Donna Novak Coles was born in Atlanta, Texas, in December, 1945. While in Texas, Coles participated in Democratic candidate Frances (Sissy) Tarlton Farenthold's 1972 campaign for governor. In Georgia, Coles was active with the Feminist Action Alliance, Housewives for the ERA, Georgia Women's Political Caucus, the League of Women Voters, and she was one of the few individual members of ERA Georgia. Inc., the umbrella organization for all groups supporting passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
As a member of the League of Women Voters of Georgia, Coles served as a chairperson on both the Legal Status of Women and the Georgia Constitutional Revision committees, and as a lobbyist. In 1995, Donna Novak Coles was named, along with her husband, businessman Michael Coles, as the 1995 Georgia Philanthropist of the Year. In 1996, she became a member of the Water's Edge Committee of the Georgia Women's Movement Project, a cooperative project of GSU's Women's Studies Institute, the University Library's Special Collections Department, and a group of dedicated activists, and was a member of the GSU Foundation from 1998 to 2001. The Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women’s Movement Archives has been generously supported by the Donna Novak Coles GWMP Endowment since 1998.
Special Collections and Archives
Donna Novak Coles Georgia Women's Movement Archives
Lucy Hargrett Draper Collections on Women's Rights, Advocacy, and the Law
Archives for Research on Women
Phone: (404) 413-2880
Fax: (404) 413-2881
E-Mail: archives@gsu.edu
Mailing Address:
Special Collections & Archives
Georgia State University Library
100 Decatur Street, SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3202
In Person:
Library South, 8th floor
