Archiving Project Reveals Evolution of IWPR

In January, IWPR began work on an archiving project to sort through and organize documents from the Institute’s 23-year history.  Over the last 4 months, the project reviewed over 300 boxes and sent approximately 75 to the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University.  The contents of these boxes range in age from before IWPR’s inception in 1987 to the present. Some boxes contained old Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data, doodles on napkins, and even a tongue-in-cheek ode to our well-known Status of Women in the States project produced for an IWPR holiday party: “The Status of Women in the North Pole.”

The contents of these boxes show IWPR’s passion and intensity for the issues it has diligently researched for almost 25 years. These boxes contained a lot more than IWPR’s research; they provided an in-depth look into IWPR and its staff members’ personalities. The correspondence and notes across the years show the gradual development of IWPR into the organization it is today.

IWPR library during the archiving project.

Source: IWPR

Editor’s note: IWPR Appreciates Aliza’s outstanding effort in organizing our materials for the archives. She worked tirelessly for four months to see this project through to completion. As a result of her work for IWPR, Aliza will be pursuing a master’s dual degree in the History and Archives  Management at Simmons College in Boston

Back to Table of Contents