Guide to the Shirley T. Joseph Papers,
1972-1998

P-932

Series I: Biographical Information, undated, 1972-1998.

Arrangement:

One folder, plus a single item separated into an oversized (OS1) folder.

Scope and Content:

Series I consists of general and biographical material, including resumes, awards, and news clippings about Shirley T. Joseph.

Series II: U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, 1972-1978.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by meeting, committee, or topic.

Scope and Content:

It appears that Joseph’s engagement with international politics and public policy began when she was appointed to the UNESCO Commission in 1972 and became Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee. She was already involved with local Jewish organizations and active in the NCJW (National Council of Jewish Women), which put Joseph in the middle of the controversy when UNESCO revoked Israel’s membership in 1974 and UN Resolution 3379 declared “Zionism is a form of racism” in 1975. The fallout from these events is documented in this series, particularly in “Israel and the resolution on Zionism” (Box 3, Folder 3) and throughout the correspondence. Documents include issues of The UNESCO Courier magazine.

Series III: Women's Issues and Organizations, 1975-1998.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by organization or event name.

Scope and Content:

Series III consists of a wide variety of document types reflecting Shirley Joseph’s interest in the topic of women’s rights on an international scale. In addition to organizational records and memos, she collected magazines, news reports, and mementos of conferences and workshops she attended. Joseph was a speaker or presenter at many of these events and kept annotated drafts of her speeches.

Joseph had especially longstanding relationships with three organizations: the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC), and the National Women’s Conference Committee (NWCC). Within each organization, she played a number of different roles, often at the same time, and the work of the separate organizations sometimes overlapped. For example, the NWCC grew out of the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, TX, which was the major U.S. event in observance of the UN’s “International Women’s Year.” Jewish delegates at the Houston conference, including NCJW members, formed a Jewish Women’s Caucus (see Box 6, Folders 2-4) that continued to coordinate events nationally and at the UN World Conferences (Series IV).

Although NJCRAC is not specifically a women’s organization, this series contains the files of committees working on women’s issues and the UN conferences on women. There may be related files in the Beijing conference materials (Series IV, Subseries 3, Box 16), and additional, unrelated NJCRAC documents are contained in Series V: Other Community Organizations.

There is a large quantity of correspondence from Leila Seigel, president of the International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW), with whom Joseph worked closely in preparation for the Nairobi conference (Series IV, Subseries 2). Betty K. Shapiro, Chair of the Jewish Women’s Caucus, is another strong presence in this series through her newsletters and personal correspondence with Joseph.

Series IV: World Conferences on Women, 1977-1996.

Arrangement:

The three subseries are arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains documents related to the United Nations’ second, third, and fourth World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing. The first conference, which Joseph did not attend, took place in Mexico City in 1975 where the controversial “Zionism is racism” resolution was adopted. As a result, Jewish women’s organizations approached each of the following conferences with a dual purpose: to advocate for women’s equality worldwide and to do so while combating partisan discord and anti-Semitism.

Each UN conference was accompanied by a concurrent or parallel NGO Forum, open to all and less formal than the official proceedings, which offered alternative information sessions, lectures, and workshops.

Subseries 1: Copenhagen (1980), 1977-1985.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical.

Scope and Content:

The second women’s conference was a “mid-decade review” entitled World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development, and Peace. It took place July 14-30, 1980, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Shirley Joseph collected numerous publications and periodicals there, but her subject files about the event span the following years as well. The conference was seen by many to have become a highly politicized venue for the ongoing rancor between Israel, the PLO, and other Middle Eastern nations. It ended with the U.S. voting against the proposed Program of Action because of its anti-Zionist language. Joseph’s writing and the articles she compiled about Copenhagen (see Box 12) reflect a deep sense of frustration about this outcome.

Subseries 2: Nairobi (1985), 1981-1986.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical.

Scope and Content:

The following conference, called “World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women,” took place July 15-26, 1985, in Nairobi, Kenya. After a disappointing experience in Copenhagen, many Jewish women’s groups redoubled their preparations for Nairobi. As Chair of NJCRAC’s Ad Hoc Committee on the UN, Joseph attended a number of high-level preparatory meetings and exchanged correspondence with Nancy Clark Reynolds, U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. This subseries contains their letters, several folders of background and planning materials, official documents, clippings, notebooks, and personal travel information, including Joseph’s photo ID and press pass from Moment Magazine (Box 13, Folder 3).

Subseries 3: Beijing (1995), 1992-1996.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical.

Scope and Content:

The fourth World Conference on Women was held ten years later in Beijing, China, September 4-15, 1995. Joseph was again Chair of the NJCRAC Ad Hoc Committee on Beijing and attended preparatory meetings in the U.S. and in Vienna. The correspondence in this subseries includes copies of letters of recommendation for Shirley Joseph’s appointment to the Beijing delegation, solicited from a variety of personal associates and local politicians.

Series V: Other Community Organizations, 1973-1997.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by organization.

Scope and Content:

This series documents Shirley Joseph’s volunteer and advocacy work for causes and organizations outside of women’s rights. The bulk of the records in this series are related to the annual meetings, committees, and task forces of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC). Subjects of interest to the NJCRAC leadership included the separation of church and state, religious freedom, anti-Semitism, and Israel. The “Pollard case” (Box 20, Folder 1) was a particularly troubling issue, as it involved an American Jew who plead guilty to selling intelligence to Israel but claimed his actions were an expression of Zionist allegiance.

Series VI: Audio and Video Formats, 1983-1996.

Scope and Content:

Series VI consists of seven audio cassettes and one VHS tape, separated from the other materials in the collection per AJHS practice. The audiotapes were found loose in a box with other UN women’s conference files and are likely related to the JWC or ICJW planning committees. The videotape was separated from the Beijing + 1 Teleconference materials in Series III, Box 4, Folders 5-11.