Sandra Lee Bartky papers (Ms.2010.044)

The Sandra Lee Bartky papers are comprised of correspondence, syllabi, vita material, and letters and newsclippings documenting a debate between Bartky and Christina Hoff Sommers in the early 1990s. The materials provide interesting insight into the development of feminist philosophy as an academic discipline and the debates within the field as it defines and identifies meanings of gender and feminism.

Series 1, Writings, contains drafts and final copies of various articles and talks written by Bartky. They range between 1980 and 2004.

Series 2, Correspondence, contains letters to and from Bartky. Letters discuss conferences, publications, debates within the feminist philosophy field, and course development. Correspondents of Bartky include Iris Young, Linda Alcoff, Alison Jaggar, and Lorraine Code. One folder of correspondence documents Bartky's decision to disengage from the Society of Women in Philosophy in 1991.

Series 3, Academic Work, contains a report Bartky, with other faculty, wrote about the Dartmouth College Women's Studies Program and materials related to Bartky's debate with Christina Hoff Sommers. Between 1989 and 1994, Sommers and Bartky, with some other feminist philosophers, embarked on a long, public debate about gender feminism and equity feminism, and the affects these types of feminism have on society. The materials demonstrate the effect the Culture Wars has on the academy in the early 1990s.

Series 4, Teaching Materials, provides syllabi for a number of courses taught by Bartky between 1975 and 2003. The courses include philosophy, feminist philosophy, Marxism and philosophy, and women's history.

Series 5, Conferences, has materials from two conferences. The first is "The Second Sex - Thirty Years Later" held at New York University in September, 1979. The second conference, held at Pennsylavania State University, is a scholarly discussion about the works of Bartky. This conference was held in October of 2000.

Series 6, Vita, contains the materials that make up Bartky's vita between 1965 and 2002, including materials that assisted her in obtaining full professor status.

Series 7, Activisim, includes materials related to Bartky's activisim within the academy. Items related to affirmative action, alternative graduations, protests against the firing of a popular English professor, and efforts to save a Women's Studies program.