Judith Daso women's issues collection

Judith Daso Judith Daso agreed to assemble a short biography for this description. She provided the following:

A 1968 OU graduate, Judith Daso was Alden Library's first Women's Studies Bibliographer. Over the years, she worked with Marilyn Atlas, Linda Hunt, Aileen Hall, and Alden Waitt to build the Library's collection in support of the developing Women's Studies Program. Through her role as Bibliographer, Daso became interested in the history of women at Ohio University and served on the committee which developed the slideshow/video "I'm here for Work: A History of Women at Ohio University." She later wrote the essay on Women at Ohio University which appears in Betty Hollow's book Ohio University: The Spirit Of A Singular Place .

"I tried to gather information from local women's groups, for my own inspiration and to feel connected to some important local women. I leanred how one effort feeds another e.g. As part of the flourishing of research and publications in Women's Studies across the country, an index to the Susan B. Anthony papers was published. And, through that index, we found that Anthony spoke in Athens. With that information, some of us got to thinking about the plaques on Memorial Auditorium and the single woman honored there, etc. That led to our 'plaque project' to have more women and minorities included on the wall, and the project continues today."

The Women's History Slideshow Project The Women's History Slideshow Project was begun, according to Daso, by the Women's Programming Committee at Ohio University. After receiving a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, they began collecting photographs and interviews from women involved at Ohio University. Some audio tapes and transcribed interviews are in this collection. They also examined scrapbooks and photographs from the Archives. After presenting it a number of times at OU and in Athens County, they traveled to the National Women's Studies Conferences in Urbana, Illinois. It was also filmed, two copies of which are in this collection. A third can be checked out from IMTS.

Title IX Daso suggests that much of this material came from Catherine Brown. Brown, the Irish-born lacrosse coach and athletics administrator, was involved in the issue. According to Daso, a number of concerned women spoke with Jim Bruning, at that time the Provost. As he was "untactful," they decided to push on the issue and gradually were able to extract information.

The Susan B. Anthony Plaque A group of women, including Daso, had attempted to get a plaque honoring Susan B. Anthony's visit to Athens placed on the West Portico of the Memorial Auditorium for the seventy-fifth anniversary of Women's Suffrage. Daso claimed the process took two or three years, and that the women "had to fight." She also said that Robert Daniel, a history professor at OU, was helpful in the process.

Women's Studies Daso sees the Women's Studies Department as a combination of the community and the university. She feels that, while the university program may not always expect community women, this area is fairly active. She mentioned the Women's Education Business Support as an example of this.