Women Themselves: Women’s History Sketches for a Radio Series
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0283
This collection contains nine audiocassettes. Five of these recordings document research that was conducted by the writers and producers in preparation for the broadcasts. The first four cassettes document a conference on women's studies held at Emory University in 1979. The topics of the four sessions are: The Southern Woman, New Sources in Women's History, Incorporating Women's History, and Women in the Workforce. One additional research recording documents an interview with Dr. Herbert Gutman. The exact date and location in which this interview took place is unknown [c. late 1970s]. Three cassettes are from Women Themselves radio broadcasts. These productions highlight the lives and social contributions of Mary Antin, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, and Jane Hunter. One cassette is from a National Public Radio broadcast series entitled Options, in which correspondent Susan Stamberg interviews writer and feminist Tillie Olson.
"Women Themselves," which first aired in 1980, was a series of 26 half hour radio programs produced and broadcast by WEPR in South Carolina. These programs focused on the lives and accomplishments of some of the prominent women of history.
The impetus for this project stemmed from the realization by many historians in the late 1970s that many of the achievements of prominent women had been underexposed in the classroom in regards to textbooks and other media. The project was spearheaded by Alan Schaffer, head of Clemson's History Department, with help from Lily-Roland Hall, station manager of South Carolina educational radio station WEPR, and Laura Becker and Charlotte Holt, who were responsible for the production, writing, and research for the programs.
This series highlighted the accomplishments of women despite the disadvantages and restrictions that they were subject to in a male-oriented society. The content focused on the words of the women themselves, as found in autobiographies and diaries, accompanied by dramatic readings from voice actors. The voice acted material was then interspersed with commentary and analysis through interviews with eminent historians.
0.1 Cubic Feet (9 audiocassettes)
English
"Women Themselves" was a series of 26 half hour radio programs produced and broadcast by WEPR, a national pubic radio station located in Greenville, South Carolina. The project was jointly sponsored by WEPR and Alan Schaffer of the Department of History at Clemson University.
Received from Charlotte Holt on April 11, 1988. Formerly accession number 88-31.
This collection was processed by Carl Redd, Project Archivist in 2005 as part of a re-grant project from the South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository