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This collection is open for research.
MSS 16898, Co-Education Collection at the University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
Related collection Dale Hill papers MSS 16583
While the University of Virginia was one of the slowest to accept women into their institution according to an article "Missing In Plain Sight" by the University of Virginia Women's Center, "By 1970, when the first officially co-ed class enrolled and 450 women arrived on Grounds to take their seats in UVA classes, over 30,000 women had already made their mark on UVA–pursuing, and earning, their diploma, certificate, or degree (bachelor's, master's, medical, law, and doctoral). Their presence is recorded in the archives. The existence of women on Grounds is a fact hiding in plain sight. To borrow McIntire alumna Margot Lee Shetterly's (Com 1991) formulation, they are UVA's hidden figures: some hidden once for their gender, others hidden twice for their gender and their race."
"In this university for southern gentlemen, there was no place for women. Yet, women found ways to access the university as early as the late nineteenth century." - Phyllis Leffler
Source: https://womenscenter.virginia.edu/celebrate/history-women-uva Our deep gratitude goes as well to the students and staff who provided invaluable technical and fact-checking assistance. The hours they logged on this project carried us over the finish line: Emma Abraham (Col 2023), Carol Gilbert (Women's Center), Elyse Girard (UVA Library), Guada Pinto (Col 2021, Batten 2022), and Holly Robertson (UVA Library).
Our colleagues across Grounds have been working for decades to document the experiences of women at UVA, and this project is indebted to their research. Phyllis Leffler, Professor Emerita of History, graciously and generously shared a treasure-trove of files and provided encouragement at every step of the project. Liz Crowder (Alumni Assocation) collaborated on fact-finding missions, and Ervin Jordan (OAAA) pointed us to additional sources.
Phyllis Leffler, "Mr. Jefferson's University: Women in the Village!" (Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 115, No. 1 (2007), 56-107.)
This collection is open for research.
This collection was a gift from Connie Laudenschlager to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 25 September 2024.
MSS 16898, Co-education Collection at the University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
This collection contains one poster campaigning for the presidency of Connie Clark. The poster has an image of Clark and says "Connie Clark for president of the graduating class Economic Honors- Intermediate Honors-Resident Staff-SR.Resident" Clark was part of the first coeducated class of undergraduates at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1974. She studied Economics. This presidential race ended with a run-off election, but ultimately Clark was not elected.
This collection is open for research.
MSS 16898, Co-Education Collection at the University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
This addition 1 to the Coeducation at the University of Virginia collection contains the papers of Holly Peters. Peters was part of the first class of women attending the University of Virginia, graduating in 1974 with a B.A. in English and Religious Studies.
Peters's papers document her work on the Counselors Committee on Human Sexuality. Content includes a 1974 Commencement Exercises invitation, a 1974 photograph of the committee, "An Ounce of Prevention" pamphlet from 1973, "An Ounce of Prevention" pamphlet from 1975, a broadside for a March 1974 lecture by sexuality scholars Masters and Johnson, and an April 1973 Richmond News Leader page discussing coeducational dormitories at Virginia's public universities.
After graduating, Peters worked in Memphis at the Women's Resource Center, a United Methodist Church project. She was Director of the ACLU of Tennessee for three years before attending law school. After law school, Peters worked at the Legal Aid Society in Roanoke, where she remained as a lawyer until her retirement.
This collection was a gift from Holly Peters to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on19 December 2024.