The Women's Archive Collection & Pathfinder
Portrait of Eliza Bryant (1827- 1907) - Founder of the Cleveland Home of Aged Colored People, now the Eliza Bryant Home for the Aged..
Mareyjoyce Green (1928-) - Founder of the Women's Comprehensive Program at Cleveland State University.
Portrait of Bell Greve (1894-1957), a leader and pioneer in rehabilitative care and relief services.
Women employees at Clark Cable Corporation solder wire harnesses by hand, 1952.
Betty Klaric (1932-2011) - environmental journalist for the Cleveland Press
Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971), Cleveland social worker and founder of the Phillis Wheatley Association.
Aviatrices of the 1929 air races.
The Women's Archive Collection is dedicated to promoting access to digital and traditional archival resources in Cleveland, Ohio that can aid in interpreting Cleveland women's history, and to creating an awareness of the role of women in the development of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
This pathfinder offers a sampling of materials that we hope may facilitate research and enrich our understanding of women's lives and accomplishments throughout the city's history. We have drawn from the photographs, articles, audio interviews, speeches, and oral histories in our own collections, and also from those of our partners and colleagues across the region. While this site cannot attempt to serve as a comprehensive history of half the population of the city, we are happy to offer this a starting point for research. We invite you to explore, and to share your favorite sites for us to add to this growing resource.
Digital Collections
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ORAL HISTORIES (to download or stream)
- The City Club Forums Collection
Within this collection of streaming audio and video recordings of City Club Forums are many recordings of women addressing issues concerning women, including speakers such as Eleanor Smeal, President of the National Organization of Women, and Billie Jean King, tennis player and women in sports pioneer. - The Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection
From EngagedScholarship@Cleveland State University, it contains recorded interviews covering a breadth of topics in Cleveland and regional history. Some collections of particular interest include - Ethnic Women of Cleveland
Oral interviews with Cleveland women of eastern European birth or heritage conducted by Dr. Janet Tuve in 1986. - Women of Fenn College Oral History Project
Streaming audio recordings of interviews conducted through CSU's Mary Joyce Green Women's Center with Fenn College alumnae provide insight to what it was like to be a co-ed at a private urban college during the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties. - Famous Women of Cleveland
Photos gathered from various repositories with biographical information about the women depicted. - Black Trailblazers, Leaders, Activists, and Intellectuals in Cleveland
Includes many women of color who have made a significant contribution to the history and development of Cleveland. - Women Aviators
Includes photos from othe Cleveland Press Collection of the famous (Amelia Earhart) as well as lesser-known women pilots. - Women Workers
Photos gathered from several collections depicting women working various jobs often attributed to men. - Clytean Club Collection
Begun in 1897 as The Twelve, a ladies' literary society in Cleveland, Ohio, the Clytean Club renamed and evolved to cover broader topics across history, current events, fiction and nonfiction.
- The Betty Klaric Collection
Digitized photos, newsclippings and more documenting the life of Betty Klaric, a pioneering environmental reporter for the Cleveland Press.
These are only a few examples of photos relevant to the focus of the Women's Archive Collection in Cleveland Memory's vast database. Use Advanced Search to find more.
Other Web Sites of Interest
- Women - Article from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
- Women History in Cleveland - From Teaching Cleveland Digital.
- Women's History - From the Western Reserve Historical Society.
- International Women's Air & Space Museum (Cleveland) - Artifacts, photographs, articles, textiles, art work and paper items relating to the history of women in aviation and space.
Cleveland State University's Print Archival Collections
Available in Special Collections at the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University.
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Alberta T. Turner Collection (1939-1992)
The personal and professional papers of Alberta T. Turner; poet, English instructor, and director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center from 1964-1990. Collection includes journals, artwork, early and unpublished works, books, manuscripts and copies of published works, personal and official correspondences, and records and ephemera relating to academic career as both student and teacher. Betty Klaric Collection (1955-2011)
The Betty Klaric Collection contains the journalist and lawyer's personal papers, photographs, awards scrapbooks, articles, and other materials related to her work at the Cleveland Press and the Legal Aid Society. Clytean Club Archives (1891-2011)
This collection contains minutes, officers' reports, multimedia historical documents pertaining to the club, and annual programs. Eliza Bryant Village Collection (1880-2015)
The Eliza Bryant Village opened in 1897 as the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People and was the first nonreligious institution sponsored by African Americans in Cleveland. Eliza Bryant, born into slavery in North Carolina but a free resident of Cleveland after 1858, began efforts to establish a home for elderly black women in the city in 1893, with Sarah Green and Lethia Fleming, when she found no facilities available. This collection contains papers, photographs, and ephemera from Eliza Bryant Village and its predecessors,including The Dorcas Home and The Dorcas Society, and The Cleveland Home For Aged Colored People. Janet Beighle French Journalism Collection (1963-1969)
An archival collection consisting of ten scrapbooks of newspaper clippings written by Janet Beighle French, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Home Economics/Food Editor from 1963 through 1986. Also included are articles about food, nutrition, and recipes, as well as two containers of 8x10 color negatives of featured food arrangements. Jocelyn Chang and Michael Leese Music Collection (1925-2010)
An exceptionally rich musical collection representing the lifetime musical accomplishments of harpist, musical innovator, and teacher Jocelyn Chang and her husband, Michael Leese, a flutist, composer, music copyist and recording producer. The collection contains Chang's and Leese's papers and music manuscripts, large posters, concert flyers and programs, photographs, digital and analog audiovisual materials, and personal items including correspondence, business records, realia (especially harp-related), art objects, and ephemera related to their lives and careers. The Phyllis Benjamin Title IX Collection (1971-1994)
This collection focuses on the general theme of Title IX passage and implementation within school districts, administration, and curricula, as well as in employment in the public and private sectors. In addition to containing materials that focus on Title IX passage and implementation and educating against racism and homophobia, the collection also includes materials documenting the history of women's rights. WomenSpace (1974-1995)
Founded in 1975, WomenSpace operated under one unique goal- empowering women and advocating for the advancement of women's rights through a coalition of services, programs, and organizations. The collection comprises mostly paper documents of various types from the organization's 20-year lifespan: photographs, slides, photographic negatives, award and citation plaques, a metal plate, a quilt, various fabric pieces, ribbons, a WomenSpace T-shirt, buttons, stamps, a VHS tape, Audio Reel-to-Reel recording, and audio cassette recordings.
