TWIN CITIES WOMEN FOR TAKE BACK THE NIGHT:

The collection documents the activities of the Twin Cities Women for Take Back the Night, an organization formed in 1983 and incorporated in 1985 to "work for the prevention, intervention, and detection of violence against women and children." Their primary activity was coordinating events for Take Back the Night, an annual observance of rallies, workshops, and concerts which culminated in a night march through city streets.

Patterned after a 1977 march in Frankfurt, Germany, the first Twin Cities march was held in 1979 and was sponsored by Women Against Violence Against Women. In 1982 Women Against Violence Against Women dissolved and the event was coordinated by a small group of women with no organizational unity. Minutes dating 1981-1982 briefly document this dissolution. After 1983 the event was staged by the Twin Cities Women for Take Back the Night until 1995 when a lack of volunteer participation necessary to the event's operations led to its cancellation. All the marches were held in Minneapolis except the 1994 march which began at the State's Capitol in St. Paul.

Included within the records are articles of incorporation; scattered minutes of the core and other planning committees; financial information concerning event expenses and income, fund raising events; grant proposals; and workshop schedules and evaluations. Handbills, pamphlets, Braille brochures, posters, and a video recording publicizing the events are included as well as materials regarding the training of marshals for crowd control. Particularly noteworthy are the protest poems related to a 1994 fund raiser. Correspondence with participants, a news reporter, and others with related discussion documented in the minutes attests to some of the ideological and logistical problems the organization experienced in staging the events and which contributed to the decline in volunteer activism.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item here]. Twin Cities Women for Take Back the Night Organizational Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,322; 16,951

Processing Information:

Processed by: Monica Manny Ralston, February 2000; addition by David B. Peterson, January 2015

Catalog ID number: 990017361610104294

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A video recording of the first Take Back the Night march through downtown Minneapolis in 1979 organized by Women Against Violence Against Women is available in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collection.

A 1991 fund raising flier is available in the Minnesota Historical Society museum collection.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Women -- Civil rights -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Civil rights demonstrations -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Feminism -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Women -- Crimes against -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Children -- Crimes against -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Women -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area -- Social conditions.

Organizations:

Women Against Violence Against Women.

Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women.

Conferences:

Take Back Our Lives (1982 : Minneapolis, Minn.).

Take Back the Night (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Take Back the Night (1994 : St. Paul, Minn.).

Document Types:

Posters.

Video recordings.

Protest poetry.

Braille.

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