Accession I - Florida NOW Records, 1971-1989

Accession I originally was acquired in two separate batches. The first batch covered the period 1973-1979 and primarily came from the files of the State Coordinators, the principal state officer. An additional batch subsequently was received from the legislative office. The legislative office records largely duplicated the coordinator's records for the years 1973-1976, although individual items may have existed only in the legislative office file. The legislative office records extended the scope of the records to 1982. It also appeared that some of the coordinator's and perhaps other officers deposited their own records with the legislative office, so the records from the legislative office also extended the coordinators' files. Because of this overlap, the coordinators and legislative office file are now integrated.

The bulk of the records in Accession I are from the period 1973-1982, approximately the same period of time as which the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) went before the states for ratification. Local chapters are represented through correspondence, newsletters, and reports of activities. The records reflect all aspects of the organization, its officers, council, committees and taskforces, state conventions, interaction with national NOW, with the local chapters in Florida, and with outside groups and individuals. Other than organizational activities, a wide range of political and social topics are reflected, principally efforts to gain passage of ERA, abortion, and many forms of gender discrimination. Many records reveal NOW's political and lobbying efforts. Accession I is divided into four series: Administrative Records, Legislative Office Files, Equal Rights Amendment Files, and Local Chapters.