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This collection consists of materials acquired by Elizabeth Smith and includes a large quantity of materials created by or concerning the Virginia Equal Rights Amendment Ratification Council. Also included within this collection are items from a number of other organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Homemakers for the ERA (HERA), the National Women's Party (NWP) and many other pro-ERA organizations of the time. The collection also holds materials documenting the anti-ERA voice of the same era. Materials found in the collection include reports, correspondence, minutes, agendas, printed materials, educational materials, lobbying materials, event ephemera, speeches, and a substantial quantity of clippings. The collection's contents illuminate the efforts of the Virginia Equal Rights Amendment Ratification Council and other organizations to advocate for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment during the latter decades of the twentieth century.

The collection includes minutes, correspondence, reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings, various publications and other materials related to the attempt to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia and other women's issues. The materials date from the late 1970s until the early 1990s. A significant portion of the collection is comprised of materials of the Virginia ERA Ratification Council.

The Patricia Fishback papers, 1973-2009, is a collection of feminist literature and materials used by Patricia Fishback during her career advocating for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 1970s and 1980s. The materials consist of correspondence with state officials, news clippings, ERA promotional materials, and general feminist materials. The collection provides insight into the efforts of second-wave feminists in their fight to ratify the ERA in Virginia. The bulk of the collection is comprised of materials used by Fishback while working with the ERA Ratification Council. Included are ERA promotional materials such as pamphlets, flyers, bumper stickers, petitions, and buttons. Fishback's administrative files contain copies of the ERA Ratification Council's bylaws, membership lists, and selected meeting minutes from 1982 to 1989. Copies of winning submissions to the ERA Ratification Council's essay contest are also within the collection.