Meredith Tax papers, 1956-2016

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Summary

Creator:
Tax, Meredith
Abstract:
Meredith Tax (1942-2022) was a feminist writer and organizer whose activism began in the 1960s. Collection includes many files documenting Tax's feminist activism and her role in founding feminist organizations; drafts and manuscripts of her writings, music, and art; personal and professional correspondence; research materials; and subject files. Organizations represented in this collection include Bread and Roses; Women's WORLD; CARASA (Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse); PEN American Center Women's Committee; and the International PEN Women's Writers Committee, as well as other organizations. There are also audiocassettes, VHS tapes, and optical media containing Tax's research interviews as well as interviews with Tax. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Extent:
215 Linear Feet (224 boxes, 1 volume)
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.01275

Background

Scope and content:

The Meredith Tax papers include materials from the activist organizations she was involved with, as well as drafts and manuscripts of her written work, some personal correspondence, teaching materials, and audio/visual materials.

The largest group of materials at over 130 boxes documents Tax's long career as an activist, beginning with her involvement in Boston's Bread and Roses, a socialist-feminist collective through her continued work with Women's WORLD, a global free speech network Tax cofounded in 1994 to fight gender-based censorship. Other organizations Tax was involved in are also well documented in the collection, including CARASA (Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse); PEN American Center Women's Committee; and International PEN Women's Writers Committee. Smaller amounts of material come from Tax's work with the October League, Chicago Women's Liberation Union, National Writers' Union, and the West Side Community School, as well as other organizations. These materials include committee and board materials, events files, conferences, and many files of organizational notes and records.

Tax's work as a writer, including books, both fiction and nonfiction, articles, essays, and speeches as well as songs, is represented in the Writings, Speeches, and Songs series. The Correspondence series includes both personal and professional correspondence. The Subject Files were created by Tax for research related to her activism and her writing.

Finally, there are 89 audiocassettes, 53 of which contain Tax's research interviews and 36 of which contain interviews with Tax, readings by Tax and board meetings. Other interviews are on several VHS videocassettes and optical discs.

Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University.

Biographical / historical:

Meredith Tax was born in Wisconsin on September 18, 1942. She was educated in the Milwaukee public school system and at Brandeis University, where she graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and with Woodrow Wilson and Fulbright fellowships. She then studied at the University of London where she became involved in the anti-war movement. Returning to the U.S. in 1968, she continued her anti-war activism and was one of the founding members of Boston's Bread and Roses collective, a socialist feminist group.

Her essay, "Woman and Her Mind: The Story of Daily Life" , (1970) is often considered a founding document of the woman's movement and is one of the first texts to discuss sexual harassment. Then moving to Chicago, she worked in factories and as a nurses aide and continued her activism in the Chicago Women's Liberation Union.

In 1976, she moved to New York, and was founding cochair of the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA), which helped start the Reproductive Rights National Network, of which she was a steering committee member. She also was a parent initiator of an alternative public elementary school in District 3 in New York.

Tax's writings include a history book, The Rising of the Women: Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict (1980), two historical novels, Rivington Street (1982) and Union Square (1988), and a children's picture book, Families (1981).

In 1986, Tax and Grace Paley initiated the PEN American Center Women's Committee and became its co-chairs; she later became founding Chair of International PEN's Women Writers' Committee and, in 1994, was founding President of Women's WORLD, a global free speech network that fights gender-based censorship. Tax passed away in 2022.

This biographical note was created in part from information provided on Tax's website, meredithtax.org

Acquisition information:
The Meredith Tax papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as purchases and gifts in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2017; and as a gift from Ruth Ackerman in 2023.
Processing information:

Processed by Megan Lewis and Kate Collins, April 2012.

Encoded by Megan Lewis and Kate Collins, April 2012.

Updated to reflect additions in 2018.

Accession 2023-0146 added by Leah Tams, February 2024.

Accessions described in this finding aid: 2010-0196, 2011-0136, 2011-0154, 2011-0189, 2012-0060, 2017-0173, and 2023-0146.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Collection contains fragile audiovisual formats that may need to be reformatted before use. Use copies of audiocassettes are available. Contact Research Services for access.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Meredith Tax Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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