Women Writing Women's Lives is an ongoing seminar of about sixty women engaged in writing book-length biographies and memoirs. The group first began meeting in 1990 and represents a wide range of feminist perspectives and a variety of professional backgrounds. Our members include academics, independent scholars, and journalists. Membership dues help support our operating expenses. Women Writing Women's Lives is under the aegis of the Center for the Study of Women and Society and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

MISSION

The places, cultures, and communities in which women live their lives change, as do women's roles, status, interests, and opportunities. Our purpose as a group is to identify these changes, understand their impact, and explain and portray the complex realities of women's lives. In researching and writing biographies of women, we hope to call attention to the reciprocal dynamics between our subjects and society, find new ways of looking at and presenting women's stories, and ultimately influence the way women's stories are perceived and written.

OBJECTIVES

To encourage members' projects, Women Writing Women's Lives offers a forum in which to discuss approaches, methods, and themes. The seminar meets monthly, from October to May, to present work for discussion, share ideas, and hear about the work of outside presenters. The meeting dates for 2007-2008 are October 1, November 5, December 3, January 7, February 4, March 3, April 7, and May 5 (see also a description of the 2006-2007 seminar meetings). Both feminist thought and the practical experiences of working biographers inform these discussions. Over the years, the Seminar has covered such topics as:

ARCHIVES

A Letter of Agreement between Women Writing Women's Lives and the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University, executed on January 30. 2004, places the organizational papers of WWWL in this library, adding to their existing holdings. The Archives Committee of WWWL anticipates that Tamiment will become a significant woman's history archive that will be used by researchers concerned with the history of women's individual and organizational activities, not only nationally and internationally, but with particular attention to women's efforts in the New York Metropolitan area.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the seminar is limited and by application only (see current list of members and their projects); the seminar also maintains a members-only listserv and a page of Resources for Biographers. For more information about the application process for seminar membership, contact the Chair of the Steering Committee, Kathy Chamberlain.

COURSE

The WWWL is co-sponsoring a course with the CUNY Continuing Education and Public Programs Division in the fall of 2007 on “Writing from the Heart for Publication: The Memoir”; see the course description for further information.

	2007-08 COMMITTEES
Steering Committee: Trudy Balch Kathy Chamberlain (Chair) Bell Gale Chevigny Dorothy O. Helly Polly Howells Dona Munker (on leave) Carla L. Peterson Sydney Ladensohn Stern (Treasurer) Nancy Rubin Stuart Archives Committee: Betty Boyd Caroli Norah Chase Dorothy O. Helly Patricia Laurence Dee Shapiro Claire Morris Stern (Chair)		Liaisons: CUNY Graduate Center: Anne Humpherys, Rachel Brownstein Joseph S. Murphy Labor Institute: June Cumberbatch Outreach Committee: Trudy Balch (Co-Chair) Sallie Bingham Norah Chase Kathryn Tripp Feldman Penne Franklin Sherry Gorelick Barbara Horn Jane Maher Barbara F. McManus (Co-Chair) Sreca Perunovic Carla L. Peterson Jean Fagan Yellin