This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list.
Onsite storage.
This collection consists of lectures, correspondence, working papers, publications, sermons, liturgies, professional awards and other related materials from the files of Ada María Isasi-Díaz. The materials in this collection span much of her professional career as an activist and theologian. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence and publications from her work with women's organizations, manuscripts of lectures and articles, syllabi and teaching notes, and conference materials. Also included are personal correspondence, audio and videotapes, and clippings from magazines and newspapers.
Series 1: Women's Ordination Conference, Rochester Regional Task Force, circa 1975 -- 1999
This series contains notes, correspondence, committee minutes, resource articles, proposals, and reports relating to Isasi-Díaz's work as a member of the Women's Ordination Conference and the Rochester Regional Task Force. It also contains some reports prepared for the organization Las Hermanas.
Series 2: Lectures and Conferences, circa 1970 -- 2010
This series contains correspondence, drafts, outlines, programs, and newspaper and magazine clippings pertaining to lectures and presentations by Isasi-Díaz, as well as homilies and sermons and chapel or church bulletins.
Series 3: Publications, 1966 -- 2010
This series contains consent forms and correspondence pertaining to Isasi-Díaz's publications, article reprints and journals, and reviews of her books. There are also unpublished articles and Bible studies in this series. Some materials are in Spanish, Dutch, and German.
Series 4: Videotapes and Transparencies, 1979 -- 2008
This series contains videotape and Betamax recordings of Isasi-Díaz interviews, lectures, and presentations, as well as fourteen color transparencies relating to research on her first book.
Series 5: Audiotapes, 1976 -- 2007
This series contains audio recordings of conferences, event lectures or presentations by Isasi-Díaz. In some cases, there are co-participants and in two instances: "Installation of Dr. James Forbes, Jr." and "Imagination and Inner Self", recordings are not primarily of Isasi-Diaz. There are also computer diskettes relating to her dissertation, a DVD and a recording tape reel. Some material may be in Spanish.
Series 6: Sister Fund: Theological Renaissance Project, 1999 -- 2007
This series contains reports, writings and correspondence related to the Sister Fund:Theological Renaissance Project, including some papers regarding a Women Centered Theology group, which overlapped in membership with the Theological Renaissance Project.
Series 7: Professional Activities: Teaching, Travel, Research and Awards, circa 1960 -- 2010
This series contains material regarding professional activities such as syllabi and course evaluations, teaching notes and resource files, overseas student trips, and academic awards. The bulk of the material relates to Isasi-Diaz's Drew University tenure, with additional material from engagements at other universities or academic programs. This series also contains photographs used for marketing and publicity purposes and faculty identification cards.
Series 7A: Student Papers, circa 1965 -- 2010
This series contains papers, master's thesis proposals, and completed theses written by students of Isasi-Diaz or of her colleagues. Some papers contain notations, comments or grading, and some are in Spanish. Each paper is individually filed, except for one folder containing multiple papers by students in the Drew Hispanic D.Min Program.
Series 8: Correspondence: Professional and Personal, 1980 -- 2009
This series contains professional and personal correspondence in the form of letters, notes, greeting cards, email and fax communications. This series also contains a color photo.
Series 9: Oversized, 1978 -- 2008
This series contains oversize conference related posters, newspapers, and other materials, as well as a plaque of the Mujerista Theology book cover.
Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship (AWTS)
This collection is arranged in 10 series: Series 1: Women's Ordination Conference, Rochester Regional Task Force; Series 2: Lectures and conferences; Series 3: Publications; Series 4: Videotapes and transparencies; Series 5: Audiotapes; Series 6: Sister Fund: Theological Renaissance Project; Series 7: Professional activities: teaching, travel, research and awards; Series 7A: Student papers; Series 8: Correspondence: professional and personal: and Series 9: Oversized.
This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list.
Onsite storage.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
Item description, AWTS: Ada María Isasi-Díaz papers, series #, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Loyola University of Chicago. Women and Leadership Archives.
Ada María Isasi-Díaz donated her papers in 2001, with further additions since that time.
Columbia University Libraries, Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary
When the Burke Library acquired Isasi-Díaz's papers, an attempt was made to maintain the original order she imposed throughout the course of her career. However, some rationalization was introduced for ease of access, research usage and physical preservation. Staples, rubber bands, and metal clips were removed and replaced with plastic clips. Post-it notes and some newspaper clippings were photocopied on acid free paper. All materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes. Folded materials were flattened and large items transferred from their original positions into oversized boxes. While oversized items are not listed in their original position in the Contents List, a note in the original folder states a reference to its folder placement in oversized Series 9. Likewise, a note exists in the Series 9 folder referring to the original series folder and contents therein relating to the item. The finding aid was created by Gabriel A. Salguero in 2003, updated with additions by Matt Pereira in 2008 and by Marlene Smith in 2009, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2024.
2024-04-11 PDF converted to EAD and description updated by Leah Edelman.
Ada María Isasi-Díaz was born on March 22, 1943 in La Habana, Cuba. She left Cuba in 1960 as a political refugee. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in European History from the College of New Rochelle, New York in 1971. In January 1967 she arrived in Lima, Peru to join the Ursuline sisters as a missionary, serving in the María Madre de Dios Parish as a Junior High School teacher until 1969. In May 1977 Isasi-Díaz earned an M.A. in Medieval History from State University of New York at Brockport and a permanent certificate as High School Teacher in New York in 1978. From Union Theological Seminary in New York she received a Master of Divinity in 1985, an M.Phil in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics in 1990. She received an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, from Lynchburg College in Virginia. From 1978 to 1982 Isasi-Díaz served as Regional Developer on the Office Ministerial Team of the Women's Ordination Conference in Rochester, New York. Isasi-Díaz began lecturing and writing in 1982. She was invited to lecture at Union Theological Seminary prior to beginning her doctoral program. Between 1987 and 1990 she served as a Director of Programs and Associate General Director of Church Women United in New York. Drew University in Madison, New Jersey appointed Isasi-Díaz professor of Ethics and Theology in 1991, where she founded and was co-director of the Hispanic Institute of Theology in 1992. Isasi-Díaz was an activist-theologian involved in the feminist theological movement. She worked on developing and elaborating a Mujerista theology, a theology from a U.S. Latina perspective. The Sister Fund: Theological Renaissance Project is one of the movements Isasi-Díaz was involved with and she was an active member of EATWOT. On several occasions Isasi-Díaz has returned to teach at Seminario Ecuménico de Teología in Cuba. She continued to elaborate Mujerista theology in conversation with liberation and other women-centered theologies. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz died in New York from cancer on May 13th 2012. Isasi-Díaz is the author of several major books, including : En La Lucha: A Hispanic Women's Liberation Theology (1993), Women of God, Women of the People (1995), Mujerista Theology: A Theology for the 21st Century (1996), La Lucha Continues – Mujerista Theology (2004). Isasi-Díaz co-authored or co-edited several volumes: God's Fierce Whimsy (1983), Inheriting Our Mother's Gardens (1988), Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voice in the Church (1993), Hispanic/Latino Theology – Challenge and Promise (1996), Camino a Emaús: Compartiendo el Ministerio de Jesús (2004).
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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| Isasi-Díaz, Ada María -- : Archives | CLIO Catalog | ArchiveGRID |