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COLLECTION Identifier: Vt-99: MC 456

Women's Video Collective Africa Project videotape collection, 1985-1989

Overview

Printed material and videotapes of the Women's Video Collective.

Dates

  • Creation: 1985-1989

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

TERMS OF USE

Access. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Karen Clay transfers her copyright in the collection to President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library.

Copying. Materials may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

1.04 linear feet ((2+1/2 file boxes) including 12 videotapes)

The collection consists of footage from Forum '85, as well as interviews with six women from Third World countries attending the conference. The intent of the Women's Video Collective was to document the conference in the hopes of having the voices and stories of women, especially women from the Third World, heard in the United States. Mariflor Parpan (Philippines), Mary Myambura (Kenya), Nahla Haidar (Lebanon), Ranjana Kumari (India), Sonja Davile (Bolivia), and Sister Solidad (Philippines), speak about the urgent needs of women in their countries and the benefits of participating in the N.G.O. Forum. Also included are three workshops from the Forum, as well as Dateline Nairobi a community access TV program, which aired in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 17 and 24, 1985. The program had a live satellite feed to Nairobi and allowed the panel and audience in Boston (and other United States cities) to ask questions of Forum '85 participants. One tape includes outtakes from Our Choice, Our Bodies, a pro-choice march in Washington, D.C., April 1989. The tapes are arranged in the order in which they appear in the Women's Video Collective informational brochures. Also printed material from the conference and the Women's Video Collective.

HISTORY

The Women's Video Collective (WVC) was formed by a small group of women from the Boston area in May 1983. Their purpose was to document the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in upstate New York. From this experience, the collective developed their mission: to produce media works promoting feminism and peace. In July 1985, the collective sent a group to Nairobi to document Forum '85, the Non-Governmental Organizations (N.G.O.) conference concurrent with the Third United Nations World Conference on Women. Karen Clay, a member of the Collective, attended the Forum and edited at least one of the videotapes.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 98-M184

This collection was given to the Schlesinger Library by Karen Clay and the Women's Video Collective in October 1998.

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Box 1: 1vt-7vt
  2. Box 2: 8vt-12vt
  3. Box 3: 13-16

Processing Information

Processed: June 1999

By: Joanne Donovan

Title
Women's Video Collective (Cambridge, Mass.). Women's Video Collective Africa Project videotape collection, 1985-1989: A Finding Aid.
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00039

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Contact:
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