Contents

Collection Overview

Historical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

American Council of Railroad Women Records, 1944-1977

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Amy Hague.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2003

Historical Note

In 1944, a small group of women holding supervisory positions in railroad personnel and service held informal meetings in Chicago to discuss their changing roles in the railroad industry during wartime. Over the course of several meetings, they decided that they needed a permanent organization, and in September 1944 twenty-eight women voted to form the National Association of Railroad Women. (The name was changed to American Association of Railroad Women in 1952.) Unprepared by the railroads for promotions to management positions previously held by men, the women organized themselves "to provide a medium of exchange of ideas and experiences relative to our work; to discuss improvements in service and to plan for the better utilization of womanpower in railroading."

Membership eligibility was originally limited to women holding personnel or passenger service positions. Later, it was extended to include women employed in the United States and Canada as corporate officers, assistants and secretaries to presidents, lawyers, magazine editors, engineers, traffic representatives, personnel supervisors, public relations staffs, special representatives, and special investigators.

The council's annual spring and fall meetings include the transaction of business, educational sessions, and entertainment. Throughout its history, the council consistently sought the approval of, and received support from, railroad management, which has contributed senior executives to the sessions as speakers and seminar leaders. Early reports and discussions covered such topics as "education of the travelling public" and "new and improved methods and equipment for cleaning both the exteriors and interiors of trains." Later meetings reflected the evolving membership interests, emphasizing legislative lobbying (including support for the Equal Rights Amendment), and such professional development topics as corporate decision making.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The records of the ACRW consist of ten linear feet of correspondence, minutes, reports, publications, photographs, scrapbooks, and other material documenting its history and activities from its founding until 1977. The records provide some insight into the attitudes and motivations of a group of professional women organized for their mutual benefit at a time when most women had "jobs" rather than "careers."

The bulk of the material consists of meeting minutes (including speeches and miscellaneous material distributed at meetings); and membership applications and correspondence. The codebooks, assembled by the Governing Committee as an easily-accessed information source, partially duplicate the minutes, as they are compilations of similar types of material. The officers' correspondence, which largely concerns meeting arrangements and membership eligibility and recruitment, is most complete for the 1950s and 1970s, fragmentary in the 1960s, and non-existent for the earliest years. The membership files reflect the involvement in membership matters of both the Governing Committee and Membership Committee. They include individuals considered for membership, as well as those who actually joined the ACRW.

The committee files are far from complete; apparently only scattered documentation of the Legislative, Publicity, and Public Relations committees has been retained. Other committees, including Archives, Service, Housing and Transportation, and Nominating, are represented only by their reports in the minutes.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into ten series:

• I. Constitution and Bylaws
• II. Codebooks
• III. Minutes
• IV. Meeting Files
• V. Officers' Correspondence
• VI. Membership Applications and Correspondence
• VII. Committees
• VIII. Publications
• IX. Photographs
• X. History

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Series I. CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS, 1945, 1948, 1956, 1971

This series consists of booklets compiling bylaws and roster (1945); constitution and bylaws (1948); and several typescripts of later amendments. The records are arranged chronologically. Other versions (1955-1973) are included in the Codebooks (Series II).

Series II. CODEBOOKS, 1955-73

The codebooks were compiled by the Governing Committee members to serve as a "useful tool for future Governing Committees". They include the constitution and bylaws; lists of officers; members and their status; financial transactions; and records of decisions and actions on everything from membership eligibility to the cost of gummed labels. The series is arranged chronologically.

Series III. MINUTES, 1945-76

This series contains minutes of the Governing Committee, spring (or regional), and fall (or annual) meetings. Starting in 1973, the ACRW maintained related materials, such as programs, agendas, speeches, etc., in the minutes sequence. For pre-1973 materials of this sort, see the Meeting Files (series IV). The Governing Committee minutes also include agendas and memoranda; the general minutes include committee reports. The series is arranged chronologically.

Series IV: MEETING FILES, 1947-77

This series contains programs and menus; agendas; and correspondence about meeting arrangements and follow-up thank yous (1959, 1968-1977). From l973 on, materials of this sort are also maintained in the Minutes (Series III), resulting in some overlap between the series. The series is arranged chronologically.

Series V: OFFICERS' CORRESPONDENCE, 1951-77

This series contains little material from the organization's earliest years and is fragmentary for the 1960s. The bulk of correspondence dates from the 1950s and 1970s. Juva Dennis' file was received as a unit and has been maintained as such. It contains her correspondence from the time she joined the ACRW in l969 through her tenures as secretary (1970-72), second vice-president (1972-73), member-at-large (1974-75), and president (1976-77). Her file may partially duplicate the separate secretary's and president's correspondence for her years in those offices. The files are arranged chronologically under each office.

Series VI: MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-77

The files are arranged alphabetically by member or potential member name and include correspondence with or about that individual, applications, clippings, and a few photographs. It is unclear whether these files were maintained by various officers, the Governing Committee, the Membership Committee, or all of the above. This series also contains several folders of correspondence and miscellaneous items regarding membership in general. Membership matters are also addressed in the Officer's Correspondence (Series V).

Series VII: COMMITTEES, 1949-77

This series includes correspondence and related materials of the Legislative, Girl Scout Project, Public Relations, and Publicity committees, most of it from the 1970s. Many other ACRW committees, e.g., Service, Archives, and Finance, are represented only by their reports which appear in the minutes (Series III).

Series VIII: PUBLICATIONS, 1967-77

The Bulletin is the irregular ACRW newsletter. Some issues are missing from the series.

Series IX: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1968

This series contains color snapshots, some black and white glossies, and a few slides of the 1968 spring and fall meetings. Photographs of a few individual members are found in the Member Files (Series VI). The Scrapbooks (Series X) include pre-1968 photographs.

Series X: HISTORY, 1944-68

This series contains one long and several brief histories of the ACRW compiled between 1944 and 1956, as well as a short report of the first meeting in 1944, and five scrapbooks. Three were maintained by the Scrapbook Committee; two were compiled by individual members.

Series I. CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS, 1945, 1948, 1956, 1971

Series II. CODEBOOKS, 1955-73

Series III. MINUTES, 1945-76

Series IV: MEETING FILES, 1947-77

Series V: OFFICERS' CORRESPONDENCE, 1951-77

Series VI: MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-77

Series VII: COMMITTEES, 1949-77

Series VIII: PUBLICATIONS, 1967-77

Series IX: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1968

Series X: HISTORY, 1944-68