The Vital History Cassettes series contains interviews, press conferences, and special events recorded by CBS News from 1970 to 1982. Several shows in
the series deal with women's issues or contain interviews with notable women. For example, three generations of the Peabody
family of Massachusetts—Mary Peabody (1891-1981), civil rights activist; Marietta Tree (1917-1991), first woman ambassador
to the United Nations; and Frances FitzGerald (b. 1940), author of Fire in the Lake (1972), the Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Vietnam—are interviewed for the series (RZA 0768). Eleanor McGovern (b. 1921)
talks about her role in the 1972 presidential campaign (RZA 0758), and Sandra Day O'Connor (b. 1930) discusses her nomination
to the Supreme Court in 1981 (RZA 0786). Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (1936-1996), and Governor
Ella Grasso (b. 1919) [picture] are also participants. Feminism is a popular topic of discussion: author Marilyn French (b. 1929) gave a talk in 1980 on
“making room for women” (RZA 0782); Betty Friedan [picture] spoke on women's liberation at the 1971 opening session of the National Women's Political Caucus (RZA 0753); and Elaine
Heffner (b. 1926) talked about mothering after feminism. Other topics include psychoanalysis and feminism, the Equal Rights
Amendment, and the working woman. These cassettes are accessible by name, title, and subject in the Library's
online catalog.
