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Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Lillian Waugh, Professor, Papers and Artifacts, A&M 4518, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Lillian Jane Waugh was born in Lewistown, Maine, on 1941 June 1, and passed away in Morgantown, West Virginia, on October 8th, 2018. Growing up in Maine and New Hampshire, Lillian was a competitive student and athlete. Her career in social sciences began at Colby College, from which she received her BA in History. She went on to earn her MA in History at Bowling Green State University before teaching the very subject at Parsons College for three years. Lillian then attended the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where she completed her Ph.D. in History.

Her 1973 move to Morgantown, West Virginia, with husband David Yelton marked the beginning of her impact as a women's rights advocate in the community. She was an instrumental cofounder for the Morgantown chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), serving as an officer, and contributing decades of advocacy for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Lillian helped to form the Rape Information Services (now Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center). This was the first shelter of its kind in West Virginia. She was also one of the early creators and faculty of West Virginia University's new Women's Studies Department (now Women's and Gender Studies). In addition to her role as a professor, Lillian led the WVU Women's Centenary project as its director in 1991 to collect and archive materials about the first century of women legally educated in West Virginia. The project aligned with her research interests in the early coeducation of women and women's labor. She received a Mary Catherine Buswell Award for her work on the project and continued building on it through the early 2000's.

Scope and Contents

Papers, photographs, binders, artifacts, and newspapers belonging to Lillian Waugh, professor of Women's Studies at WVU and gender equality activist. This collection contains personal family photographs, correspondence, and research about Waugh keeping her surname after marriage. Protest and activism papers, photographs, and artifacts include assorted materials related to Waugh's involvement in the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) campaign, gender equality movements, and anti-war protests. The collection features research, correspondence, and curriculum from Waugh's time as a WVU professor. It likewise includes substantial research for WVU's Women's Centenary Project, which Waugh directed.

Series include:

Series 1. Personal Papers and Photographs (Box 1); 1932-1999

Series 2. Protests and Activism (Box 1); 1972-2018

Series 3. West Virginia University Women's Studies Program (Box 1); bulk dates 1976-2017

Series 4. Women's Centenary Project Research (Box 2); 1884-2017

Series 5. Artifacts (Boxes 5-9); 1966-1995

Series 6. Newspapers and Newspaper Clippings (Box 10); bulk dates 1977-1999

Series 7. Oversize Material (Box 11); 1973-1984

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Waugh, Lillian J., 1941-2018
• West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection
• West Virginia University -- Women's Centenary (1891-1991)
• Women -- Education
• Women -- Equal Rights Amendment
• Women -- Suffrage
• Women college students -- West Virginia
• Women college teachers -- West Virginia
• Women social reformers -- United States
• Women's studies