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Guida West papers

 Collection
Identifier: SSC-MS-00555

Scope and Contents

The Guida West Papers include correspondence, minutes, notes, photographs, press releases, reports, interviews, journal and newspaper articles, photographs, publications, speeches, writings, audiotapes, and memorabilia.

The bulk of the papers date from 1962 to 2006 and focus on West's activism, research, professional activities, speeches, and writings related to welfare rights and economic justice. Because the subject of West's research was the structure and strategies of local, regional, and national welfare rights organizations and their supporting Friends organizations, she assembled all of the documentation she could obtain, subscribed to many mailing lists, and kept very detailed notes on conversations, meetings, public events, and conferences. Her extensive working files are a treasure trove of information about individuals and organizations working for civil rights, welfare rights, and related social movements from the 1960s to the early 2000s.

Her notes on conversations and annotations on meeting minutes provide a behind-the-scenes "you were there" sense of events as they unfolded with after-the-fact analysis supplied by files related to her speeches and writings.

Files related to the Women's Committee of One Hundred (WC100) include candid personal communications and notes on the group's strategy sessions. Their communications provide a rare look into the strategic thinking and highly fraught debates these allies of poor women were engaged in, especially in their ongoing conflicts with conservative Republicans, a Democratic president and congress facing tough re-election campaigns, and with some white second-wave feminists who insisted that ending welfare supported feminist goals.

The papers contain only a minimal amount of personal information.

ACRONYMS:

AFDC = Aid to Families with Dependent Children

ARC = Applied Research Center

BHM = [United Church of Christ] Board for Homeland Ministries

BOB Coalition = Building Opportunities Bonus Coalition, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund

CLASP = Center for Law and Social Policy

E&RJPT = Economic and Racial Justice Priority Team of the UCBFHM

EITC = Earned Income Tax Credit

FPWA = Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies

FRAC = Food Research Action Center/Council

FWRO = Friends of Welfare Rights Organization

IFCO = Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization

IRW = Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University

IWPR = Institute for Women's Policy Research

JOBS = Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Program

JSAC = Joint Strategy and Action Committee, Inc.

KWRU = Kensington Welfare Rights Union

MEJ = Movement for Economic Justice

MERRC = Metuchen-Edison Race Relations Council

MFWR = Montclair Friends of Welfare Rights

MMR = Montclair Mothers' Rights

NAHC = National Anti-Hunger Coalition

NCC = National Council of Churches

NCCP = National Center for Children in Poverty

NWRO = National Welfare Rights Organization

NWRU = National Welfare Rights Union

NWSA = National Women's Studies Association

REACH= Resources for Education to Assist Children (NJ)

SCAN = Social Concerns Action Network

SynCORR = Synod of New Jersey Commission on Religion and Race

TANF = Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

TISD = Training Institute for Sex Desegregation

TOP = Trenton Office Program, New Jersey Conference of Churches

UCBHM = United Church [of Christ] Board For Homeland Ministries

UCC = United Church of Christ

WISC = Washington Interreligious Staff Community

WMAD = Welfare Made a Difference National Campaign

WPT = Welfare Priority Team of the United Church of Christ

WRI = Welfare Rights Initiative

WRISC = Welfare Rights Information and Support Community

WRO = Welfare Rights Organization

WRN = Welfare Reform Network of New York City

Dates of Materials

  • Creation: 1946 - 2006

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

To the extent that she owns copyright, Guida West has assigned the copyright in her works to Smith College; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not created by West, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.

Biographical / Historical

Margarida "Guida" Pyles and her twin sister Yolanda Thereza were born November 9, 1927 in Sao Paulo, Brazil to Richard Milton and Etelvina Pacheco e Silva Pyles. Richard M. Pyles, an electrical engineer, descended from an Irish immigrant who emigrated from Mississippi to Americana, Brazil after the U.S. Civil War. Guida was graduated from Escola Graduada in 1944 and Colegio MacKenzie in Sao Paulo in 1945, then went to work as a bilingual secretary for General Motors de Brasil.

Finding that American institutions were eager for foreign students, Pyles applied and was accepted at sixteen U.S. colleges. She chose to attend Barnard College beginning in the fall of 1946 and completed an AB in mathematics in 1950. Unable to find a job in mathematics, she went to work in September 1950 as an executive bilingual secretary at the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations. When Hugo Gouthier, her boss at the U.N., changed jobs, she continued as his private secretary from 1953 until the Fall of 1958 while also pursuing graduate study in sociology at Columbia University. An important influence on her later work was a seminar with Paul Lazarsfeld concerning the impact of McCarthyism on racism in southern schools. She completed her M.A. in 1959.

Guida Pyles married John Maurice West, a chemical engineer, on February 3, 1951. After she suffered several miscarriages, the Wests adopted a daughter, Laura, in the spring of 1960. West later gave birth to a son, Paul.

Though a contemporary curriculum vita lists her occupation as "fulltime caregiver to two children" for the years 1960-70, West became intensely involved in the civil rights and welfare rights movements during these years. West described her motivation in an interview:

"I suppose for me it began as a young child in Brazil. We had a servant who was the son of a slave. He had almost no opportunity for formal schooling, but he was a brilliant man. As I grew older, and my respect for his ability increased, it seemed a terrible thing to me that this sickness in our society could cause us to lose the talent of such a man." (from "Local Brotherhood Award Winner Is a 'Do-Gooder' In the Best Sense," by Louise Saul, The Recorder, Metuchen, NJ, 17 Feb 1966)

Some of her earliest efforts were related to fair housing, developing a "Covenant of Open Occupancy" for Metuchen. She was also a charter member and "pioneer" of the Metuchen-Edison Racial Relations Council, which awarded her its first Brotherhood Award in 1966. She also served on the Montclair Council for Community Action, Essex County Legal Services, the Task Force to Support the Kilmer Job Corps, and the Montclair Interracial Council.

In a speech to the local NAACP in 1966, West recalled the day she became a U.S. citizen in 1961: "…that morning--as a new American--it was difficult for me to repeat the last six words of the pledge-'with liberty and justice for all.' For in our group there stood persons of minority groups to whom I knew liberty and justice are in reality just beautiful words and part of the unfulfilled American dream."

Convinced that the struggle for human rights, which she called "the struggle of our generation," must begin in the church, West organized a Church and Society Committee in her own parish, the First Presbyterian Church in Metuchen in 1961. "As a Presbyterian, I was told to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," she explained in a 1999 speech. This work led to her appointment in 1965 to the Commission on Religion and Race of the Presbyterian Synod of New Jersey (SynCORR).

When the Wests moved in 1966, they tested the town's new "Covenant of Open Occupancy" and sold their house to an African-American family. This resulted in a "campaign of harassment" that included angry phone calls, and letters, a rift with John's parents, and the posting of a lawn sign that used an anti-Black racial slur to tell her that she is not welcome.

In the spring of 1967 West and Nel Van Dijk, both members of the Presbyterian Synod of New Jersey's Church and Society Committee, indicated that they would like to see the Committee address "the new welfare reform." The Committee responded by asking the two women to prepare a report on the issue. "Still No Room at the Inn: A Report on Public Assistance," completed in October of 1967, provided the basis of West's life's work. Though she began with "all the stereotypes" about people on public assistance, West later said she was "transformed by the study." The "immorality of the existence of poverty in such an affluent society as ours" turned her from a "do gooder" to understanding the issue as a matter of "self interest."

The summer 1967 riots in Newark added urgency to her work for racial and economic justice. As a Ford Foundation Urban Fellow, 1967-68, West served as chair and organizer for Seminars on the Urban Crisis for the Urban Training Institute of Essex County in 1969, The Right To Live Conference in 1969, the New Jersey Mobilization Against Hunger in 1971, and co-chair of the Public Welfare Seminar sponsored by the New Jersey Council of Churches in 1968.

As West's interest in welfare grew, she soon got involved in local welfare rights work, serving on Welfare Task Forces in her church, in Essex County, and for the Urban Training Institute. West helped to organize a New Jersey Friends of Welfare Rights Organization in Newark. The group met for the first time in February of 1970.

In a draft statement, possibly for a graduate school application, West wrote that involvement with civil rights and welfare rights as a volunteer prompted her to realize the inadequacy of her background "…even with my own personal continuous study." She wrote, "a volunteer does not carry the power or the influence that a professional does… I want to use my available working years the most efficiently and effectively possible." To that end, she entered a Ph.D. program in sociology at Rutgers University in the fall of 1970.

Fascinated by the unique structure, strategies, and goals of the welfare rights movement, West decided to make it the subject of her thesis research. The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) worked to establish the concept of a minimum standard of living as a citizenship right and a human right, continuing and extending the civil rights movement's "right to live" concept to include economic justice. Welfare recipients could join local Welfare Rights Organizations (WRO) which were affiliated with state, regional, and the national group. Supporters could join Friends of Welfare Rights Organizations (FWRO) to provide financial and other support, but could not dictate policy or strategy. This "twin track" structure of WROs and FWROs became the focus of West's research.

West's decision to study the movement necessitated a change in role for her from that of "participant-observer" to "participant-observer" as of July 1971. She kept very detailed field notes; joined mailing lists; collected flyers, publications, and clippings; attended conferences and meetings; and interviewed more than fifty key participants in the welfare rights movement.

With the women's movement of the 1970s, West began to recognize obstacles she faced as a woman activist. Though she was driven by the principles of tolerance, caring, and responsibility ("my understanding of Christian principles") ingrained by her father, she realized that she had not been socialized for conflict or to be assertive. She found it personally difficult to let go of the traditional wife and mother role, and the work she chose resulted in the loss of friends, conflict with family members, and threats to her children. Yet, she explained, "the women I worked with became my sisters," like a new family, "I cared deeply what happened to them."

While working on her thesis, West served as consultant sociologist to the newly-established Welfare Priority Team of the United Church of Christ from 1971 until the NWRO disbanded in 1974.

West earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Rutgers in 1978. Her thesis, "The National Welfare Rights Movement: Social Protest of Welfare Women (1966-1976)," became her first book, The National Welfare Rights Movement: The Social Protest of Poor Women, which was published by Praeger in 1981. West described her work as an exploration of the question, "How do you bring about change?"

In the author's preface, West reflects that the work taught her "a great deal about my own paternalistic behavior and attitudes as well as the institutional racism prevalent in our society."

In her "Commentary" for West's book, the NWRO's Johnnie Tillmon wrote: "Guida West's story of the National Welfare Rights movement tells it like it was and how it came to be…. It is important because it is the history of poor women - especially poor Black women and poor White women and poor Hispanic women - in the United States. This is a history that is not often, if ever written about. Anyone who cares to understand about being poor in this country will learn much about our struggle in these pages."

After completing her Ph.D., West held various posts at Rutgers University between 1974 and 1987, including Coordinator of Continuing Education for Women in the Extension Division (1974-80), Assistant Professor of Sociology (1978-87), and Special Projects Administrator in the Institute for Research on Women (1987-89). She developed and supervised The New Jersey Project on Inclusive Scholarship, Curriculum and Teaching (the first statewide, state-funded gender and multi-cultural scholarship and curriculum project in the U.S.), obtained grant funding to establish the Training Institute for Sex Desegregation of the Public Schools in 1975, and developed and implemented policy/action conferences on Displaced Homemakers and Adolescent Pregnancy prevention. She also helped to found the Rutgers Women's Center, the Rutgers Institute for Research on Women, the Rutgers Women's Studies Program, and the Begin Again (B.A.) Program for Women.

In 1983, West initiated a research project to study the "patterns of change in the political behavior and ideology" of a sample of national welfare rights leaders from their early years through the heyday of the welfare rights movement and into the early 1980s. The end result was intended to be a book, originally titled "Welfare Rights Leaders in a Becalmed Movement" and later, "Protest Leadership Outcomes: Welfare Rights Leaders a Decade Later." Though the book was never completed, West presented the research (including extensive interviews with NWRO leaders) in a number of conference papers beginning in 1984.

After being denied tenure at Rutgers, West went to work in 1989 as Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Inc. (FPWA). In this capacity she gave testimony, and represented FPWA on various committees and boards associated with welfare and economic justice.

West and Rhoda Lois Blumberg compiled an anthology of essays, Women and Social Protest, about women's involvement in social change. Published by Oxford University Press in 1990, the book included articles by sociologists, political scientists, historians, and experts in women's studies. West authored a chapter titled "Women in the Welfare Rights Movement."

Beginning in 1990 she co-founded and co-directed the Welfare Reform Network (WRN) of New York City "to mobilize advocates and clients to influence welfare and poverty issues." The early 1990s brought Republican "Contract With America" efforts to change welfare, combined with Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign pledge to "reform welfare as we know it." In 1995, as federal legislation began to take shape, West was instrumental in forming the Women's Committee of One Hundred (WC100), a coalition of welfare recipients, social welfare professionals, activists, poverty lawyers, and others. WC100, which saw the reform effort as an attack on women's sexual and economic autonomy, worked to influence public opinion and counteract the prevailing narrative about welfare.

After her retirement from FPWA in December of 1994, West continued as a consultant to FPWA on poverty, income security, and welfare reform. She remained an involved activist for economic justice until advancing age and failing eyesight curtailed her activities.

Extent

46.48 linear feet (99 containers)

0.0257 Gigabytes

Language of Materials

English

Portuguese

Spanish; Castilian

Additional Description

Abstract

Political sociologist; activist; author. The papers focus primarily on West's activism, research, professional activities, speeches, and writings related to welfare rights and economic justice. Her extensive working files document individuals and organizations working for civil rights, welfare rights, and related social movements from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Organizations represented include the Montclair Welfare Rights and Friends of Welfare Rights, National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) , New Jersey Friends of Welfare Rights, the United Church of Christ's Welfare Priority Team, the United Presbyterian Church, Synod of New Jersey, Committee on Church and Society and Commission on Religion and Race (SynCORR), the Women's Committee of One Hundred, and the Welfare Made a Difference National Campaign (WMAD). Extensive files on leaders in the welfare rights movement include tape recorded and transcribed interviews done in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into eleven series:
  1. I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1946-2006, n.d.)
  2. II. CORRESPONDENCE (1954-2005, n.d.)
  3. III. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES (1954-2003, n.d.)
  4. IV. CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS (1968-2004)
  5. V. INDIVIDUALS (1966-2001, n.d.)
  6. VI. ORGANIZATION FILES (1961-2006, n.d.)
  7. VII. SPEECHES AND TESTIMONY (1965-2001, n.d.)
  8. VIII. WRITINGS (1971-2000, n.d.)
  9. IX. SUBJECT FILES (1971-2000, n.d.)
  10. X. AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS AND COMPUTER MEDIA (1971-2002, n.d.)
  11. XI. ARTIFACTS ( 1968-95, n.d.)

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

This collection contains materials received from the donor in digital form that are not currently available online. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request access to this digital content.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Guida West donated her Papers to the Sophia Smith Collection in 2006.

Related Materials

Related materials can be found in the Sophia Smith Collection in the Papers of Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, and the Records of Arise for Social Justice, Survivors, Inc., and the New Jersey Project.

Related materials in other archives include:

The Records of the National Assembly for Social Policy and Development and of the Downtown Welfare Advocacy Center in the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota and the George Wiley Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

APPENDIX: Digital Audio Files Made from Standard Audio Cassettes

These digital files are available for research use. Please consult the reference staff about access.

Filename: Title

wes_001: National Welfare Rights Organization Conference, 30 Jul 1971

wes_002: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team meeting, 3 Feb 1972

wes_003: United Church of Christ [WPT mtg ?], 3 Feb 1972

wes_004: Welfare Rights Organization Meeting, Montclair, 7 Feb 1972

wes_005: Conf Health Session, 8 Mar 1972

wes_006a: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team #3 side 2, 17 Mar 1972

wes_006b: Banquet Awards etc. "no good" side 10

wes_007a: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team #1, side 6, 17 May 1972

wes_007b: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team #2, Panel H&W Chicago side 5, 17 May 1972

wes_008a: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team, #1, Welfare Rights, side 7, 17 May 1972

wes_008b: United Church of Christ, Welfare Priority Team, Shinn side 8, 17 May 1972

wes_009a: Welfare Council Planning Meeting 5/25/72 side 1, 25 May 1972

wes_009b: Welfare Council Planning Meeting 5/25/72 side 2

National Welfare Rights Organization, Conference, Miami Beach 1972
  1. wes_010a: [#1]; A.M. session, G. Wiley and Church Caucus Bob O'Donnell leading," 6 Jul 1972
  2. wes_010b: [#1]; Church Caucus, 6 Jul 1972
  3. wes_011a: #2, 6 Jul 1972
  4. wes_011b: #2, 6 Jul 1972
  5. wes_012a: #3; Plenary, 7 Jul 1972
  6. wes_012b: #3; Coalition Workshops, 7 Jul 1972
  7. wes_013a: #4; Coalition(?), 7 Jul 1972
  8. wes_013b: #4; Church Caucus II, 8 Jul 1972
  9. wes_014a: #5; Church plenary, 8 Jul 1972
  10. wes_014b: #5; CPSDT, Jul 1972

wes_015: George Wiley interviewed by Paul Sherry, "Always on Sunday " radio show, 15 Apr 1973

wes_016: NWRO Convention 1973 Friends Meeting, 1973

wes_017: Paul Sherry interview, United Church of Christ, 5 Jul 1974

wes_018: Robert Langer interview, Health and Welfare Council of Metropolitan St. Louis, 11 Jul 1974

wes_019: Tim Sampson interview, 12 Jul 1974

wes_020: Welfare Rights Information and Support Community, 1974

wes_021: "UCC WPT/WRISC St Louis [side B didn't record]" tape recording of television program, New York Illustrated, "Welcome to Welfare," narrated by Ruby Dee, 18 Oct

wes_022: WRISC Workshop [side B "practically empty"], 1974

National Welfare Rights Organization Conference, 1974
  1. wes_023a: #2; Mayor St. Louis, Frankie Jeter, Beulah Sanders, Jul 1974
  2. wes_023b: #2; Johnnie Tillmon, Jul 1974
  3. wes_024a: #3; Morning plenary, National Caucus on Black Aged, 12 Jul 1974
  4. wes_024b: #3; Gray Panthers, 12 Jul 1974
  5. wes_025: #4; a.m. workshop, WRO Mothers Speak-Ethel Mae Matthews from Atlanta "Excellent," 12 Jul 1974
  6. wes_026a: #6; Bert de Leeuw speech, 13 Jul 1974
  7. wes_026b: #6; Plenary afternoon, 12 Jul 1974

wes_027: Bert de Leeuw tape #2 29 Jul 1974 [may have been taped over with "Helen W." [Webber] 1 Oct 1974, NYC [leftover bit of Bert de Leeuw starts at minute 40]

wes_028: Joe Merchant, WPT [taped over Bert de Leeuw] side B says "half tape didn't come out" 26 Sep 1974 at UCC

wes_029: Johnnie Tillmon, 30 Jul 1974

wes_030: Tape # 2 J. Tillmon 30 Jul 1974[may be taped over]/Hulbert James, 26 Sep 1974

wes_031: "Always on Sunday" radio show with Paul Sherry of UCC, Helen Webber, Beulah Sanders, Richard Cloward, a week after the death of George Wiley "very good on coalitions, HW, accomplish. of mov. MEJ rationale," 8 Aug 1973

wes_032a: Faith Evans of NWRO interview in NYC, 11 Sep 1974

wes_032b: Frances Fox Piven [Faith Evans crossed out], 13 Sep 1974

wes_033: March 4 Drugs &Abortion, side 13 and 14, 4 Mar

wes_034: Speech by Anne McGrew Bennett "Women in a New Society," undated

wes_035a: United Church of Christ group discussion re New York state abortion law, undated

wes_035b: United Church of Christ group discussion re New York state abortion law,undated

wes_036: Guida West, some views on legal services and the historical development of the Legal Services Corporation [side B blank, I think], 3 Mar 1979

wes_037: Madeline Adamson #1 [side B blank, I think], 30 Jan 1984

wes_038: Madeline Adamson 2nd part, Rafe Pomerance [side B blank, I think], 30 Jan 1984

wes_039: Bobbie Bennett, NWSA, 26 Jun 1984

wes_040: Barbara Brown, Camden, NJ, 4 Jun 1984

wes_041: Joyce Burson, Washington DC, 16 Jun 1984

wes_042: Catherine Dandridge cont'd &Rosie Lee, Chicago "very poor tape, erased 20 minutes by accident", 12 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 126]

wes_043: Maud Davis tape #1, Larry Richardson on tape also, Newark, 16 Mar 1984

wes_044: Maud Davies tape #2, Larry Richardson on tape also, Newark, 16 Mar 1984

wes_045: Bert De Leeuw [says "copy" but we don't seem to have an original], 31 Jan 1984

wes_046: Ruby Duncan, Nevada, 29 Feb 1984

wes_047: Faith Evans [#1] "side #1 didn't come out," 18 Jan 1984

wes_048: Faith Evans sides 3 &4, 18 Jan 1984

wes_049a: Jim Evans "error taped over V. Evans" B side includes end of V. Evans, 31 Jan 1984

wes_049b: Jim Evans "error taped over V. Evans" with end of V. Evans, 31 Jan 1984

wes_050: Theresa Funicello tape # 1, 29 Oct 1983

wes_051: Theresa Funicello tape # 2, Brooklyn, 29 Oct 1983

wes_052: Tom Glynn, Boston, 21 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 127]

wes_053: Ruby Grace tape # 1, Newark, 6 Dec 1983

wes_054: Ruby Grace tape #2, 6 Dec 1983

wes_055: Roberta Grant #1, Boston, 20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 128]

wes_056a: Roberta Grant #2, 20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 129]

wes_056b: Roberta Grant #2, also Sue B?,20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 130]

wes_057: Mamie Hall, NYC, 15 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 131]

wes_058: Catherine Hamer tape # 1, 28 Nov 1983

wes_059: Catherine Hamer tape #2 "about ¼ of beg. is end of Catherine Hamer," 28 Nov 1983

wes_060: Marcia Henry # 1, San Francisco "one side only I think", 3 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 133]

wes_061: Kay Hurley, Boston, 21 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 135]

wes_062: Espinola Jackson, San Francisco, 14 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 136]

wes_063: Claradine James # 1, Roxbury, 20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 137]

wes_064: Claradine James # 2, Roxbury, 20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 138]

wes_065: Hulbert James, NYC, 29 Nov 1983

wes_066: Catherine Jermany #1, sides 1 &2, undated [see also microcassette 139]

wes_067: Catherine Jermany #2, sides 3 &4, undated [see also microcassette 140 ]

wes_068: Catherine Jermany #3, side 5, undated [see also microcassette 141]

wes_069: Frankie Jeter, WROAC, 24 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 142 or 143]

wes_070: Dee Johnson, ANC Mothers, Los Angeles, 2 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 144]

wes_071: Marian Kidd [tape #1], 10 Dec 1983

wes_072: Marion Kidd tape #2, 10 Dec 1983

wes_073: Marian Kramer (cont.), Detroit, Michigan, 16 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 146]

wes_074: Andrea Kydd, 1 Feb 1984

wes_075: Rhoda Linton, 25 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 148 or 149]

wes_076: Pauline London, Philadelphia, 24 Jul 1984 [see also microcassette 148 or 149]

wes_077: Ethel Mae Matthews, Atlanta, 11 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 151 or 152]

wes_078a: Ethel Mae Matthews tape #2 ½; (other half) Catherine Dandridge, Chicago, 12 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 153]

wes_078b: Catherine Dandridge, Chicago, 12 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 126]

wes_079: Bobbie McMahon #1, Washington DC "side B stuck, continued on side A tape #2," 30 Jan 1984

wes_080: Bobbie McMahon #2, Washington DC, 30 Jan 1984

wes_081: Shirley McNeill, Baltimore [tape #1], 6 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 126]

wes_082: Shirley McNeill tape #2, Baltimore, 6 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 155]

wes_083: Sarah McPherson, Washington DC, 27 Jan 1984

wes_084: Bill Pastereich, Hyannis, Mass., 20 Jun 1984 [see also microcassette 157]

wes_085: Elizabeth Perry, Washington DC, 27 Jan 1984

wes_086: Yvonne Perry tape # 1, 26 Jan 1984

wes_087: Yvonne Perry tape # 2, 26 Jan 1984

wes_088: Jackie Pierce, 1 Dec 1983

wes_089: Jackie Pope, New York, 20 Oct 1983

wes_090: Wade Rathke, New Orleans, 6 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 158]

wes_091: Margaret Rose, Montclair, NJ, 15 Nov 1983

wes_092: Audrey Rowe, 31 Jan 1984

wes_093: Timothy Sampson tape # 1, San Francisco, 3 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 159 and 160]

wes_094: Timothy Sampson tape #2, San Francisco [see also microcassette 159 and 160] Apr 1984

wes_095: Beulah Sanders and unknown,9 Jul 1983 [see also microcassette 161]

wes_096: Bernardine Saulsberry tape # 1, Seattle and Hal Nelson [see also microcassette 16--copy of this cassette], 9 Apr 1984

wes_097: Coretha Saxon tape # 1, N.J., 1 Dec 1983

wes_098: Coretha Saxon tape # 2, N.J., 1 Dec 1983

wes_099: Juanita Serrano, Cleveland, 13 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 164]

wes_100: Annie Smart, Baton Rouge, LA, 7 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 165, 166, or 167]

wes_101: Dottie Stevens # 1, Massachusetts, 21 Jun 1984

wes_102: Dottie Stevens # 2, Massachusetts, 21 Jun 1984

wes_103: Bruce Thomas #1, San Francisco, 4 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 168]

wes_104a: Bruce Thomas songs beginning 4/4 "Soon and Very Soon"; Moiece Palladino 4/5 [begins at minute 3:30], 4-5 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 156]

wes_104b: Moiece Palladino, San Francisco, 5 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 156]

wes_105: Johnnie Tillmon and Margaret Hayes in Washington DC, 17 Jun 1983

wes_106a: Johnnie Tillmon in Washington DC {German dialogue to 6.45}; Margaret Hayes, 17 Jun 1983 [see also microcassette 132]

wes_106b: Johnnie Tillmon; Margaret Hayes "see small tape on continuation of Mgt Hayes", 17 Jun 1983 [see also microcassette 132]

wes_107a: Johnnie Tillmon tape # 1 "stopped side 2 broken", 2 Apr 1984 ANC Office, Los Angeles [see also microcassette 169]

wes_107b: Johnnie Tillmon and women in ANC Office Los Angeles "Stopped # 2 See Other Tape", 2 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 170]

wes_108: Johnnie Tillmon "Side 2 over side broke", 2 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 171]

wes_109: Mel Turner, Washington DC, 30 Jan 1984

wes_110: Jeannette Washington tape # 1, NYC, 1 Jun 1984 [see also microcassettes 172-174]

wes_111: Jeannette Washington tape # 2, 1 Jun 1984 [see also microcassettes 172-174]

wes_112a: Mabel Watley, Cleveland, 13 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 175]

wes_112b: Mabel Watley (cont) and beginning of Juanita Saddler, 13 Apr 1984

wes_113: Joanne Williams, Washington DC, 1 Feb 1984

wes_114: Margaret Willis, Columbus, OH, 14 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 176-178]

wes_115: Nezzie Willis, Illinois [tape # 1], 19 Jan 1984

wes_116: Nezzie Willis 2nd tape, 19 Jan 1984

wes_117a: Marian Kramer "error taped over Shirley Smith Peoples and others in Columbus, a mess!", 14 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 145-146, 178]

wes_117b: Marian Kramer, Detroit "Start with side B", 14 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 145-146]

wes_118: Celebration of George Wiley, Washington, DC, 16 Jun 1983

wes_119a: Celebration of Edward Sparer, NYU Law School, Sylvia Law, Sharon Hunt Downtown Welfare Advocacy Center, Hulbert James, 29 Nov 1983

wes_119b: Celebration of Edward Sparer, NYU Law School, Hulbert James, 29 Nov 1983

wes_120: 18th Anniversary of WRO, Columbus, OH, Margaret Willis &Colleen Shillington, 30 Jun 1984

wes_121: Memorial Service for Bruce Thomas, Port Chester, NY, 15 Jul 1985

wes_122a: Side # 3 of Bernardine Saulsberry &Hal Nelson, Seattle; Side #1 of Leola Wofford, [begins at minute 22], undated, 9 Apr 1984?

wes_122b: Side #2 Leola Wofford, Mary Louise Williams, Helen Joyce Greenwood undated, 9 Apr 1984? [see also microcassettes 179-181]

wes_123: Group interview, Seattle, [tape #3] Mary Louise Williams, Helen Joyce Greenwood, Leola Wofford, 9 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 179-181]

wes_124: Group interview, Seattle [tape #2], Mary Louise Williams, Helen Joyce Greenwood, Leola Wofford, 9 Apr 1984 [see also microcassettes 179-181]

wes_125: Bertha Brown, Camden, NJ, 4 Jun 1984

wes_126: Catherine Dandridge, Chicago [same as 042], 12 Apr 1984?

wes_127: Tom Glynn [Boston], 21 Jun 1984?

wes_128: Roberta Grant # 1, 20 Jun 1984

wes_129: Roberta Grant # 2, 20 Jun 1984

wes_130: Roberta Grant # 3, 20 Jun 1984

wes_131: Mamie Hall "poor quality," NYC , 15 Jun 1984

wes_132: Margaret Hayes, Washington DC, 17 Jun 1983 [see also 105-106]

wes_133: Marcia Henry [# 1, San Francisco], 3 Apr 1984

wes_134: Marcia Henry [# 2, San Francisco], 3 Apr 1984

wes_135: Kay Hurley, Boston, 21 Jun 1984

wes_136: Espinola Jackson [San Francisco], 14 Jun 1984

wes_137: Claradine James # 1, Roxbury, 26 Jun 1984

wes_138: Claradine James # 2, Roxbury, 26 Jun 1984

wes_139: Catherine Jermany #1, undated

wes_140: Catherine Jermany #2, undated

wes_141: Catherine Jermany #3, undated

wes_142: Frankie Jeter # 1, undated

wes_143: Frankie Jeter # 2, undated

wes_144: Dee Johnson, Los Angeles, 2 Apr 1984

wes_145: Marian Kramer, Detroit [begins at 8:03], 16 Apr 1984

wes_146: Marian Kramer, Detroit, 16 Apr 1984

wes_147: Rosie Lee, Chicago, 12 Apr 1984

wes_148: Rhoda Linton # 1, 25 Jun 1984

wes_149: Rhoda Linton # 2, 25 Jun1984

wes_150: Pauline London, 24 Jul 1984

wes_151: Ethel Mae Matthews # 1, Atlanta, 11 Apr 1984

wes_152: Ethel Mae Matthews # 2, 11 Apr 1984

wes_153: Ethel Mae Matthews # 3, 11 Apr 1984

wes_154: Shirley McNeill [says O'Neill] #1, Baltimore, 6 Jun 1984

wes_155: Shirley McNeill #2, 6 Jun 1984

wes_156: Moiece Palladino, San Francisco, 5 Apr 1984 [see also microcassette 104]

wes_157: Bill Pastereich, 20 Jun 1984

wes_158: Wade Rathke, New Orleans, 6 Apr 1984

wes_159: Timothy Sampson [#1], San Francisco, Apr 1984

wes_160: Timothy Sampson [#2], Apr 1984

wes_161: Beulah Sanders, 9 Jul 1983

wes_162: Bernardine Saulsberry # 1, Seattle, 9 Apr 1984

wes_163: Bernardine Saulsberry # 2, 9 Apr 1984

wes_164: Juanita Serrano, Cleveland [see also cassette 099], 13 Apr [1984]

wes_165: Annie Smart [# 1], Baton Rouge, LA, 7 Apr 1984

wes_166: Annie Smart [# 2], 7 Apr 1984--[no file tape blank]

wes_167: Annie Smart [# 3], 7 Apr 1984

wes_168: Bruce Thomas, San Francisco, 4 Apr 1984 [see also 103]

wes_169: Johnnie Tillmon #1, Interview in car on way to ANC Office, Los Angeles, 2 Apr 1984

wes_170: Johnnie Tillmon #2, 2 Apr 1984

wes_171: Johnnie Tillmon #3, 2 Apr 1984

wes_172: Jeannette Washington #1, 1 Jun 1984 [see also cassettes 110-111]

wes_173: Jeannette Washington #2, 1 Jun 1984 [see also cassettes 110-111]

wes_174: Jeannette Washington #3, 1 Jun 1984 [see also cassettes 110-111]

wes_175: Mabel Watley, Cleveland, 13 Apr 1984

wes_176: Margaret Willis #1, Columbus, 14 Apr 1984 [see also cassette #114]

wes_177: Margaret Willis #2, 14 Apr 1984

wes_178: [Margaret Willis] Columbus group # 3, 14 Apr 1984

wes_179: Seattle Group Interview #1: Bernardine Saulsberry, Leola Wofford, 9 Apr 1984

wes_180: Seattle Group Interview #2, 9 Apr 1984

wes_181: Seattle Group Interview #4, 9 Apr 1984

United Church of Christ, Economic Justice for Women Who Are Poor Consultation, Washington, DC, Jan 1984
  1. wes_182a: Coalition Building and Faith Evans workshop, 25 Jan 1984
  2. wes_182b: Welfare Rights Caucus, 24 Jan 1984
  3. wes_183a: Thelma Adair, President, United Church Women B/W went W/J Jackson 24 Jan 1984 [1 side] 60
  4. wes_183b: Roxanne Jones Welfare Rights, 24 Jan 1984
  5. wes_184a: Yvonne Delk, 24 Jan 1984
  6. wes_184b: Adelle Blong, Inc. Maint Wkshop, 24 Jan 1984
  7. wes_185a: Pat Schroeder a.m. panel, 25 Jan 1984
  8. wes_185b: Lunch panel, 25 Jan 1984
  9. wes_186a: Shirley Chisholm and Yvonne Delk, 25 Jan 1984
  10. wes_186b: Final Day Welfare Rights Caucus Report, 26 Jan 1984

wes_187a: [unidentified meeting or conference] 8/29 session 47, 29 Aug

wes_187b: [unidentified meeting or conference] session 55, 29 Aug

wes_186b: Final Day Welfare Rights Caucus Report, 26 Jan 1984

Processing Information

Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2012

The contents of computer media in this collection has been copied to networked storage for preservation and access; the original directory and file structure was retained and file lists were created. Some floppy disks were unable to be copied. See the log files linked in the container list for more details.

Related Names

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guida West papers
Subtitle
Finding Aid
Author
Finding aid prepared by Maida Goodwin.
Date
2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Processing of the Guida West Papers was made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Smith College Program for the Study of Women and Gender

Revision Statements

  • 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
  • 2017-07-26T17:48:21-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
  • 2020-07-02: Description added for born-digital content.
  • 2022-03-03: Integrated description of oversized materials

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository

https://libraries.smith.edu/special-collections/about/sophia-smith-collection-womens-history
Contact:
Neilson Library
7 Neilson Drive
Northampton MA 01063

  • Smith College Special Collections
  • Neilson Library, 7 Neilson Drive
  • Northampton, Massachusetts, 01063
  • specialcollections@smith.edu
  • 413-585-2970

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