The collection contains transcripts and audiotapes of life history interviews conducted by Shirlee Sherkow of the MIT Oral History Program, 1976-1977, as well as biographies, bibliographies, publications, and tapes of meetings and lectures on women scientists and engineers. The interviews explored the women's early home environments, school and research experiences, roles as wives and mothers, and views on problems confronting women scientists and engineers.

Interviewees include: Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus, electrical engineer and solid state physicist, professor of electrical engineering (MIT) and director of MIT's Center for Materials Science and Engineering; Ellen Jane Henderson, biochemist, assistant professor of chemistry (MIT); Christina Huk Jansen, S.B. 1963 in electrical engineering (MIT), S.M. 1966 in metallurgical engineering (MIT), Ph.D. 1971 in physical metallurgy (MIT), metallurgist and engineer; Christine Jones, astronomer; Vera Kistiakowsky, physicist, professor of physics (MIT); Nancy J. Kopell, mathematician, C.L.E. Moore Instructor of Mathematics (MIT, 1967-1969); Lisa Amelia Steiner, biologist, associate professor of biology (MIT); Giuliana Cavalieri Tesoro, engineer and chemist, adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MIT); and Sheila Evans Widnall, S.B. 1961, S.M. 1961, Sc.D. 1964 in aeronautical engineering (MIT), aeronautical and astronautical engineer, professor of aeronautics and astronautics (MIT). Tapes (not transcribed) of biographical interviews conducted by Marilynn A. Bever as part of her undergraduate thesis on MIT alumnae Margaret Z. Freeman, Elizabeth Haskins, Dorothy D. Thomson, Shea Valley, and Amelia B. Valtz are also included.