This series consists of materials related to the Catalyst Awards, Catalyst’s major recognition program for companies and organizations that achieve success in creating better workplaces for women and fostering workplace diversity. The awards were established in 1976, with a dinner held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, with First Lady Betty Ford serving as chairperson, to honor four women for making significant contributions as directors on corporate boards. The event attracted 560 attendees representing 106 corporations. Annual recognition and awards dinners continued in this format until 1987, when the program shifted from showcasing individuals to honoring corporate initiatives that succeed in driving change within organizations, advancing women’s position and opportunities in the business world, and embedding and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into corporate culture. An accompanying Catalyst Conference was established in 1991. By 2021, the Catalyst Awards had recognized 103 initiatives at 91 companies.

The series is arranged in two subseries: Nominations and Marketing and publicity.

The Nominations subseries consists of files that were kept by the Research Department; they represent companies and organizations that were nominated for and winners of the Catalyst Awards, starting in 1987. They are arranged chronologically, and within year alphabetically by company/organization (nominees first, then winners). Materials include applications and supplementary materials (brochures, annual reports, and the like); correspondence; site visit notes for finalists; and other notes from Catalyst staff. Awards Committee handbooks are available for some years.

The Marketing and publicity subseries consists of materials kept by the Marketing Department; they concern both planning for the event and its publicity. They are arranged chronologically; files for the Catalyst Awards Conference immediately follow those for the Catalyst Awards Dinner within a given year. Early materials consist mainly of media kits and programs, while later years cover planning, staging and production, videos shown during the ceremony, printed materials and programs, speakers (speeches and biographies), media plans, feedback/debriefing notes, and advertisements placed in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Note: when files contained publication proofs, marked-up proofs were retained only when significant changes to content and/or design can be seen; later proofs correcting slight errors were discarded.