Conditions Governing Use

The donor of this collection has transferred rights to the intellectual property they created to the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC). For more information regarding permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the WVRHC.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift from Nailler, Dr. Barbara E., 2021 April 21.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Barbara Elaine Nailler is a feminist activist and a former professor of education at Fairmont State University (FSU). Graduating from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan in 1961, Nailler began working at FSU as an assistant instructor of education in 1967. She would hold several positions at FSU, including professor of education and faculty advisor, before moving to Morgantown, West Virginia to open a bookstore with her husband Dr. Harvey Wolf.

Nailler's foray into feminist activism began with FSU coworker Patricia Hall Gillespie, both of whom were instrumental in creating the Morgantown-Fairmont National Organization for Women (Mor-Fair NOW) chapter in 1972-1973 alongside Letty Lincoln of Morgantown, West Virginia. By 1974, the Mor-Fair NOW chapter was divided into separate Morgantown and Fairmont NOW chapters in response to the mid-1970s gasoline shortage. That same year, the West Virginia NOW chapter was created to better facilitate connection between regional West Virginia NOW chapters and NOW. Nailler served as the first state coordinator of WVNOW. In 1975, she served as state WVNOW president.

In 1977, Nailler was elected as the recording secretary of MNOW before becoming the chapters president in 1979. She also handled credentialling for the WVNOW State Conference in 1978. After opening Wolf's Head Books with her husband Dr. Harvey Wolf in 1980, Nailler became active in hosting events for MNOW.

Dr. Nailler moved to St. Augustine, Florida in 1988 to open a satellite bookstore while Dr. Wolf stayed in Morgantown to handle local operations. In 1992, they closed the Morgantown Wolf's Head Books and Dr. Wolf moved to St. Augustine to work in the location alongside Dr. Nailler, which he continued to do until his death in 2010.

In 2012, Dr. Nailler retired as a bookseller and closed the St. Augustine Wolf's Head Books. As of 2025, she is still living in Florida and active in online bookselling communities.

Scope and Contents

The Dr. Barbara E. Nailler papers includes materials related to her time engaged with the West Virginia National Organization for Women (WVNOW) and Morgantown National Organization for Women (MNOW) chapters between the years 1977 and 1989. It includes a newspaper clipping featuring her opinion on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a photograph of Dr. Nailler at an ERA March in 1977, a photograph of Lillian Waugh and Louise Barkalow in Wolf's Head Books, a T-Shirt celebrating Ronald Reagan's last day as President, and a framed and signed poster from the NOW "March Again for Equal Rights" event in 1977 in Washington, D.C. with an accompanying signature identification sheet.

Signers of the framed poster include Ellie Smeal, president of NOW from 1977-1982 and 1985-1987; Hazel Hunkins Hallinan, a suffragist best known for her arrest and imprisonment after chaining herself to the White House gates in protest in 1917; Eleanor Holmen Norton, known for her work as an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee between 1960 and 1964 and position as the first female chair of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission from 1977 to 1981; Bella Abzug, co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971; Margaret Heckler, who represented Massachusetts 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983 and served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1985; and Sandra Porter, a coordinator of the 1977 ERA march.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Activism
• Equal rights amendments
• West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection
• Women political activists