Scope and Content Note
The records of the Center for a Woman’s Own Name span the years 1956-2008, with the bulk of the material dating from 1972 to 1985. The collection is comprised primarily of correspondence but also includes administrative files, clippings, legal files, promotional materials, and publications. The papers are in English and are organized into the following four series: Correspondence, State File, Consumer Credit Project, and Miscellany.
The Correspondence series documents both public and private reactions to Tepper’s name change petition and her initial efforts to gather information and resources to form the Center. The Tepper's correspondence with her family includes letters between Tepper and her mother-in-law, Idelle Weiner, along with Tepper’s personal narrative detailing the impact Tepper’s name change had on their relationship. The correspondence between Priscilla Ruth MacDougall and Tepper reflects the development of the Center’s mission and strategy as well as MacDougall’s analysis of legal cases and opinions. The series contains both incoming and outgoing correspondence, primarily between MacDougall and Tepper. Notable correspondents in this series include Brenda Feigen, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elissa Krauss, and Kathleen Willert Peratis who represent organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project, the Lucy Stone League, National Organization for Women, and Women’s Legal Defense Fund.
The State File comprises the bulk of the collection and consists primarily of correspondence. The series contains a master file of attorney general opinions and state legislative councils; therein, the series is organized alphabetically by state. The material in this series was used by Tepper to track each state’s recent legal opinions and legislation. The volunteers correspondence contains letters from individuals and organizations that act as contacts in each state. Their duties included providing the Center with updates on state legislation and lawsuits and distributing the Center's fact sheets and informational pamphlets. The material in this series complements the general correspondence from the Correspondence series as many of these individuals and organizations initially contacted Tepper to request information on name change law.
Notable correspondents include Joan F. Kessler, Jean L. King, Ann Landers, Kathryn Scates Levedahl, Pat Montandon, the Olympia Brown League, The Playboy Foundation, Sylvia Roberts, Bernice Sandler, Sheila Cabral Sousa, Una Stannard, Abigail Van Buren, Amy Vanderbilt, and Sarah Ragle Weddington. The series also includes correspondence from name change petitioners Kathleen R. Harney, Judith Natale Montage, and Anne H. Takemoto as well as those who used common law to establish their legal names such as Kathy Ann Sheley.
The State File demonstrates the wide reaching network of individuals and organizations supporting a woman’s right to determine her own name as well as the disagreements among supporters regarding the best method and strategy to ensure this right. The series is especially rich in personal narratives, women expressing the connection between their names and their sense of identity and autonomy. These narratives illustrate the way state laws, institutional policies, bureaucratic barriers, and personal bias impacted women on a practical level, affecting their ability to file tax returns and obtain identification and credit. The realization that many women lost their credit history after they took their husband’s name and were often unable to obtain credit under their own name after marriage led Tepper to create the Consumer Credit Project.
The Consumer Credit Project series contains administrative files, clippings, correspondence, credit discrimination complaints, credit surveys, legal files, promotional materials, publications, and other writings. The series documents the Project’s efforts to educate women about their credit rights and to help those who had faced discriminatory credit practices.
The Miscellany series includes administrative files, announcements, clippings, legal files, promotional material, publications, and a scrapbook. The historical file includes an essay by Tepper chronicling her decision to file the name change petition and the creation of the Center. The legal file consists chiefly of material from Lawrence Jay Weiner, an attorney and Tepper’s husband, who represented Tepper and several other women in their name change petitions. This series also contains MacDougall’s published writings on women and name change law.