was written.

Two addenda to the collection were acquired in 1996 and 1999, comprising twenty-seven linear feet of materials such as government reports and publications. These accessions are unprocessed. The present guide represents the first processed accession.

Title
Guide to the Women in Development collection
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Sharon Groves.
Date
1991-04
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Library Details

Part of the Special Collections and University Archives

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
Hornbake Library
4130 Campus Drive
College Park Maryland 20742
301-405-9212