Guide to the Records of the Women's Electoral Lobby, 1952-2010

Summary

Collection number:

MS 3683: MS Acc99.169; MS Acc10.116; MS Acc13.080

Creator:

Women's Electoral Lobby (Australia)

Extent:

(159 ms boxes + 1 large folio box)

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Women's Electoral Lobby, National Library of Australia, [class/series/file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research (MS 3683; MS Acc99.169 (part); MS Acc10.116 (part); MS Acc13.080); part not available for research until 2030 (MS Acc99.169 (part of Box 6); MS Acc10.116 (part of Box 21)). Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

MS 3683 comprises correspondence, 1972-1988; financial records, 1978-1989; Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) national conference records, 1973-1982; records relating to WEL involvement in other conferences such as the National Women's Tax Summit, National Agenda for Women Conference and the United Nations Decade for Women; records relating to WEL activities such as lobbying federal parliamentarians, the production of the WEL national bulletin, submissions and press releases; and, subject files on a wide range of WEL interests including childcare, affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, the Family Law Act, maternity leave, wages and the Sex Discrimination Act. The collection also includes a small quantity of records of the Women's Electoral Lobby (ACT) and the Women's Centre Inc. (63 boxes).

MS Acc99.169 comprises further records of the Women's Electoral Lobby (37 boxes)

MS Acc10.116 comprises records that are categorised as follows: WEL in the media; WEL Australia (National) archive; WEL submissions; WEL ACT (Australian Capital Territory); and Women's Liberation. WEL in the media comprises news cuttings. A substantial portion of the WEL Australia records consists of research and working papers on women's issues and legislation relating to women, such as affirmative action, casual and part-time workers, childbirth, contraception, abortion, divorce, domestic violence, feminism, health, human rights, parental leave, pregnancy, reproductive rights, sexism, sex discrimination, single mothers and tax reform. WEL Australia records also include: papers relating to conferences and other events conducted by WEL; correspondence; posters; election material; WEL National Management Committee minutes and correspondence; newsletters; photographs; policy documents; funding papers; WEL history papers; and records reflecting relations between WEL Australia, various women's organisations and WEL state and territory branches. WEL submissions, to which there is an extensive index, document the organisation's lobbying activities at both national and state level. The small component titled Women's Liberation contains newsletters (58 boxes, 1 fol. box).

MS Acc13.080 comprises nNewsletters; members lists; National Committee minutes; lobbying guides; submissions; documents on indigious education funding; media releases; letters and press clippings relating to the Young Women's Electoral Lobby in various states; Annual General Meetings documentation; correspondence; leaflets and publications relating to the Women's Electoral Lobby; and papers relating the the Circle of Matriarchs. This addition also includes Abstracts from the Third National Women's Health Conference 1995; papers relating to the 4th UN Conference on Women, NGO Forum, Beijing 1995; a signed WEL Guest Book 1991; bulletins of the Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women (CAPOW), and WEL affairs and media releases (1 box).

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

MS 3683 was donated to the Library in five consignments between 1973 and 1995. Further papers were then added in 1998, 1999, 2010 and 2013.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Women's rights

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1757433).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Women's Electoral Lobby, National Library of Australia, [class/series/file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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