Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Bird, Caroline, 1915- |
| Title: | Caroline Bird Papers |
| Dates: | 1915-1995 |
| Quantity: | 76 cubic feet (85 boxes) |
| Abstract: | Papers include manuscripts, galley proofs, correspondence, speeches, chronological files, and subject files relating to her publications. There are also subject files on women's issues such as affirmative action, the Equal Rights Amendment, business opportunities, marriage, minority women, women in education, employment, women in the Army, and health. |
Biographical Note
Caroline Bird was born in New York City April 15, 1915. Her lawyer father, who had been a crusading newspaper editor, greatly affected her lifework by his example and by encouraging her to write. At sixteen she became the youngest member of the Vassar Class of 1935 but left after her junior year to marry Edward A. Menuez, a teacher. While rearing a daughter, Carol, she earned a B.A. at the University of Toledo and an M.A. in comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin.
During the war she held several research and editing jobs. When her marriage ended in 1945, she continued working as a writer and researcher. She married Tom Mahoney, also a writer, in 1957 and at forty-six had a son John twenty-six years after the birth of her daughter.
Her book on the Depression, The Invisible Scar, was published in 1966 and was hailed by the American Library Association as one of the 100 most significant books of the year. It established her reputation as a careful and convincing writer. Bird's second book, Born Female(1968), became a reference book for the new women's movement.
These were followed by The Crowding Syndrome (1972); Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Get Paid What She's Worth (1973); The Case Against College (1975); Enterprising Women (1976), a Bicentennial project of the Business and Professional Women's Foundation; and The Two-Paycheck Marriage (1979).
Popular as a lecturer and television commentator, Bird has played a leading role in the women's movement. She was a consultant to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year in 1977 and was the chief writer of its report, The Spirit of Houston (1978).
Caroline Bird died January 11, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee.
TopScope and Content Note
Papers include manuscripts, galley proofs, correspondence, speeches, chronological files, and subject files relating to her publications: The Invisible Scar (1966), Born Female: The High Cost of Keeping Women Down (1968), Everything a Women Needs to Know to Get Paid What She's Worth (1973), Case Against College (1975), The Crowding Syndrome: Learning to Live With Too Much and Too Many (1976), Enterprising Women 1976), What Women Want (1979), and The Two-Paycheck Marriage (1979), Second Careers (1992), Lives of Our Own (1995). There are also subject files on women's issues such as affirmative action, the Equal Rights Amendment, business opportunities, marriage, minority women, women in education, employment, women in the Army, and health.
TopAccess and Use
Access
Because the collection has not been fully processed, access is restricted. Please contact the Archives and Special Collections staff for further information.
Restrictions on Use
The bulk of this collection is stored off-site and advance notification is required for use. Please contact Library Staff for more information.
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Subject Headings
Subjects:
- Affirmative action programs
- Depressions--1929--United States
- Equal rights amendments
- Feminism
- Feminists
- International Women's Year, 1975
- Marriage
- Women and the military
- Women authors, American
- Women in business
- Women's Rights--United States
- Women's rights
- Women--Education
- Women--Employment
- Women--Employment--United States
- Women--Health and hygiene
- Women--Social conditions--1960-1980
- Women--United States
- Women--United States--History
Places:
- United States--Armed Forces--Women
- United States--Social conditions--1960-1980
- United States. Army
- United States. National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year
VCL Categories:
- Literature and Writing
- Politics
- Women's History
Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, July 2007. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, March 2024.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Caroline Bird Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown. Last updated July 2011.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Caroline Bird. Boxes 1-14 are from the first accession. Boxes 15-85 are from the second accession. An additional scrapbook was added in 2011 (M2011-020).
Container List
| Box 1 | File of materials on women. Includes bibliographies, affirmative action, Era, business opportunities for women, image of women, marriage, minority women, nurses, secretaries, women in education, employment, women in the army, and women's health. |
| Boxes 2-3 | Manuscript and documentation for The Invisible Scar (New York: David McKay, 1966). |
| Boxes 4-6 | Galleys and subject files for The Invisible Scar |
| Boxes 7-12 | Manuscripts, galleys, correspondence, a file of key studies, subject files, and a file on footnotes for Born Female: The High Cost of Keeping Women Down (New York: David McKay, 1968), and the manuscript for Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Get Paid What She's Worth (New York: David McKay, 1973). |
| Box 13 | Manuscript and galleys for The Crowding Syndrome: Learning to Live With Too Much and Too Many. Manuscript, galleys, and "dead matter" for Enterprising Women (New York: Norton, 1976). Manuscript for What Women Want (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979). [Based on the Official Report to the President, the Congress, and the People of the United States. Compiled by Caroline Bird and the members and staff of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. Includes personal statements from Gloria Steinem, et al., at The National Women's Conference, Houston, Texas, November 1977.] |
| Box 14 | Manuscript and galley for The Two-Paycheck Marriage: How Women at Work Are Changing Life in America: An In-depth Report on the Great Revolution of Our Times (New York: Rawson, Wade, 1979). |
| Boxes 15-26 | Second Careers |
| Box 27 | Career Database |
| Boxes 28-30 | AARP Coupon Project (Before book) |
| Box 31 | The Good Years |
| Box 32 | The Good Years - Audiotapes |
| Box 32 | Family diplomas (2 items) |
| Box 33 | What Women Want and The Two-Paycheck Marriage |
| Box 34 | The Invisible Scar and The Case Against College |
| Box 35 | The Case Against College and Enterprising Women |
| Box 36 | Enterprising Women? |
| Box 37 | Singer Research |
| Box 38 | Born Female |
| Boxes 39-45 | Lives of Our Own |
| Boxes 46-49 | Stat Book |
| Box 50 | Speeches and Clippings |
| Box 51 | International Harvester, Presidents, MacCracken (miscellaneous Tom Mahoney Files?) |
| Boxes 52-53 | Genealogy |
| Boxes 54-55 | Scrapbooks, 1973-1977 |
| Box 56 | Taxes and other financial, 1953-1991 |
| Box 57 | Taxes and other financial, 1992-1994 |
| Box 58 | Audiotapes, 1987- |
| Box 59 | Miscellaneous Tom Mahoney Files |
| Box 60 | Index Cards |
| Box 61 | Year Files, 1943-1956 |
| Box 62 | Year Files, 1957-1966 |
| Box 63 | Year Files, 1966-1970 |
| Box 64 | Year Files, 1970-1971 |
| Box 65 | Year Files, 1971-1972 |
| Box 66 | Year Files, 1972-1973 |
| Box 67 | Year Files, 1973-1974 |
| Box 68 | Year Files, 1974-1976 |
| Box 69 | Year Files, 1976-1977 |
| Box 70 | Year Files, 1977 |
| Box 71 | Year Files, 1977-1978 |
| Box 72 | Year Files, 1979 |
| Box 73 | Year Files, 1980-1981 |
| Box 74 | Year Files, 1981-1983 |
| Box 75 | Year Files, 1983 |
| Box 76 | Year Files, 1984-1985 |
| Box 77 | Year Files, 1985 |
| Box 78 | Year Files, 1986 |
| Box 79 | Year Files, 1987-1988 |
| Box 80 | Year Files, 1988 |
| Box 81 | Year Files, 1989-1990 |
| Box 82 | Year Files, 1990-1992 (Jumbled) |
| Box 83 | Year Files, 1992 |
| Box 84 | Year Files, 1993 |
| Box 85 | Miscellaneous Subject Files |
| Box 85 | Childhood scrapbook, circa 1924-1927 |
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
Papers include manuscripts, galley
proofs, correspondence, speeches, chronological files, and subject files relating to
her publications. There are also subject files on women's issues such as affirmative
action, the Equal Rights Amendment, business opportunities, marriage, minority
women, women in education, employment, women in the Army, and health.
