Women Writing Women's Lives Records
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Abstract
Women Writing Women's Lives is a seminar of women authors, poets, academics, and journalists engaged in writing biographies and memoirs. The Women Writing Women's Lives Records (1989-2023) consists of administrative files, subject files, notes and lectures from the group's monthly meetings, and oral history interviews of group members.
Historical Note
Founded in 1990, Women Writing Women's Lives (WWWL) is an ongoing seminar of about sixty women engaged in writing book-length biographies and memoirs. Its members include academics, poets, journalists and novelists. WWWL is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Women and Society and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Monthly meetings, planned by a Steering Committee, are arranged in order for members to present work for discussion, share ideas, and hear about the work of outside presenters.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged into four series:
Series I: Administrative and Committee Records, arranged alphabetically;
Series II: Claire Morris Stern Records, arranged in the order of provenance;
Series III: Session Records, arranged chronologically; and
Series IV: Oral History Interviews, arranged alphabetically by the interviewee's last name.
Scope and Contents
The Women Writing Women's Lives Records (1989-2023) contain the materials of Women Writing Women's Lives (WWWL) and its members. The collection is primarily comprised of proceedings from monthly meetings, but also includes materials such as membership questionnaires, correspondence, photographs of members and meetings, and subject files. The collection also contains correspondence, ephemera, images, and video recordings from Women Writing Women's Lives events including anniversary celebrations and speaking events.
The collection also contians the administrative files of Claire Morris Stern, who was a founding member of the organization and served as the chair of the Archive Committee. Her files contain correspondence, photographs, and materials related to special events including the Women Writing Women's Lives 20th Anniversary celebration.
Oral history interviews recorded on audiocassettes and audio CDs are held in this collection, along with paper transcripts and biographical notes. Electronic Records include digital audio files of each interview. These interviews were conducted by other WWWL members and Tamiment director Michael Nash between 2006 and 2009. They discuss topics such as the founding of the writing seminar, and the ways in which participation in WWWL shaped these authors' careers as biographers.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Women Writings Women's Lives were transferred to New York University in 2004 by Katherine Chamberlain. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Women Writing Women's Lives Records; TAM 316; box number; folder number or item identifier; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Women Writing Women's Lives donated a collection of their records in 2004. In 2008, a donation of 57 photographs was made by Claire Morris Stern, chair of the WWWL Archives Committee. An additional donation was made by Norah Chase in 2010. In 2013 Claire Morris Stern sent a donation of her personal files, which were added to this collection. An additional three boxes of WWWL's records from 2002-2015 were donated in 2015. In 2019 an accretion of administrative and seminar documents from 2017-2018 were donated by Julia Van Haaften. Van Haaften donated a similar accretion of more recent administrative records in June 2025. The accession numbers associated with these gifts are 2004.001, 2004.007, 2004.008, NPA.2008.045, NPA.2009.027, 2013.044, 2015.038, 2017.073, 2019.035, and 2025.059.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access CDs for audiovisual materials in the collection are available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only.
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
Prior to processing in 2025, several duplicate oral history transcripts were removed from this collection and returned to donors.
Separated Materials
Materials related to the donation of Women Writing Women's Lives Records to Tamiment have been removed from the collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs separated from this collection during initial processing and from new accessions were established as a separate collection, the Women Writing Women's Lives Photographs (PHOTOS 266). In 2013, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Women Writing Women's Lives Records (TAM 316).
Oral history interviews separated from this collection during initial processing and from new accessions were established as a separate collection, the Women Writing Women's Lives Oral History Collection (OH 059). In 2025, the oral history collection was reincorporated into the Women Writing Women's Lives Records (TAM 316) as Series IV.
In 2019, an accretion of administrative and seminar documents were intellectually incorporated into Series I and III in accordance with the collection's existing arrangement structure. In June 2025, an accretion of administrative records were intellectually incorporated into Series I in Boxes 8-9.
In 2025, 16 CD-Rs were forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged by an archivist. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content.
In 2025, 14 access discs with duplicative content were discarded.
