Scope and Content Note
The records of ERAmerica span the years 1974-1982. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, bylaws, speeches, subject files, press files, state files, organization files, bibliographies, petitions, legal files, financial records, card files, photographs, and other records relating to the Equal Rights Amendment. The records are arranged and described largely as received from the organization into the following series: General Correspondence , Administrative File , Field File , State File , Organizations File , Subject File , Speech File , Miscellany , and Oversize .
ERAmerica was a nationwide alliance of civic, labor, church, and women's organizations founded in 1976 to promote ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment that had passed Congress in 1972. Its role was to direct the final months of the ratification drive in the fifteen remaining unratified states. Throughout this ratification effort, ERAmerica worked with more than two hundred participating organizations. ERAmerica and allied groups became agents for the hands-on engagement of numerous activist women with the nuts and bolts of political campaigning and with the political process at the state and local level.
The collection features the organization's undertakings from the grassroots level to Congress and the national media. Included are extensive files on the group's fund-raising, public relations, and political networking. Individuals represented include the founders and co-chairs of the alliance, Liz Carpenter and Elly Peterson, its executive director, Suone Cotner, as well as prominent supporters in politics, religion, and popular culture who aided the drive for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.