Virginia Cornue Papers
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Abstract
This collection contains the papers of feminist activist and scholar Virginia Cornue. The materials in this collection relate primarily to Cornue's involvement with a number of feminist and activist organization in New York and New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s, including the National Organization for Women in New York City, National Youth Employment Project, the Women's Funding Coalition in New York City, and Newark Emergency Services for Families. The collection also contains materials related to Cornue's academic career, including notebooks from her university courses and research in cultural anthropology and gender studies.
Historical/Biographical Note
Virginia Cornue is a scholar and social activist who was involved in a number of feminist organizations in the 1970s and 1980s. She was highly active in the National Organization for Women-New York City, serving as the education director from 1978 to 1981 and the executive director of the NOW-NYC Service Fund from 1981 to 1983. She was also the co-founder and executive director of the Women's Funding Coalition-NYC from 1981 to 1986 and the executive director of Newark Emergency Services for Families from 1986 to 1989. Through her work Cornue developed community education programs, which covered topics related to women's issues, including Title IX, the Equal Rights Amendment, sexism, employment opportunities, and women's health. She was also involved in a number of fundraising activities and community-based organizing initiatives that served multi-racial and multi-ethnic families. In 1989 she received the Newark (NJ) Humanitarian Service Award, and in 1998 she was awarded the Susan B. Anthony Award for Service and Advocacy for Women.
Cornue received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Dramatic Arts from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and pursued graduate studies at the New School for Social Research. In 2001, she earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University for her work in social change, gender, and women's organizations in 1990s urban China. She has also taught women's studies and cultural anthropology at a number of institutions including Montclair State University, Rutgers University, and Bloomfield University in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
Arrangement
The order in which these materials were sent to the Tamiment Library has been maintained. These materials have been grouped into three series by subject and format:
Series I: Activism Files
Series II: Education and Academic Research
Series III: Posters and Memorabilia
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains material created or collected by Virginia Cornue relating to her education, activism, and research. Materials from Cornue's doctoral candidacy at Rutgers University completed in 2001 include correspondence, administrative records, grant applications, syllabi, student assignments, conference papers and addresses, and drafts of Cornue's dissertation, "Sex, Love, and Tenderness: Chinese Urban Women in the Great Global Market" in both paper and electronic format. The majority of the material is related to Cornue's research into women's health in China, Hong Kong, and Macau in the mid-1990s, including Chinese and English-language documents addressing technology, modernity, freedom of the press, clothing, political activism, economics, Western investment, and gay rights. The collection also includes material related to Cornue's involvement in a number of New York and New Jersey women's organizations between 1978 and 1990, including the National Organization for Women in New York City (NOW-NYC), The Women's Funding Coalition-NYC, Newark Emergency Services for Families, National Youth Employment Project, and Girls Clubs of America. These materials include flags, banners, protest signs, posters, buttons, newspapers, correspondence, and memoranda related to women's rights campaigns and demonstrations between the 1970s and 1990s; the attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment; responses from the "Potty Talk" campaign at Douglass University; and items and various workshops given by Cornue between the 1970s and early 2000s.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Virginia Cornue, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Virginia Cornue Papers; TAM 644; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Virginia Cornue in 2014; additional materials were donated in 2015. The accession numbes associated with these gifts are 2014.013 and 2015.048.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. Born-digital materials have not been transferred and may not be available to researchers. Researchers may request access copies. To request that material be transferred, or if you are unsure if material has been transferred, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Appraisal Note
Duplicates and material of little evidential or information value including tote bags, published magazines, newspapers, and comic books have been removed from this collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information Note
At the time of accessioning, materials were moved into archival housing, a preliminary file list was created, and a series-level finding aid was created to describe these materials. No physical processing or arrangement was done at this time. In September 2015 an addition to the collection was rehoused and appended to the existing series based on subject or format; computer files were imaged, analyzed, and assigned unique component IDs.
