The division's collections are further enriched by personal and professional collections that have come to the Library of Congress from a variety of notable women. Instead of providing straightforward accounts of their lives through interviews, oral histories, or talks (although the collections may indeed contain such things), these collections might reveal information about the subjects in subtler, less direct ways—through telephone conversations, personal messages, dictations, or items from their professional lives such as lectures or field recordings. Many of these types of materials were acquired as part of personal collections received by the Manuscript and Music Divisions.

Janet Flanner broadcasting on the program Listen: The Women. 1944. Janet Flanner-Solita Solano Collection, Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZ62-112975. full caption | bibliographic record

Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), African American journalist and social activist, reported on the conflict in Vietnam and was involved in many causes related to Africa and developing countries in other parts of the world. Her collection contains speeches by many of the important people she encountered, her interviews with them, and her reports from the field. The multifaceted Jeannette Piccard (1895-1981), whose pursuits ranged from aerospace consultant, to wife, to Episcopal priest, left speeches, memoirs, and even meditations in her collection of spoken word recordings. Although Janet Flanner (1892-1978) [picture] does not add biographical information in speaking aloud, her collection displays her incisive and insightful reportage and commentary in a series of 1945 radio broadcasts from France. Many of the songs that Sylvia Fine Kaye (1913-1991) wrote for Broadway and other artistic media are contained on archival recordings from the Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection. The Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon Collection offers interviews, cast albums, rehearsal tapes, and audio from television appearances that document the life and work of dancer Gwen Verdon (1925-2000). Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, a teacher, writer, and television interviewer and producer, gave the Library a collection of interviews with contemporary artists, architects, designers, and curators that significantly enhances the Library's primary source material in the visual arts (see Moving Image section Television). Poet Marcella DuPont (1903-1985) and literary agent Lucy Kroll (1909-1997) also contributed their collections of sound materials to the Library.