The Pauline Bart papers consist of her writings, including drafts and copies of reviews, articles and books; drafts of Bart's book, Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies, and other papers related to the book's publication; drafts and published copies of articles and academic papers written by Bart; and other materials related to her writings, including book contracts, reprint requests, and reviews of her work. The papers also contain teaching materials related to classes taught by Bart at the University of Illinois in Chicago, the University of California at Los Angeles, and other institutions. Materials include syllabi, lists and copies of course readings, student papers, and other papers. Research materials include interview transcripts, content analysis, and other papers related to the Jane Collective, which Bart researched for her article "Seizing the Means of Reproduction: An Illegal Feminist Abortion Collective - How and Why it Worked;" materials related to Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies, including transcripts of interviews with 94 survivors of sexual assault or attempted rape, notebooks containing content analysis of the interviews, grant applications and drafts, Viva rape questionnaires, and other papers; interview transcripts and other papers related to a study of depression; and other research files on topics such as pornography, depression, violence against women, the Illinois sexual assault statute, feminism, rape, and homosexuality. There are materials related to conferences Bart attended and papers presented, as well as professional correspondence. Personal materials include correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and maternal family history, including three boxes of writings by Bart's mother, Mildred Lackow.
Pauline Bart was a feminist sociologist known for her teaching, research, and writing. From the 1960s to the 1990s, she addressed many feminist and gender-related civil rights issues, and her research topics included pornography, sexual assault prevention and rape law reform, Jewish and middle-aged women's mental health issues, reproductive rights and Chicago's Jane Collective, and violence against women.
Born in Brooklyn in 1930, Bart received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1967. After struggling to find a long-term position for several years, she became a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she remained from 1970-1992. Bart experienced a turbulent relationship with UIC administrators throughout her time there, and as she rose through the ranks of professorship to achieve tenure, she struggled to attain salary equity with her male counterparts. In 1992, Bart was involved in a controversy that resulted in her leaving UIC. Bart then served as a lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles before retiring from full-time teaching in 1995. She continued her writing, research, professional activities, and teaching gigs into her later years. Bart died in North Carolina in 2021.
Bart published many articles as well as the books The Student Sociologist's Handbook (1971), Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies (1985), and Violence Against Women: The Bloody Footprints (1993). She is credited with being one of the first scholars to research the ways gender biases harm women. She is also remembered for her wit and for the way her professional life was informed by her personal history.
