Series I: Professional Activities, 1950-2016 (inclusive), inclusive; 1970-2016 (bulk), bulk

Sub-Series I.A focuses on Mary Beth Edelson's original artwork and sketches. The sub-series contains Edelson's numerous artbooks including The Archeology of Trickster Rabbit in Re-Cycled Time (1981), Fish in the Sky (1985), her Unfinished Plans for Utopia series (circa 1980s), and her Winged Rocks series (1978-1979). The sub-series also contains examples of Edelson's photography projects including Goddess Head, Kitty Hawk, Fire Rings, and Women Rising. A recurring motif in Edelson's artwork is the nude female body and this is particularly prevalent in her photographs. Edelson's many sketchbooks can also be found in Sub-Series I.A, which feature ideas for art pieces, exhibitions, and some drawings from her travels. Slides of Edelson's drawings and paintings, as well as copies of her original artwork are also housed within this sub-series. Digital photographs of one of Edelson's collages, which was featured at the Tate Modern as part of a Louise Bourgeois exhibition, are contained within this sub-series.

Sub-Series I.B focuses upon Mary Beth Edelson's exhibitions and performances such as 22 Others, Chiffons, Making Eye Contact, Portrait Project, Re-Scripting the Story: Mary Beth Edelson 1970-2000, Sexual Fantasies, Shapeshifters, and Story Gathering Boxes. These projects were displayed in museums and galleries across the United States, including New York, Illinois, California, New Jersey, and Texas, as well as internationally in countries including Sweden, France, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Materials related to these exhibitions and performances consist of slides and photographs, loan agreements, exhibition ephemera, posters, correspondence with museums and galleries, as well as exhibition drafts.

Edelson was also featured as part of WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution, a traveling exhibition of international women's art that was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and then PS1 Contemporary Art Center between 2007-2008. Mock-ups of the exhibition catalog and copies of Edelson's contribution to the project can be found within this sub-series.

Sub-Series I.C contains written research materials and visual source materials that informed Mary Beth Edelson's artwork. In the 1990s, Edelson focused on Hollywood's portrayal of women and the femme fatale in film. To this effect, this sub-series contains her handwritten notes about various film noirs, as well as photographs of actresses including Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Grahame, Sharon Stone, and Gena Rowlands. Sub-Series I.C also includes a range of visual source materials including images of flowers, goddesses, guns, people, and patterns – all of which served as sources of inspiration for Edelson's collage art.

Sub-Series I.D focuses upon Mary Beth Edelson's role as arts educator and contains her syllabi, notes, lectures, slides, and some administrative papers related to her teaching appointments in Chicago, Michigan, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.

Edelson was also an active member of the feminist art community, which is reflected in this sub-series. In 1977, Edelson began an art collaboration with Suzanne Lacy (Los Angeles), Nil Yalter (Turkey), Ulrike Rosenbach (Germany), and Miriam Sharon (Israel), and in 2003, she self-published a book titled International Feminist Collaboration, 1977-1979 that contained copies of letters exchanged between the women and art project collaboration ideas. Drafts, Edelson's notes, and mock ups of the book can be found within this sub-series.

In addition to Edelson's international feminist art collaboration, Sub-Series I.D contains papers related to the Heresies Collective, a feminist political arts group Edelson joined in the late 1970s. These materials include notes about the group and a few copies of their publication, Chrysalis. This sub-series also contains photographs, conference materials, and essays related to the Conference for Women in Visual Arts (CWVA), of which Edelson was a founder.

Edelson was an advocate for female artists and the works they produced, and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was a member of the Title Nine Task Force. The group's mission was to increase the presence of women's art in museums, in accordance with the Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned sex discrimination in federally funded organizations including the Guggenheim or Museum of Modern Art. Materials related to the Title Nine Task Force consist of posters and reports.

This sub-series also contains posters advertising Edelson's speaking engagements, as well as some photographs of workshops and lectures.

Sub-Series I.E contains publications and articles about Mary Beth Edelson's artwork, her role in the feminist art movement, and career as a whole. This sub-series includes both domestic and international press articles. Authors of these pieces include Merlin Stone, Gayle Kimball, Jan Avgikos, and Jack Burnham. In addition to these articles, Sub-Series I.E contains transcripts, correspondence, and notes related to interviews Edelson conducted over the course of her career.

Books written by Edelson such as Seven Cycles: Public Rituals and Shapeshifters: Seven Mediums, as well as press statements, articles, and poems also written by Edelson can be found in Sub-Series I.E. Similarly, this sub-series contains Edelson's numerous notebooks containing addresses and information for colleagues and exhibition contacts, travel diaries, some research notes, exhibition and artwork ideas, personal notes, and some sketches.

Mary Beth Edelson was interested in numerous topics such as spiritualism, art censorship, ancient religions, goddess figures, environmentalism, and feminist actions in the late 20th century – all of which are reflected in this sub-series in the form of essays, articles, notes, and some visual materials.

Sub-Series I.G focuses on the logistical and administrative aspects of Mary Beth Edelson's career. This sub-series contains address books, correspondence, art loan negotiation agreements, contracts, collection lists, grant applications, artist residency documents, art installation instructions, Mary Beth Edelson's resumes and biographies, as well as information about her art studio located in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. This sub-series also contains exhibition and event promotional materials including programs, catalogs, invitations, postcards, flyers, and posters.