The Prostitution Collection consists almost entirely of printed materials such as newspaper clippings, articles, and pamphlets dating from 1834 to 1978. Most of the material pertains to the United States and England, though a few items focus on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The nineteenth century material in this collection is limited, including the first annual report of the Female Benevolent Society of New York (1834); pamphlets on the "The Legislation of Female Slavery in England" by Annie Besant (1876) and "The Social Evil in Philadelphia" by Reverend Frank Goodchild (1896). Also included are two books on trafficking of young girls written in 1899 and 1910. The bulk of the collection dates from 1900 to 1978 and includes articles, handbills, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, reports, speeches, trial transcripts, a Smith College course syllabus and unpublished paper, and an audiotape of The Dick Cavett Show on the legalization of prostitution (1972). This material documents the changing relationships among prostitutes, the police, social and legal reformers, and the public over the course of this period. The impacts of the sexual revolution and the women's movement on attitudes about prostitution is particularly well-documented by the large number of newspaper clippings and articles from the 1960s and 1970s contained in the collection. This material sheds light on the lives and experiences of prostitutes.