Gail Falk, Lawyer, Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 4567
This collection contains materials collected and created by Gail Falk during her time working as a lawyer in West Virginia. It includes materials from her work with abortion litigation, the founding of the Women’s Health Center in Charleston, cases related to married women keeping their maiden name after marriage, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), women in mining and labor unions, and a court case related to sex discrimination. It also includes materials from her participation in several organizations such as the founding of a Women’s Consciousness Group, Women’s Health Center, and the West Virginia Human Rights Commission.
Materials include correspondence, court records, legislative records, legal documents, newspaper clippings, newsletters, magazines, pamphlets, flyers, memos, handbooks, budgets, research materials, board meeting notes, and notes.
The collection is divided into five series. There is some overlap between the series, especially concerning Falk’s work with women’s and abortion rights.
Series 1. Abortion: This series contains materials produced and collected by Gail Falk during her work with founding the Women’s Health Center in Charleston from 1970-1976. Prominent topics include court cases related to abortion, second trimester abortions, and opening an abortion clinic in West Virginia. The types of materials included are correspondence, legal documents, newspaper clippings, flyers, pamphlets, newsletters, budgets, court records, magazines, and notes. Materials can be found in boxes 1 and 2.
Series 2. Name Change: This series contains materials produced and collected by Gail Falk related to work she did for the right for women to keep their maiden name after marriage from 1973-1980, with some materials dating to 1926. The series includes papers related to the Yellow Pages for West Virginia Women. The types of materials included are legal documents, correspondence, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and court records. Materials can be found in boxes 1 and 2.
Series 3. Law and Legal Matters: This series contains materials produced and collected by Gail Falk related to her work as a lawyer from 1970-1980. Prominent topics include the Equal Rights Amendment, women and the law, and court cases. The types of materials included are correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, notes, and court records. Materials can be found in boxes 1 and 2.
Series 4. Labor: This series contains materials produced and collected by Gail Falk related to her work as a lawyer from 1971-1982. Prominent topics include women in mining and labor unions. The types of materials included are memos, notes, handbooks, and research materials. Materials can be found in box 1.
Series 5. Women’s Organizations: This series contains materials produced and collected by Gail Falk during her work with founding the Women’s Health Center in Charleston from 1972-1976. The types of materials included are correspondence, notes, pamphlets, legal documents, board meeting notes, budgets, and magazines. Materials can be found in boxes 1 and 2.
Material in box 1, folder 12 contains a birth certificate from 1973 which is restricted for 100 years after the latest creation date. Material will become accessible in 2073.
Material in box 1, folder 13 contains a court case related to sex discrimination from 1980 which is restricted for 50 years after the latest creation date. Material will become accessible in 2030.
The donor of this collection has transferred rights to the intellectual property they created to the Center. For more information regarding permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Gail Falk is a lawyer most known for her work as a lawyer with the United Mine Workers of America and for her contributions to the Equal Rights Amendment.
She attended Harvard University at the time of the Kennedy assassination, which prompted her to volunteer as a Freedom School teacher in Meridian, Mississippi, in 1964. She remained in Mississippi as a journalist and civil rights activist until 1967. She was involved as a staff member for the Southern Courier office and took part in the end of the Meredith March. In Meridian, she covered civil rights stories across Mississippi and trained young Mississippians to report and write for the paper.
She was a graduate of Yale Law School (1971) and started a “Women and Law” organization at the Law School as well as a women’s health group.
Falk, along with two law school colleagues, published an article in the Yale Law Journal entitled, “The Equal Rights Amendment: A Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women,” in April 1971, which would be used frequently in legal defenses of the amendment.
Falk also advocated as a lawyer for other issues such as the right for married women to keep their maiden name after marriage, disability rights, and abortion rights. She helped found the Women’s Health Center in Charleston, the first abortion provider in West Virginia.
1.33 Linear Feet (1 record carton, 15 in.; 1 flat storage box, 1 in. )
English
Gail Falk is a lawyer most known for her work as a lawyer with the United Mine Workers of America and for her contributions to the Equal Rights Amendment.This collection contains materials collected and created by Gail Falk during her time working as a lawyer in West Virginia. It includes materials from her work with abortion litigation, the founding of the Women’s Health Center in Charleston, cases related to married women keeping their maiden name after marriage, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), women in mining and labor unions, and a court case related to sex discrimination.
West Virginia and Regional History Center/ West Virginia University/ 1549 University Avenue / P.O Box 6069/ Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Gift of Falk, Gail, 2023 July 02.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository