View XML QR Code

Barbara Slaner Winslow papers, 1963-2022

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Winslow, Barbara Slaner
Title
Barbara Slaner Winslow papers
Dates
1963-2022 (inclusive)
Quantity
3.04 cubic feet (9 boxes including 33 audiocassettes)
Collection Number
6489 (Accession No. 6489-001)
Summary
Papers, artifacts, and audio recordings from a Seattle activist in civil rights, anti-war, and women's liberation
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access for paper-based materials. No user access copy is available for audio cassettes. Users may be able to obtain a reproduction of the media for a fee. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Request at UW

Languages
English
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Author and activist Barbara Slaner Winslow grew up in a conservative New York City suburb and attended Antioch College for her undergraduate degree which offered the open-mindedness and radicalism she desired. As a newlywed in 1967, Winslow accompanied her husband to Seattle to complete his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Washington. Winslow also attended UW as a graduate in History and finished with the class of 1971. During her tenure as a student, she encountered a culture of sexism and racism on campus, especially in the History Department which was dominant by white males. In efforts to combat the racial and narrow-minded atmosphere, she became involved with groups such as the Women’s Liberation-Seattle, Students for a Democratic Society, UW Vietnam Committee, and Seattle Radical Women. The groups specifically focused on fighting for workers’ rights, women’s right, civil equality, childcare and abortion rights, birth control resources, and anti-war efforts. Winslow participated in a series of main stream movements that infamously still inspire change like the Civil Rights Movement, Anti-War Movements and Feminist Movement.

Barbara Winslow pushed the issue of unjust oppression of minorities into the spotlight when she became a spokesperson and advocate. After speaking out against a Playboy bunny who was invited to campus by administration, she became a recognized face and voice for the public. She was also a founding and essential member of the Women’s Liberation Movement that swept through Seattle, and was the catalyst that created the Women’s Studies Department at UW, known today as Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS). Winslow is proud of the work and achievements her generation was responsible for, which lasted throughout the decades. Winslow was a professor in the School of Education at the Brooklyn College and the City University of New York.

Return to Top

Content Description

The papers of Barbara Winslow include photographs, buttons, cassettes, interview transcripts, leaflets, booklets, newsletters from the University of Washington and Seattle political groups, personal notes, speeches, newspapers, and copies of canon works used in the early feminist movement in the United States. Newspapers from the University of Washington Daily feature Winslow’s activism on campus through photographs and articles written by and about her. Winslow’s “antagonist” activities also gained the attention of the FBI, who launched an investigation on her. These files are included in the collection. Most of the documents and ephemera are original and have been curated by Winslow as a student and activist since the mid 1960s. Photographs also contain images of major political events that occurred when Winslow was a student at the University of Washington and the reaction of the student body. The collection as a whole reflects on the Women’s Rights Movement that swept through the nation in the mid 1960s to early 1970s through the lens of a white female college student. These papers were used in development of Barbara Winslow’s book Revolutionary Feminists, 2023. Winslow uses her book to tell the story of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Seattle as a founding member and life-long advocate for equality and rights for not just women but for all groups who face injustice.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Donor has transfered, conveyed, and assigned all rights under copyright to the UW Libraries for works held by her. Accompanying release forms allow quotation and duplication of some but not all oral history interviews. Collection also includes materials by others. Researchers are required to research and seek permission to publish materials held by others in the collection.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 7 series.

  • Series 1, Activism, 1968-2018
  • Series 2, Writings and Speeches, 1968-2022
  • Series 3, Ephemera and Publications, 1968-1991
  • Series 4, Research, 1963-2001
  • Series 5, Correspondence, 1970-2017
  • Series 6, Interview transcripts and recordings, 1991-1998
  • Series 8, Personal and Biographical, 1971-1987

Acquisition Information

Donated by Barbara Winslow, April 2023.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)


2024 (Last modified: 1/31/2025)

CC0

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...