Subgroup 2: Women Artists Series Operational Files

Arranged chronologically by exhibition season, then by type of record or activity.

The Operational Files contain the organizational records of the Women Artists Series, exclusive of most records related to specific artists, which are found in the Exhibited Artists Files. The files document the founding of the Series, the planning and implementation of all exhibits and programs, budgeting and fundraising, marketing and publicity, the production of all publications, and the activities of the juries, Advisory Board, and Series staff. The anniversary celebrations are particularly well documented; records for the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Retrospective (1996/1997) make up 3 cubic feet of the collection. Other exhibits and programs that involve multiple artists are also well documented here, including the New Jersey Women Artists exhibits of 1974-1983, the Douglass College Alumnae exhibits of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000, the Representative Works retrospective of 1984, public programs including Hair Culture (1997) and Censorship, Intellectual Freedom and the Arts (2000), and the Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist-in-Residence Lectureship (1998-present). Special files of particular interest include "The Rip-Off File" (1972/1973), a collection of evidence of discrimination against women in art education gathered by Lynn Miller, and the public comment books from the Series exhibitions of 1995/1996-1999/2000.

Materials include both external and internal correspondence, notes, financial reports, budgets, receipts, purchase orders, grant proposals and reports, drafts, corrected proofs and finished copies of Series publications, press clippings, press releases, mailing lists, insurance valuations and requests, transportation and installation instructions, installation diagrams, public program lectures, and jury records. Most material is on paper, with some photographic material, computer disks, and videotape.

At the beginning of the collection is located a small group of undated documents, and a series of selected copies of documents dated 1971-1996 that duplicate items found in the regular chronology. Researchers searching for information on a particular season are encouraged to also consult the Exhibited Artists Files under the names of the artists who exhibited during that season.