Archival Find: TWWA Celebrates International Women’s Day!

“International Women’s Day Celebrated,” published in The Black Panthers on March 16, 1974. Found in the Third World Women Alliance papers at the Sophia Smith Archives, Box 2 Folder 21.

International Women’s Day Flier by the Third World Women’s Alliance, 1974. Found in the Third World Women Alliance papers at the Sophia Smith Archives, Box 2 Folder 21

The two archival materials photographed above relate to the International Women’s Day event the Third World Women’s Alliance organized in 1974. The first is coverage published by the Black Panthers and the second is a flier about the parallel events in New York City and the Bay area distributed by the TWWA. These materials are important for understanding exactly what the TWWA did and who they worked with. The first box of their papers at the Sophia Smith ArchivesAr were filled with documents illustrating their fundamental principles and organizational procedures, but none indicated how they were going to carry out their mission. These materials, coming out of the International Women’s Day Committee, show that they prioritized creating spaces for third world women to come together and distributing information in an accessible way.

Because the images above were taken on my cellphone, I may not publish it online or in print. According to the archive’s reproduction policy, I must request a photocopy in addition to permission for using their images for purposes other than personal research. Photoreproduction requests take up to three weeks to process, therefore I will keep that in mind for the digital project deadline.

The metadata associated with these items is drawn from the way in which they were placed in Box 2, Folder 21 of the TWWA papers. Titled “Series 1 Administration: Committees: International Women’s Day Committee: International Women’s Day,” Folder 21 is a collection of materials from the International Women’s Day Committee of the TWWA. For both materials, I can conclude who the materials were published by, when they were created, and who owned the items before entering the archives. The first image was published by the Black Panthers, created on March 16, 1974, and owned by the TWWA. The second image was published by the TWWA, created in 1974, and owned by the TWWA.