Table of Contents
Scope and Contents of the Collection
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Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Women's Pentagon Action. |
| Title: | Women's Pentagon Action Collection |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1980-1983 |
| Quantity: | 0.25 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | printed and handwritten material relating to the group's activities, primarily two demonstrations held at the Pentagon |
| Language: | Bulk of material in English, a few items in Spanish |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Ave., Suite 600 Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center/university-archives |
Biographical History
Women's Pentagon Action (WPA) was an American grassroots feminist organization focused on anti-military and environmental issues. The group organized two large demonstrations at the Pentagon in Washington, DC in 1980 and 1981. Many of the women were arrested during the group's various protests, both national and local, and served brief amounts of prison time.
The Pentagon, built between 1941 and 1943 and located across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. As a physical symbol of the US military, the building has been a focal point of protests during unpopular American military actions, including the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, and was one of the targets of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attachs
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Women's Pentagon Action Collection contains assorted material related to the two demonstrations held by the group at the Pentagon in Washington, DC in 1980 and 1981, as well as a small amount of material relating to other events and activities.
Pentagon demonstrations material includes Arlington County Detention Center information (where women arrested during the protest were held; fliers and posters advertising the event; mailings to participants; press coverage; and statements both formal (i.e., issued by the group) and personal (from/by participants. Material related to Other events includes the Seneca Women's Encampment and miscellaneous fundraisers, gatherings, and so on.
Arrangement of the Collection
Material within each series is in roughly chronological order.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Subject Headings
Persons
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
Places
Genres and Forms
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Women's Pentagon Action Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 2024.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: Michele Combs)
Date: 9 Dec 2024
Revision history: 9 Feb 2026 - processed (MRC)
Inventory
| Pentagon demonstrations | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Arlington County Detention Center 1981 - official rules and procedures; note from Maris Hearn to "Dear Women," with list of 43 women arrested (some from as far away as Michigan and Iowa); poems, cartoons, drawings, etc. by women protestors who were held there, including a two-page piece entitled "Women Defy the Boxes that Silence Us" | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Fliers and posters 1981 - one item includes a "Unity Statement" printed on the back | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Mailings to participants 1980-1983 - most begin, "Dear Sisters" or "Sisters Dear"; includes three-page "Legal advice re civil disobedience" | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Press coverage 1980-1982 - news clipping from the Santa Cruz Sentinel; issues of Black and Green, Peace Newsletter, Off Our Backs, and Gay Community News; photocopies of contact sheets of photographs taken at the events | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Statements, official [1980?]-1981 - English and Spanish; includes "Unity Statement" and statement issued by the women held in Arlington County Detention Center | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Statements, personal [1980?]-1981 - includes statements read by women at their arraignment, personal accounts of their experience, etc. | ||||||||||
| Other events | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Seneca Women's Encampment 1983 - protest encampment near the Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York; includes statement from the "Waterloo 54," marchers who set out from Seneca Falls and were arrested as they passed through Waterloo, and flier from Women's Video Collective stating their intention to document the event | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Miscellaneous 1983 - Alderson Hospitality House in Arlington, "Womyn's Halloween Dance" flier, etc.; English and Spanish | ||||||||||