Lynn Shaw Collection
Scope and Contents
The papers comprising the Lynn Shaw collection (1937-2010, bulk 1990-2005) document her career as an advocate for women's rights and career opportunity in the skilled trades, an occupational area traditionally filled by men.
The collection comprises primarily curricular and educational resources; conference and workshop materials; reports; newspaper clippings; information about organizations; publications; and business and legal documents that concern women in trades or that show Dr. Shaw's affiliations with and contributions to various tradeswomen organizations. These materials also reflect her active advocacy and work to foster awareness of gender-related issues in the workplace, in career training, and in the educational system. Organizational papers primarily document the activities of trades organizations such as WINTER and Electric Women, and publications and clippings provide a broad view of policy, related issues, current events, and advocacy concerning women in nontraditional careers. Some of the materials in the collection refer to Dr. Shaw as Lynn Dabney.
The career development series gathers publications; flyers and brochures; correspondence; articles; and reports organized into subseries covering the topics of apprenticeship; conferences and workshops; flyers and brochures, guides and handbooks; curriculum and lesson planning; and programs.
The subject files gather publications, pamphlets, articles, and newspapers clippings covering several topics including: activism and civic events; affirmative action; arts; community development; employment and barriers to employment such as childcare and transportation issues; equality and equal opportunity; gender, especially as it relates to education, employment, and the workplace; industries; labor and labor unions; racism; sexual harassment; tradeswomen; and welfare.
The materials in the collection document the landscape of groups and networks that have worked and are working to address issues of women in the skilled trades.
Dates
- 1937-2019; undated
- Majority of material found within 1950-2005
Creator
- Dabney, Lynn (Person)
Availability
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Biographical / Historical
Lynn Judith Shaw, who is currently a professor of electrical technology at Long Beach City College, has been an advocate for women working in careers that pay a living wage since the mid-1970s. She has worked as miner, steelworker, longshore worker, and journey-level electrician, and has been an active union member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) since 1982. She received her Doctorate in Educational Policy from the Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University in 2001, and her Master's degree at California State University-Long Beach in 1995. Her vocational and research interests include issues of women in nontraditional careers; the development of educational and apprenticeship programs that support the entry of women in skilled trades; bringing to the fore the voices of diverse women and men who work in the trades; and the study of gender, race, class, and work. Along with her teaching, Dr. Shaw has played a key role in many organizations devoted to women in nontraditional jobs. She is the founder of WINTER, Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles, a nonprofit advocacy and training organization, and of the Long Beach City College Soroptimist Women in Trades and Technology Center. Her work also includes networking, training, and founding or holding leadership roles in other organizations, including the national tradeswomen group, Tradeswomen Now and Tomorrow; the Southern California Tradeswomen Network; Electric Women; and the Redlands-San Bernardino Chapter of the National Organization for Women. Dr. Shaw is also a visual artist who in 1992 co-produced with Vivian Price and Neshtey Crudup the film In My Own Words: Against All Odds, 1992. With these activities, Dr. Shaw has sought to promote increased opportunities for women to enter the skilled trades. Her work has also aimed to increase awareness of gender and racial discrimination in the workplace and in education, as well as of legal and educational means to foster equal opportunity in these areas.
Extent
16.2 Linear Feet
29 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection documents the academic and professional life of Dr. Lynn Shaw, a professor of electrical technology at Long Beach City College who has been a key figure in the labor and nontraditional women's occupation movement in Southern California as well as in national tradeswomen's groups. Materials include: professional organization and conference materials; materials concerning career development, including apprenticeship and curricular programs; reports; periodicals; Dr. Shaw's Master's thesis and other academic materials; flyers and brochures; newspaper clippings; and ephemera. Other materials concern organizations in which Dr. Shaw has played a leading role, including Women In Non-Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER); Tradeswomen Now and Tomorrow; the Southern California Tradeswomen Network; and Electric Women, along with other tradeswomen organizations; U.S. Department of Labor materials; and subject files concerning gender, employment, labor and labor unions, and policies and programs such as affirmative action and welfare. For digitized material related to all tradeswomen archives collections please consult the Tradeswomen Archives Project.
Arrangement
Arranged in seven series:
- Series I. Academic File, 1984-2007, bulk 1993-1995
- Series II. Tradeswomen Organizations and Related Groups, 1984-2008, bulk 1995-2005
- Series III. Tradeswomen and Related Publications, 1979-2009, bulk 1994-2005
- Series IV. Clippings and Graphics, 1981-2006, bulk 1994-2005
- Series V. Career Development in the Trades, 1937-2009, bulk 1992-2005
- Series V. Subject Files, 1937-2010, bulk 1992-2002
- Series VI. Photographs, circa 1990s
Immediate Source of Acquisition
In support of the Tradeswomen Archives project at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) initiated by Dr. Vivian Price, Lynn Judith Shaw donated materials in 2008-2010 that document her academic and professional work concerning labor and women in trades.
Processing Information
Processing started by Veronica D'Aquino in 2009 and completed by Sue Tyson in 2011. Accruals processed in 2022 by Karen Clemons
- Affirmative action programs -- California
- Apprenticeship programs -- United States
- Building trades -- California
- Career development -- Curricula
- Career development -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
- Career development -- Planning
- Career development -- Sex differences
- Cassyd, Donna
- Century Freeway Affirmative Action Committee Inc. (Calif.)
- Chicago Women in Trades
- City of Long Beach Private Industry Council
- Crudup, Neshtey
- Discrimination in employment -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Diversity in the workplace
- Doro, Sue, 1937-
- Electric Women
- Gender and education
- Gender and work
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Local 11 (Calif.)
- Labor laws and legislation -- California
- Labor union members -- United States
- Liberty Hill Foundation
- Los Angeles Unified School District
- Mixer, Madeline
- Non Traditional Employment for Women
- Occupational training for women
- Price, Vivian
- Rodriguez, Lilly
- Sex discrimination in employment
- Shakoor-Akbar, Ebony
- Southern California Tradeswomen Network
- Templin, Jane
- Tradeswomen, Inc.
- United States. Department of Labor
- United States. Women's Bureau
- Wider Opportunities for Women, Inc.
- Women -- Employment
- Women in Non Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER)
- Women in the labor movement -- California
Creator
- Dabney, Lynn (Person)
- Shaw, Lynn Judith (Person)
- Title
- Inventory of the Lynn Shaw Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sue Tyson; Karen Clemons
- Date
- 2011; 2022; 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2022-08: photograph series added; new accruals processed and intellectually arranged into finding aid; scope notes were revised to reflect new additions
- 2023-07: new accruals added; dates revised to reflect new additions.
Repository Details
Part of the California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections Repository
University Library South -5039 (Fifth Floor)
1000 E. Victoria St.
Carson CA 90747
310-243-3895
archives@csudh.edu