Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: T-312

Audiotape collection of Frances Arick Kolb, 1979-1981

Overview

Audiocassettes of interviews with former NOW officers and members concerning history of NOW.

Dates

  • Creation: 1979-1981

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

TERMS OF USE

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

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Frances Arick Kolb has transferred her copyright in the tapes to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright of the interviewee is held by the interviewee, or the interviewee's heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the director of the Schlesinger Library before publishing quotations from materials in the collection.

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

Extent

30 audiocassettes

This collection is a series of interviews conducted by Frances Kolb with past National Organization for Women (NOW) officers and members, regarding the formation of NOW and their roles in the organization. Kolb conducted the interviews in preparation for a book on the history of NOW. Tapes remain in order as originally received and described by Kolb in her notes (see MC 481, #6.9-6.13). The interviews with Wilma Scott Heide, (#21at-22at), and Karen DeCrow, (#27at-29at) subsequently became part of the Tully Crenshaw Feminist Oral History project (T-301). The DeDrow interview is administered as part of T-301; the Heide interview may be requested as either T-312 or T-301.

BIOGRAPHY

Frances (Arick) Kolb, an educational consultant and historian, was born in 1937 in Worcester, Massachusetts. She attended Brandeis University from 1954 to 1956 before receiving her B.A. in history and secondary education from Washington University (1958), her master's degree in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania (1959), and her Ph.D. in history from Washington University (1972). She was married to and divorced from Zivon Cohen. She later married Alfred Kolb; they had a daughter, Sharon.

Kolb was an instructor in continuing education at Pennsylvania State University (1971-1973), an instructor in American history at the University of Pittsburgh (1973), assistant professor in the department of history at Montclair (New Jersey) State College (1973-1975), adjunct instructor in women's studies at City College, City University of New York (1974-1795), curriculum coordinator for the Training Institute for Sex Desegregation at Douglass College of Rutgers University (1975-1979), a training specialist for Project Inter-Action (1980-1981), and assistant director of The Network in Andover, Massachusetts (1982-?). In addition, Kolb was a member of the Panel on Teaching Women's History at the American Historical Association's national conference (1975), chair of the Panel on Funding Women's Studies for the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians meeting at Bryn Mawr (June 1975), served on the planning committee of the Bicentennial Celebration on Women at Douglass College (March-April 1976), was a consultant and trainer for the Educational Improvement Center South of the New Jersey Department of Education (June-July 1978), and consultant and trainer for the New England Educational Equity Center (1979-1980).

Her positions within the National Organization for Women included founding member and member of the Board of Directors of the South Hills NOW Day Nursery School (1972-1973), Eastern Regional Director (1973-1975), and National Board member (1975-1977), where she served as NOW archivist. She was also on the Rules Committee of the 1975 and 1976 national conferences, was a member of the Budget Committee of the National Board, Finance Coordinator of the NOW Freedom Train (1976), chair of the NOW Arrangements Committee for the International Women's Year Conference (1977), and chair of the Economic Sanctions Committee of the ERA Strike Force (1977-1979).

Kolb died of breast cancer January 12, 1991.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 91-M96

These audiocassettes were given to the Schlesinger Library by Alfred Kolb, husband of Frances Kolb in June 1991.

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; Papers of Frances Arick Kolb, 1955-1990 (inclusive), 1972-1990 (bulk) (MC 481).

Processing Information

Processed: February 2003

By: Joanne Donovan

Subject

Title
Kolb, Frances Arick. Audiotape collection of Frances Arick Kolb, 1970-1981: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00252

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:
3 James St.
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
617-495-8540