This series dates from 1957 to 2016 and includes biographical material about Brenda Berkman, clippings related to her career, correspondence from her legal practice, and scrapbooks, primarily dealing with the case Berkman v. City of New York. The series also contains materials related to Berkman's advocacy on behalf of women firefighters, including recruitment correspondence, training documents for the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT), handbooks, manuals, and ephemera from conferences and public events about women in male-dominated professions. Additionally, there are awards, videos, interviews, and clippings documenting Berkman's career achievements as well as correspondence and letters of support following the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

Materials added to this series in 2017 include additional ephemera, photos, flyers, and organizing materials related to Berkman's advocacy for women firefighters and 9/11 first responders. They include flyers, programs, transcripts, and memorabilia from several of Berkman's These materials largely date from 2011 to 2016 and include photographs from a panel event at Tamiment Library honoring women first responders on the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

The series consists of legal documents and subject files from court cases brought by Brenda Berkman against the City of New York and the New York City Fire Department between 1977 and 1993, and from an unsuccessful appeal by the City of New York to Judge Charles Sifton's 1982 ruling that the City had discriminated against women through its physical exam. The series includes materials from the following cases: Brenda Berkman et al. v. City of New York et al. (Case No. 79, C 1813) Class Action Suit (also known as "Berkman v. City of New York"), 1977-1990; Brenda Berkman et al. v. City of New York et al. (Case no. 82-7654) Appeal, 1982 (also known as "Berkman v. City of New York, Appeal"); and Brenda Berkman v. New York City Fire Department, Carlos Rivera, and Selig Ginsberg (Case no. E-92-0575), 1991-1993 (also known as "Berkman v. NYCFD").

This series consists of organizational files of the United Women Firefighters (UFW) from 1977-2002, and of Women in Fire Service (WFS), alternately known as Women in Fire Suppression, from 1983-1995.

This series consists of approximately 100 black-and-white and color prints of various sizes, 19 color slides, a small amount of negatives, and one black-and-white contact sheet, with portraits, event and documentary photographs from circa 1980 to 1999. This series also includes a small amount of artifacts and memorabilia from Brenda Berkman's career as a firefighter including badges, membership cards, a UWF pin, FDNY calendars, and ephemera related to Berkman's termination in 1983.

Photographs include a 5x7 black-and-white print and corresponding 4x5 negative of Berkman in FDNY uniform; black-and-white prints, and color prints and negatives, from a City Council Press Conference on July 19, 1992; 4x6 color prints from a Women's Action Coalition Demonstration against FDNY sexual harassment on September 10, 1992; and 8x10 black-and-white prints including Brenda Berkman speaking at a press conference with city officials, of Women Tell the Truth: A Conference on Parity, Power and Sexual Harassment on April 25th, 1992 at Hunter College, including Anita Hill and Gloria Steinem, and of Berkman and Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman. Two large color group portraits of women firefighters include the Fourth National Conference of Fire Service Women in San Diego in 1991.

Color slides, mostly from 1982, include images of the first women firefighters training for their physical exam in 1982, including at the Fire Academy on Randall's Island; candidate Katrina Cannon taking the oath of office in 1982 as a probationary firefighter, representing the first group; portraits of Brenda Berkman and attorney Robert King; as well as a group portrait, circa 1988, of the first women