ADMINISTRATIVE FILES, 1984-2004

Summary: Types of documents include constitution and bylaws, correspondence, meeting minutes, and forms. The bulk of the series is composed of meeting minutes and correspondence.

This series best documents the details of the WPNJ's activities. It contains correspondence and meeting minutes, as well as corporate documents. The earliest beginnings of the project at the Mendham Free Public Library are not covered in these records, although some light is shed in the files "Meeting Minutes, 1988," when the heated issue of who should receive credit for the founding of the project arose. The details of the day-to-day organization and operation of the project are covered in this series, such as selecting the board of trustees, soliciting and securing funding and support, and event planning.

Helpful annual summaries can be found in the files, "Correspondence with Authors," as most years, the president, Gayle Samuels, sent a December letter to the writers and researchers reporting the year's progress and the next year's goals. The secretary's "Meeting Minutes" provide bimonthly updates and discussions by the board of ongoing issues.

Included in "Correspondence, General" are notes and discussions on the selection of the biographical entries. General correspondence dwindles after the 1990 book publication, with most of the post-1990 correspondence in electronic mail format located in the "Related Projects Files" regarding the creation and operation of the Web site.

Correspondence with the entry authors concerns the research and writing of the biographies. The correspondence with living subjects is of particular interest, as they contain letters to and from women whose lives are documented in Past and Promise. Follow-up correspondence from 1995 documents the activities of these women since the volume's publication.

Folders containing lists of women's organizations and women's history repositories are found in the "Corporate Solicitation" files. Summaries of the WPNJ's activities can be found in solicitations for funding in "Correspondence -- Foundation Requests."