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Feminist and Equal Rights Amendment activist from Midland, Michigan, officer of Michigan National Organization of Women; papers document her work on women's issues in NOW, in various political campaigns and as a lobbyist.

The Barbara Hays-Hamiton papers document her activities as member and officer of the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Michigan Women's Assembly, her participation in political campaigns and legislative work on behalf of women's issues and other feminist activities and causes.

Giese served as director of the Michigan Project on Equal Education Rights (PEER), a division of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund, from 1978 to 1984. The collection also contains files on Michigan women in high school athletics, vocational education courses, math classes, and science classes. Other files relate to legal cases on sex discrimination, the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, and all-male academies in Detroit.

The papers of Elizabeth Giese have been divided into six series: Biographical File, PEER Files, Subject Files, Legal Cases on Sex Discrimination, Women's Rights Organizations, Math and Science, and Vocational Education. The bulk of the material in this collection relates to the activities of Michigan PEER. However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish materials related to Giese's role as a citizen, activist and consultant from materials collected in her official capacity as an employee of Michigan PEER. The organization of the collection occasionally reflects this fact. Some of the series, and some individual files, are organized around particular subjects, rather than Giese's professional or personal activities.

The Michigan Women's Assembly (MWA) was the largest coalition of women's organizations in the state in the 1980's. The purpose of the MWA was to establish and implement a Platform designed to promote equal status for women in society. To qualify for membership the organization had to support the Equal Rights Amendment and "to not oppose the right of every women to secure an abortion." The records reflect MWA's organizational activity from 1982 to 1991.

Records of various officers of the Michigan Conference of the National Organization for Women collected by one-time state presidents Margot Duley-Morrow and Alicia Perez-Banuet. Presidential files of Duley-Morrow, Nan Frost-Welmers, Shirley Monson, Lynn Hierholzer, Gloria Woods, and Alicia Perez-Banuet; files of state chapter developer Rhonda Drinan, and Macomb County chapter president Doris Little; contain correspondence, newsletters, clippings, mass mailings, agendas and minutes, photographs, and other materials concerning the formal and personal aspects of this feminist organization. Topics covered include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Project for Equal Education Rights, Women's Assembly III, and other issues pertaining to women's rights.

The Michigan NOW record group includes administrative records, files of individual presidents, newsletters from local chapters, records of the Michigan NOW PAC (Political Action Committee), and topical files of subjects of interests to the Michigan Conference such as the ERA, educational equity, and abortion rights.

The organization of the collection is rather artificial, both because the documents were in extremely poor order upon their accession and because there is only the broadest unity to the collection's components. The records have been grouped under the name of the individual most responsible either for their creation or for their accumulation and preservation. There were two individuals primarily responsible for these records coming to the Bentley Library. They were Margot Duley-Morrow (two-term president, 1981-1983) who donated records in 1984 and Alicia Perez-Banuet (president, 1997-1998) who donated materials in three major accessions.