YWCA of the U.S.A. Records. Record Group 8. Community Associations

NOTE: For the most part, the Microfilmed Records and the Original Format Records do not duplicate each other and both should be consulted. This description covers materials in both formats. See the Contents List for a folder-level inventory of the Original Format Records. See the Microfilmed Records Reel Lists for a detailed inventory of the microfilm. Links to the lists for both formats are provided in the Series Descriptions or Scope and Contents notes under each Record Group.

This record group documents the National Association's interactions with local YWCAs and other types of general membership groups (such as Registered Groups). Materials include minutes; reports; publications; lists; forms, policies and procedures; correspondence and mailings; constitutions and by-laws; legal files; rosters; spreadsheets; studies and surveys; training materials; and files on individual Associations dating from 1884-2002.

Return to the Table of Contents

Return to the Table of Contents

Organization

This Record Group is divided into four Series:

• I. SERVICES TO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
• II. MEMBERSHIP OF ASSOCIATIONS
• III. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO CLUB
• IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES

Return to the Table of Contents

Series Descriptions

SERIES I. SERVICES TO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS

Historical Note

Organizational responsibility for advisory services to, and day-to-day contact with, Community Associations was especially fluid during the first twenty-five years of the YWCA of the USA. This was probably due in part to the predecessor organizations' strong insistence that the fundamental differences between City and Student Associations required very different types of national organizations for administrative support; a point of view that substantially delayed the merger of the two predecessor organizations.

Initially, the National Association divided its staff into a Home Department (concerned with work in the U.S.) and a Foreign Department (concerned with U.S. staff working abroad). By 1909 the Association added a Department of Territorial Work with Field Secretaries in regional offices spread around the country. Part of its job was to bring together the various state and territorial committees established under the auspices of the predecessor organizations to form a coherent whole.

A 1910 reorganization replaced the Home and Territorial Work Departments with the Department of Method (renamed Research and Method in 1919) and the Department of Field Work. The Field Work Department was to be the "direct medium of information between the National Board and the field, providing information on standards, policies, finances, and work desired and contemplated." The Department of Method, worked at "developing and perfecting YWCA methods." As the YWCA expanded into different geographic regions and set about forming Associations in smaller towns and rural districts, it assigned some staff based of the size of the community, with certain individuals specializing in City, Town, or "Extension" (later Rural) work. Other secretaries specialized in work with particular "constituent groups," such as students, industrial workers, "colored" women, teen age girls, and new immigrants. The Method and Field Work Departments both had such specialist staff. The National Association assigned Specialist Field Secretaries based on the needs of a particular region. In 1915, for instance, the West Central region had a city secretary and two student secretaries, but no industrial secretary, while the Northeastern region had a city secretary, two industrial secretaries, a county secretary, and two student secretaries.

Method Department staff traveled the country visiting Associations and reporting on their area of expertise, but also on any other aspects of YWCA program they felt warranted comment. Field Work staff were experts in their region and communicated its needs and concerns to the national office. Both staffs contributed heavily to overall YWCA efforts, whether they were specifically assigned to the department charged with exchange of information or the department charged with development and perfection of methods.

From its earliest staff configurations, the National Association seems to have remained unsure about whether or not it was desirable to divide responsibility for "method" and "services." The major post-World War I reorganization in 1922-23 consolidated all of the staff who worked directly with Community Associations and "constituent groups" in a newly established Field Division, taking on the "promotion and advisory service" work previously done by the Research and Method Department. Research and specialist advisory work "in the subjects in which we should be specialists" such as religious psychology, social issues, world fellowship, bible, and health moved to a new Education and Research Division. [See RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES I. DEPARTMENT, STAFF, AND COMMITTEES.]

Financial difficulties of the Great Depression forced a major staff reduction in 1932. Responsibility for most "constituent groups" temporarily moved to the Leadership Division [See RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES II. TRAINING AND PERSONNEL] Services to Associations were consolidated in the new National Services Division, and the specialization of staff for City, Town, and Rural Associations was eliminated. The National Association decided it could no longer support such extensive travel by Secretaries and that they needed to develop methods for reporting on their work that were less time-consuming than the traditional narrative reports.

The Program Planning Study of 1939 resulted in another reorganization in 1940 with the Division of Community YWCAs (later known as the "Community Division") replacing "National Services." The National Association once again combined responsibility for program subjects and constituent groups with services to Community Associations. Five years later, program development was again separated from direct services to Associations and moved to the Program Subject Department [See RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES I. DEPARTMENT, STAFF, AND COMMITTEES.]

By 1950 the National Association's work with constituent groups was just a fraction of what it had been at the end of World War I, and the Association concluded that it could not afford to continue so much specialist staffing, particularly for Industrial and Business and Professional work. This change reduced its constituent group-related responsibilities. However, the implementation of a system for assessing each Community Association's performance in light of a set of "basic standards" set by the National Association created a new set of tasks for the Division. The 1949 Convention approved this new concept for membership of Community Associations in the YWCA of the USA after more than a decade of study and discussion.

Determining the Basic Standards (also known as Standards, and later, Standards of Excellence) became a part of each Convention, when plans were established for the work of the National Association in the following triennium. The Association developed, tested, and put into place a "Basic Standards" report form following the 1949 Convention. One of the elements it placed under close scrutiny was the adherence of Community Associations to the YWCA's Interracial Charter (adopted in 1946). Each triennium committees developed a set of "Basic Standards" for adoption at Convention. Once approved, they were enforced by the Committee on Membership in the National Association (MINA). Staff responsible for services to Associations assembled and maintained all of the related paperwork. Interactions between the National Association and Community Associations became increasingly about tracking each Association's financial support of the National Association, and assessing whether its administration and programs were in line with Convention actions.

Though the YWCA had been working explicitly toward a fully integrated organization since the adoption of its Interracial Charter in 1946, nearly twenty years later much work remained to be done. In response to the growing Civil Rights movement, the YWCA of the USA initiated an Action Program for Integration and Desegregation of Community YWCAs in 1963. [See RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES IV. CONSTITUTENT GROUPS, Subseries C. Interracial/Racial Justice] The National Board allocated special funds to help "every Community and Student Association achieve full compliance with our Interracial Charter and the Civil Rights Act of 1964." By the 1970 "One Imperative" Convention, the YWCA had developed the Action Audit for Change process. Designed to attempt to resolve institutional racism within the YWCA, the process began with every Community Association studying its own policies and programs. At the 1976 Convention, the Association established the Action Audit for Change Process as an ongoing requirement for continuing affiliation of Community and Student YWCAs with the national organization.

In response to the rapid social change and upheaval of the late 1960s, the YWCA of the USA concluded it needed another major reorganization to serve its potential membership more effectively. The Organizational Renewal Committee developed a "Team-Matrix" plan for implementation in 1971-72, but a major budget deficit and associated staff cut precluded its full implementation and the national staff entered a period of much shifting and tweaking of organizational responsibilities.

The idea behind the "Team-Matrix" plan was to develop a structure that would be able to respond quickly to the type of social upheaval associated with the late 1960s and early 1970s and make the most effective use of limited resources in a time of increasing demands. It was a purposefully non-hierarchical system designed to maximize communication and cooperation across the organization. Staff based in the regions were no longer so expressly associated with direct service to Associations, but were supposed to work with all of the units at headquarters. A new Organization Development Unit was put in charge of standards certification, organization of new YWCAs, and advice on operation of physical facilities (the Unit included a buildings consultant). It also included staff for Services to Urban Associations, once again acknowledging the unique characteristics of large and complex city Associations.

The National Association struggled with the partially implemented and understaffed 'Team-Matrix' system for some years, once again consolidating services to Community Associations under a Field Services Division in 1978. Field Services included Services to Urban Associations, Organization Development, and regional staff. Field Services took responsibility for Community Association certification and the Organization Development Unit took on a more standard "O.D." role, focused on advisory service. Direct service to Community Associations in need of specific help or advice continued on a smaller scale and more often by mail or telephone than through a visit from National Staff.

Once the National Association was more-or-less out of the business of program development, Community Associations were encouraged to share information about their new programs and methods. The National Office collected such materials for potential adaptation and dissemination to the whole Association. National staff also kept track of Associations involved in controversies and lawsuits, especially those that had the potential to make a serious negative impact on the National Association. These included pressures to merge with YMCAs, lawsuits challenging the all-female board membership policy on sex discrimination grounds (EEOC vs. Tucson YWCA), and a variety liability lawsuits.

In the early 1980s Community Associations began agitating for improved services from the national offices. They complained of unclear lines of responsibility and a lack of accountability. They felt they weren't getting the kind of help they needed. In the resulting reorganization (1984), Organization Development was eliminated. In 1988, the National Association modified the Association Standards Review process to save costs, and replaced the visit by a National Review Team with a conference call.

Project Redesign in 1992, a major study by KPMG Peat Marwick, Inc., evaluated the national office and its service to Community Associations. Input gathered from Associations and focus groups resulted in, among other things, a new office called Member Association Services (MAS). Technical assistance to Associations was eliminated as well as consulting on program and resource development. MAS was charged with reinvigorating state and regional councils for improved interchange of information and "rigorously enforcing adherence to the standards." Community Associations that routinely met their national support payment quotas and basic standards demanded that MINA develop a process for bringing delinquent Associations into full compliance. Whatever the intention, this tightening of enforcement resulted in worsening of relations between the national office and Community Associations as well as the loss of roughly eleven percent of Associations.

Poor relations between the National Association and Community Associations was one major impetus for a series of strategic planning initiatives through the 1990s. A special convention in 2000, approved a major restructuring plan called "Steps to Absolute Change." [See RECORD GROUP 1. GENERAL AND HISTORY, SERIES II. REORGANIZATIONS, and RECORD GROUP 2. PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL BOARD, SERIES III. NATIONAL COORDINATING BOARD]

Scope and Content

Records in this Series include minutes; reports; publications; lists; forms, policies and procedures; correspondence and mailings; constitutions and by-laws; legal files; rosters; spreadsheets; studies and surveys; and training materials dating from 1884-2002.

This finding aid uses the term "Community Association" (as distinct from "Student Association") in referring to all general membership groups. The YWCA itself sometimes used "Local Association" and, in recent years, "Member Association." Also included here are materials about other general membership groups that were not full-fledged Associations, such as Registered Groups and Authorized Groups. Information on Student Associations can be found in RECORD GROUP 7. STUDENTS.

As is true elsewhere, few records have survived for the period between 1971 and 1988.

Department/Division records provide rich documentation of the development and growth of the National Association, its methods and program, especially in the minutes and the visitation reports up to 1931. Traveling Secretaries reported on the situation at existing Associations and in the surrounding community, as well as areas of the country where the National Association was considering establishing new Associations. Included are special studies of rural communities to determine how the YWCA, which evolved in urban settings, could serve geographically dispersed communities. In later years, similar information can be found in reports by Regional Staff. The earliest records of national staff interactions with Community Associations can be found in the minutes and reports of the Department. The National Association did not keep files on individual Community Associations until the establishment of the Field Division in 1923.

Even though they were not always under the supervision of the department or division responsible for services to Community Associations, all of the City, Town, and Rural Communities Departments' records are filed together here in the interests of ease of access. For the years 1910-23, researchers should also consult the records of the Department of Method/Research and Method [in RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM] which officially oversaw those departments.

Records associated with the system established in 1949, requiring Community Associations to meet 'Basic Standards' in order to maintain membership in the National Association document one of the important ways the YWCA of the USA brought about a variety of changes in Community and Student Associations, from buying in to the more radical political and social stands of the organization (including racial integration, support for the Equal Rights Amendment, etc.), to sound administrative practices (full payment of 'National Support' dues, training of Association leaders, etc.).

Materials in this series document evolving relations between the national office and Community Associations, both good and bad. For instance, they provide extensive evidence of deteriorating relations between national and locals that lead up to the major restructuring of 1999-2001. The also provide much insight into relations with the YMCA, as many Community Associations shared facilities with the YM, and felt keenly local pressures to merge operations.

Some unusual materials of note include: a set of Rural-Industrial Studies funded by the Ford Foundation in the mid-1920s and records of YWCA activities at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, (in the files of the Exposition Auxiliary Committee of the Field Work Department.)

Microfilmed Records, 1884-1970 only

[see Microfilmed Records Reel List]

Most of the Minutes and Reports are also available on paper, notable exceptions being the early Field, State, and Territorial Committee files.

Certain portions of the Subject Files materials are also available on paper, in general these include departmental publications, reports, and studies.

Original Format Records, 1907-2001, n.d., 17 linear feet

[see Original Format Records folder list]

This series consists of records of the national office, staff, and committees charged with communicating with and providing services to community associations. Included are minutes, reports, correspondence, training materials, publications, etc., designed for association-wide use. This series includes some early reports on individual associations in Secretaries' visitation reports, but most of the materials about specific associations can be found in SERIES IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES of this Record Group.

As described in the Historical Note above, staff responsible for services to Community Associations was very closely linked to the staff developing "Method" for the National Association. Even though oversight of the City, Town, and Rural Communities departments was shifted between the Field (association services) and Research and Method Departments (program and methods), the work of those departments remained consistent. For ease of access, all of the City, Town, and Rural Communities Department records are filed together in this series. Researchers should also consult the records of the Research and Method Department (which had responsibility for those departments 1910-23). [see RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM]

The records are divided into two Subseries:

Subseries A. Records, 1906-spring 1932

This subseries covers the period during which support staff for Community Associations specialized in services and program for larger cities, smaller towns, and rural areas. The records are arranged in sections as follows: General and History, Minutes, Publications, Reports, Special Projects, and then Studies.

Within the first four sections (General and History, Minutes, Publications, and Reports), records of the department/division responsible for overall administration of the work (Territorial Work, Field Work, Field Division) are filed first, followed by the records of the specialized departments (City, Town, and Rural.)

The Special Projects section consists of the records of the Exposition Auxiliary Committee, responsible for the YWCA's work at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and the Rural Communities Politics program of the mid-1920s.

The Studies section is primarily a set of rural studies funded by the Ford Foundation in the mid-1920s. They are arranged alphabetically by state with general reports filed at the end.

Subseries B. Records, fall 1932-2002

Materials in this subseries begin with the major administrative reorganization of 1932 which eliminated the specialist City, Town, and Rural staff.

The series is arranged in sections as follows: Department/Division, Committees and Task Forces, Community Associations, Conferences and Meetings, Programs and Projects, Regional Staff and Councils, Reports, and Training.

Department/Division materials are arranged chronologically by department (National Services Division, Community Division, Organization Development Unit, Services to Urban Associations, Field Services, and then Member Associations Services) Materials include general office forms, correspondence, and staff meeting minutes.

Committees and Task Forces includes memoranda, correspondence, notes, agendas, and minutes grouped according to the Department (Community Division, Organization Development, Member Association Services.)

Community Associations files consist of mailings, notes, summaries, forms, guidelines and questionnaires.

Conferences and Meetings has local arrangements, reports, and general materials about a small number of gatherings, arranged chronologically.

Programs and Projects contains minutes, correspondence, mailings, notes, summaries, reports, reference materials, and "work tools" for Programs and Projects related to Association administration, residences, rural work, and the organization of new YWCAs. Of particular note are records related to the Action Plan to accelerate racial integration in Community YWCAs, 1963-65.

Publications produced by the Services to Community Associations staff deal with such topics as Association buildings and residences, effective Association administration, and the organization of new YWCAs. They are arranged alphabetically by title.

Regional Staff and Councils materials consist of correspondence, newsletters, and conference announcements and reports. The bulk of the materials date from the 1990s to 2001.

Reports contains General reports on subjects such as types of Associations, residences, and membership, arranged chronologically. The Staff reports are chronological accounts of staff activities, 1971-2001.

Training materials consist of handouts, reports, advertising, and local arrangements materials for training opportunities on such subjects as community relations, financial management, effective administration, and residences. They are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Related Materials

In other Series in this Record Group

Records of the department's interactions with individual Community Associations can be found in the SERIES IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES.

In other Record Groups

Extensive discussions of the role of the National Board in relation to Community Associations are in the National Board and Executive Committee minutes and reports in RECORD GROUP 2. PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL BOARD.

Additional material about the changes in administrative structure can be found in SERIES II. REORGANIZATIONS in RECORD GROUP 1. GENERAL AND HISTORY.

Because "Method" and program development were sometimes part of the responsibility of this department and sometimes in a separate department, researchers should also consult RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES I. DEPARTMENT, STAFF, AND COMMITTEES, particularly for the years up to 1932.

Additional materials about the Action Plan to accelerated integration of Community YWCAs can be found in RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, in SERIES IV. CONSTITUTENT GROUPS, Subseries C. Interracial/Racial Justice.

SERIES II. MEMBERSHIP OF ASSOCIATIONS

Historical Note

The YWCA of the USA was founded to provide services and program support to Associations and other membership groups located all over the U.S. Most of its member associations were Community Associations (known during some periods as "Local" or "Member" Associations), which served a geographic area; or Student Associations, which served students at individual colleges or universities.

Other types of organized groups also existed. Registered YWCAs (or Registered YWCA Clubs) were defined in 1933 as "the germ of a local YWCA." District YWCAs were formed in rural areas where an Association with a central building could not effectively serve the geographically dispersed population. Both types of groups generally functioned without paid staff and received advice, program materials, training, and other support from the National Association . County Associations were an early attempt at staffing rural work. They were established in rural areas with a large enough population and associated financial means to support a paid secretary, but lacking the resources to support a full-fledged Association with a building.

As the YWCA of the USA moved out of its initial period of expansion, it felt the need of a device for measuring the quality of its Associations' programs. The Standards Study (1935-39), carried out by the Laboratory Division and the Standards Study Committee, sought to define a set of "definite principles by which Associations may be recognized as members of the National Association in good standing or sub-standard."

Based on the Basic Standards Study, the Community Division eventually developed a "Basic Standards Report" form which was presented at Convention in 1949 along with proposed amendments to the by-laws. Representing a "new concept of membership," the changes called for each Convention to adopt a set of "Basic Standards" for Community Associations to meet in order to "put Convention actions into living form" during the succeeding triennium. Each Association would be required to file a report on its program and work in relation to these Standards once in each Convention cycle. The by-laws revision was approved at Convention and Associations were required to complete and submit their first Basic Standards Reports in the 1949-52 triennium.

As part of the 1949 by-laws revision, the National Association established the Committee on Membership in the National Association (MINA). It's job was to assess whether new organizations met the requirements for membership in the YWCA of the USA and subsequently recommend them for Association status; to determine whether existing Associations were meeting standards for maintenance of their membership; and recommend disaffiliation of Associations not meeting standards and paying dues. It also recommended dissolution of inactive Associations.

The adoption of this new system of standards gave the National Association a tool to induce a variety of changes in Community and Student Associations, from buying-in to the more radical political and social stands of the organization (including racial integration, support for the Equal Rights Amendment, etc.), to implementing sound administrative practices (full payment of 'National Support' dues, training of Association leaders, etc.).

Though the new system technically gave MINA the authority to get tough with Associations not meeting the standards, over the years the National Association, true to its commitment to fostering intergroup relationships across "whatever barriers separate them," seems to have preferred gentle persuasion over rigorous enforcement, particularly during the volatile civil rights era.

By the late 1960s, the National Association noted a wide degree of variation in the manner in which Basic Standards Reports were filled out. A new Association Review Process was developed to be a 'deeper and broader measuring stick' of the health and vitality of Associations. Under this system, once every 6 years (two triennia) each Association would do a careful self-study that would be followed by a visit and conference with a National Review Team and a final report. The final report's recommendations would be submitted to MINA. If the Review Team concluded that the Association's program could not be accredited, it was given a specific list of things needing improvement and six years in which to do something about it before it could be recommended for disaffiliation.

In response to a variety of factors, including, among other things, rapid suburbanization after World War II, a new type of organization was approved at the 1967 Convention and existed for five or six years. 'Accredited YWCAs' could be formed in communities of 50,000 population or less, or in larger communities which could only support a small YWCA. They were required to have good membership, program, and business procedures, but not required to have a building, staff, or the variety and complexity of program offered at a larger Association.

In the interests of efficiency and cost effectiveness, the National Association simplified the Association Review process in1988 replacing the Review Team visit with a conference call.

As part of its efforts to re-vitalize the national organization in the 1990s, the Association developed a special category for newly-forming YWCAs. "Provisional YWCA" status gave a group interested in establishing a new Association four years of "maximum services" from national staff and assistance from state/regional councils and nearby Associations. If all requirements were met at the end of that period, the Provisional YWCA became a Community YWCA.

One of the changes requested by Community Associations consulted in 1992 during the major reorganization process known as Project Redesign, was a "rigorous enforcement" of adherence to standards by Community Associations. MINA was charged with the task of developing a process that would bring delinquent Associations into full compliance with National Association standards for program within two triennia and working out payment schedules for unpaid dues. This time, the National Association moved beyond gentle persuasion and the tightening of enforcement resulted in the loss of roughly 11% of Associations and a worsening of relations between the national office and Community Associations. All of which probably contributed to the major restructuring of the National Association in 1999-2001.

By the 1996 Convention, YWCA members voted to simplify the Standards system. Community YWCAs would use the 'Standards of Excellence' approved at Convention as a tool for self-evaluation. Affiliation in the YWCA of the USA would allow them to operate programs within a defined geographic area that focused generally on the empowerment of women and girls and the elimination of racism.

Scope and Content

This series documents the policies and practices related to membership requirements (affiliation, disaffiliation, accreditation, and inactive, probation, and provisional status) for Community Associations in the National Association. Included are copies of the "Basic Standards" established at Conventions, samples of various report forms, and procedures related to membership. There is also summary information about affiliated associations, disaffiliations, and name changes, plus general information about various types of Associations and groups, such as Registered Groups and District Associations.

The series also contains records of the Standards Study (1935-39), the Basic Standards Committee (1947-69), and the Committee on Membership in the National Association (1952-2001) which document the formation of membership policy and Association standards.

Microfilmed Records, 1906-70 only

[see Microfilmed Records Reel List]

Records for the years covered by the microfilm for the most part duplicate the surviving original format records.

Original Format Records, 1886-2001, n.d., 3 linear feet

[see Original Format Records Folder List]

There are a few original format materials dated before 1970, such as the Affiliations, Disaffiliations, and Name Change notebooks, that were not microfilmed. There are relatively substantial records policies, procedures, and forms, as well and Committee on Membership in the National Association records that were created after microfilming was complete.

Included are lists, forms, guidelines, and policies and procedures related to membership of Associations in the YWCA of the USA along with records of the Standards Study Committee and the Committee on Membership in the National Association.

Related Materials

In other Series in this Record Group

Completed Basic Standards and Association Review reports as well as correspondence with individual Associations about their membership status are in the SERIES IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES.

Discussions of membership issues can also be found in the records of the various departments providing services to Community Associations in SERIES I.

In other Record Groups

Materials related to membership of Student Associations are in RECORD GROUP 7. STUDENT WORK.

Issues related to membership of Associations and standards for Association membership were regularly discussed by the National Board and Executive Committee. See National Board minutes and reports in RECORD GROUP 2.

Establishment of Basic Standards/Standards of Excellence for Community Associations was part of the regular business at Convention. See RECORD GROUP 4.

Records related to policies for Membership of individuals (as opposed to Associations) are in SERIES III of RECORD GROUP 1. GENERAL AND HISTORY.

SERIES III. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO CLUB

Historical Note

The Hollywood Studio Club grew out of informal meetings of "a group of ambitious girls" who gathered in the basement of the Hollywood Public Library in the summer of 1916 to read plays together. The Librarian, worried for their welfare, consulted other Hollywood women, who formed themselves into a Committee to sponsor club work among young women employed in the burgeoning motion picture industry. Working in close collaboration with the Los Angeles YWCA, the women secured contributions from Hollywood business men to rent a Club House at 6129 Carlos Ave. The building was used primarily as a "social and educational center" but it also had facilities for short-term housing for a small number of new arrivals in Hollywood and emergency accommodations for the unemployed.

In the spring of 1919, a special committee of the Field Work Department of the YWCA of the USA recommended that the National Board assume responsibility for the Hollywood Studio Club "as a demonstration of work among the moving picture profession." The experimental work was administered through the Pacific Coast Field Committee of the Field Work Department beginning in the fall of 1919. While such experiments were not unusual for the National Association to undertake, usually on a trial basis, the publicity potential of the "Glamour Branch of the YWCA" was not lost on the National Board and the Club continued as a "special project" of the National Association until 1965.

The National Board purchased the Club House on Carlos Ave. in March of 1920, but soon found its facilities, which could only house 22, inadequate for the needs of the many young women flocking to Hollywood. A campaign was launched in 1923 to raise funds for a new building with Constance Adams de Mille (Mrs. Cecil B.) as its chair. San Francisco architect Julia Morgan was hired to design the structure on a centrally located lot close to all of the major studios. The new building at 1215 Lodi Place could house as many as 94 residents or transients and had a dining room where non-residents could get good food at reasonable prices. There were also rehearsal rooms, a telephone answering service, and various recreational activities.

The Studio Club's first Director, Marjorie Williams, a graduate of the YWCA's National Training School, established an effective and well-respected facility with excellent relations with the film industry. She also established a pattern of management which did not emphasize interpretation of the YWCA program or require membership in the YWCA. The Club operated "according to the spirit, if not so much to the letter" of Community YWCAs: community living at a good address with "girls" from many places in a well regulated situation with excellent food, attractive surroundings, and "the assurance of a friendly counselor."

With an eye to expansion of its facilities, the YWCA purchased the lot adjacent to the Studio Club in 1943. In response to the serious lack of housing for women in the armed services during World War II, the Studio Club offered to license the lot to the County War Council for construction of a temporary Guest House for Service Women. Completed in August of 1944, the Guest House could accommodate 100 women. After the War it served as a Studio Club annex until October of 1949, when it was destroyed by fire.

In the mid-1930s, the National Association resolved to limit its property holdings as much as possible, but was unable to find suitable buyers for some of its assets until after World War II. When buyers were finally found for the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, in 1951 and the Grace Dodge Hotel in 1959, the Committee of Management of the Studio Club felt the Club would probably also soon be sold, and hesitated to ask for funding for the substantial capital improvements needed on their aging building. Over time the Studio Club's unique status became somewhat of a liability. Unclear lines of responsibility meant the Club had no real advocate in the National Association. Though the Club was mostly self-sufficient, it existed without any reserve funds for unusual expenses. It also did not make regular "national support" payments to the National Association.

A 1959 study of the Studio Club and "its relationships" concluded it remained without a doubt a necessary and useful facility, but one that needed "new relationships" in order to continue successfully. The report advocated for a five to seven year exploration of alternatives. In the end, the Committee of Management asked the Los Angeles YWCA if it would be interested in an affiliation and the National Association transferred responsibility for management of the Club to the YWCA of Los Angeles in 1964.

The Hollywood Studio Club was ultimately closed by the Los Angeles YWCA in 1975, a "victim of changing times and fire codes."

Noted Hollywood Studio Club "alumnae" include Zasu Pitts, Ayn Rand, Donna Reed, Maureen O'Sullivan, Linda Darnell, Barbara Hale, Dorothy Malone, Barbara Rush, Marilyn Monroe, and Kim Novak.

Scope and Content

Materials in this section document the National Association's interactions with the Club.

Included are legal files about properties and mortgages, correspondence, newspaper clippings, minutes and reports of the Committee of Management, reports of the Club Director, and the 1959 Study of the Club.

The Club Director's reports 1938-40, Jun 1949-1964 provide extensive information about house activities, career advancements of club members, problems and illnesses, visitors and alumnae.

Though the 1940s are described as the hey-day of the Club, few records have survived from that decade.

Most of the records are available in both microfilm and original format.

Microfilmed Records, 1917-70 only

[see Microfilmed Records Reel List]

Minutes and Reports of the Committee of Management and the House Director can be found under 'Hollywood Studio Club.'

Subject Files: General information on the Club from the 1950s and 1960s can be found under 'Real Estate.'

Local Association Files: Correspondence and reports (1920-48) can be found under California, 'Hollywood Studio Club' and under 'Los Angeles, Hollywood Studio Club.'

Original Format Records, 1917-80, n.d., 1.5 linear feet

[see Original Format Records Folder List]

Included are correspondence, newspaper clippings, minutes, reports by national staff and by the Club Director, legal files about mortgages and real estate, and general historical materials.

Related Materials

In other Series in this Record Group

Discussions of the Club also appear in the minutes and reports of the department/division with responsibility for its work. These include: Field Work Department, Field Division, City Department, National Services Division, and Community Division in SERIES I of this Record Group.

In other Record Groups

As a special project of the National Board, discussions about the Club regularly appear in the National Board and Executive Committee minutes in RECORD GROUP 2. PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL BOARD.

Photographs of the Club and Club activities are in RECORD GROUP 9. PHOTOGRAPHS.

In other repositories

Additional materials can be found in the YWCA of Los Angeles Collection it the Urban Archives Collection, California State University-Northridge.

SERIES IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES

Historical Note

From the earliest days of the two predecessor organizations, statistical information was collected and maintained about each Community Association's programs and financial contributions to the national effort.

This type of information gathering continued after the founding of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in 1906-07. At the time, the National Association's main concern was the growth of the new organization and the efficacy of its services. The information collected was primarily put to use by the staff working to attract financial support and build the public image of the National Association.

The cut in staff and reorganization of work that resulted in the establishment of the Field Division in 1923 represented the beginnings of a new way of thinking about how best to provide services to Community Associations. In her report to the 1922 Convention, "The Association Movement Today," the General Secretary noted that the Association may have reached the end of its initial expansion period and should now begin to strive for "quality, and not quantity" of Associations. The Field Committees, "to which we owe our rapid growth," were re-assigned to fund-raising work and the national staff was "readjusted . . . so that local units and national headquarters are in closer touch."

One of the tools for the "readjusted" staff to enhance the services provided to Associations appears to have been the establishment of a central "geographic" file (later known as the "Local Associations" file) with folders for each Association. Visitation report forms were designed to gather information about individual Associations which could be filed in that Association's folder. (Prior to this time, Secretaries' reports tended to be chronological accounts of their travels, with commentary on the many Associations visited over the course of a trip combined in a single report.)

The concept behind the staff readjustment was carried further in the 1932 reorganization and staff reduction when services to Associations was further streamlined into a National Services Division and the City, Town, and Rural Communities departments were eliminated.

The development of a system (adopted at the 1949 Convention) by which Associations were expected to meet a set of "basic standards" in order to remain affiliated with the National Association had a profound effect on the relationship between the YWCA of the USA and its member Associations. As the National Association reduced its program development activities, particularly after World War II, the work of the department charged with providing services to Community Associations became increasingly about monitoring this "basic standards" reporting process and tracking each Association's financial support of the National Association. Once the Action Audit for Change process was adopted in the 1970s, that reporting was also the responsibility of the department.

While record-keeping related to membership regulations increased, direct service to Community Associations in need of specific help or advice continued, but on a smaller scale and more often by mail or telephone than through a visit from National Staff. As the National Association scaled back its program activities, Community Associations were encouraged to share information about their new programs and methods. The National Office collected such materials for potential adaptation and dissemination to the whole Association. National staff also kept track of local pressures to merge operations with the YMCA and Associations involved in controversies and lawsuits, especially those that had the potential to make a serious negative impact on the National Association. Included in these are lawsuits challenging the all-female board membership policy on sex discrimination grounds (EEOC vs. YWCA of Tucson), and a variety of liability lawsuits and problems with tenants.

Scope and Content

The National Association appears to have begun to keep files on individual Associations with the staff reorganization in 1923. The files created at that time contain some earlier items, particularly information about the original affiliation of Member Associations and copies of constitutions and by-laws. The records of interactions between national staff and individual Associations, including the extensive and rich correspondence and visitation reports, date from 1923 on.

Included are such topics as relations with branches (usually 'colored' branches, but also International Institutes); progress with racial integration; studies on various topics carried out either by the Association or by a local agency; affiliation/disaffiliation history, lawsuits; and controversies. The files can include Association histories, materials about program, rosters of staff and volunteer leadership, reports on YM-YW cooperation, information about the Association's building, and annual reports. Many also include consultants' reports and special studies on any and all topics of interest to the YWCA, such as race relations, industrial conditions, and youth. These can be a rich source of historical information about individual YWCAs, but they are not particularly comprehensive. What is included is somewhat dependent on what the Community Association thought to send to the National Office.

After 1930, the Association phased out the extensive written reports of its early years. Though Secretaries continued to file visitation reports, they did not travel as much and the files are much less likely to contain records of extensive interaction with the National Association. Once the Basic Standards system was initiated after World War II, Community Association files tend to primarily contain Basic Standards report forms and updated constitution and affiliation/certification (including dissolution and disaffiliation) history materials. Also included are Action Audit for Change reports on progress toward eliminating institutional racism.

Community Association files also document inquiries from individuals interested in forming new YWCAs and associated records.

As with elsewhere in the records, very little survives from 1971-87.

The later files document the process for "rigorously enforcing adherence to the standards" that was undertaken as a part Project Redesign in 1992. They also contain extensive evidence of deteriorating relations between National and its Community Associations.

Microfilmed Records, 1884-1970 only

[see Microfilmed Records Reel list]

Most of the materials in the extensive Local Associations files on the microfilm were discarded after filming. Surviving paper records from that period (1884-1970) are extremely fragmentary. Reel 169, containing the pre-1950 records of some Florida Associations (Gainesville-West Palm Beach) and Georgia Associations (Albany-Brunswick) is lost.

The microfilmed records include some very early materials, but the bulk are dated after the establishment of the Field Division in 1923.

The earlier microfilmed Local Associations files are rich sources of information about Associations and their various Branches and International Institutes. Included are YWCA and other organizations' studies and surveys of the local community and particular constituencies within it. These regularly include local interracial, youth, immigration, and industrial studies among other topics. There are also files on YWCA cooperation at the local level with other social service organizations, particularly the YMCA.

The microfilmed Local Associations files also contain some records of World War I era facilities (filed by location) as well as some records of the Hollywood Studio Club (under California.)

Filming of the "Local Associations" files was done in three batches: materials covering the years 1884 to 1950; 1951 to 1960; and 1961to 1970. Each batch is arranged alphabetically by state and then alphabetically by location of the Association.

Please note: The Inventory lists the types of materials that were filmed, but not necessarily in the order in which they appear on the film.

Original Format Records, 1868-2002, 108 linear feet

[see Original Format Records Folder List]

The Paper Records are arranged in two Subseries:

Subseries A. Community Associations Historical Files

Most of the materials in the extensive Local Associations files on the microfilm were discarded after filming. Surviving paper records from that period (1884-1970) are extremely fragmentary.

These files consist primarily of materials assembled by the YWCA Librarian and Archivists to provide historical information about Community Associations. Included are publications, clippings, studies, histories, and reports. There are a few miscellaneous early office records that were transferred from offices after the National Board Archives was established. These may not have been microfilmed. Some major studies and reports on individual Associations that were part of the National Board library collection can be found here. Also included are responses to the National Board Archives Project 1974 questionnaire about historical records held by Associations.

They are arranged alphabetically by state, then alphabetically by location or name of the Association.

Subseries B. Community Associations Files

These files are the equivalent of the Local Associations files on the microfilm, but date between 1988 and 2002. They are the files maintained by the Member Association Services office.

Included in this series are the various reports and records required for maintaining affiliation with the National Association, such as updated constitution and by-laws, summary financial records, statistical reports and general information on program.

The correspondence deals with affiliation-related issues, and can also include advisory correspondence, and materials on local controversies, as well as such things as arrangements for visits by national staff. The MAS office also kept track of any lawsuits filed against Community Associations.

The materials are filed by state and then by the most current name of the Association (as of 2002) with its location/city in parentheses where applicable.

Related Materials

In other Series in this Record Group

The earliest records of national staff interactions with Community Associations can be found in the minutes and reports of the departments providing services to associations (Field Work, City, Town, Rural Communities) in SERIES I of this Record Group. These include 1907-23 reports of visits to Associations.

In other Record Groups

There is some correspondence with Community Associations in RECORD GROUP 3. NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, in SERIES I. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION and in RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES III. PUBLIC ADVOCACY.

Materials related to the Action Program for Integration and Desegregation of Community Associations and the Action Audit reporting program can be found in RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM, SERIES IV. CONSTITUENT GROUPS, Subseries C. Interracial/Racial Justice.

The Department of Data and Statistics (in RECORD GROUP 3. NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, SERIES 4 ) published compilations of statistics gleaned from report forms submitted by Community Associations.

Detailed reports from individual Associations affiliated with the two predecessor organizations to the YWCA of the U.S.A. are included in the Conference and Convention Proceedings of those organizations in RECORD GROUP 2. PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL BOARD.

Additional early information about interactions with Associations can be found in the minutes and reports of the State, Territorial, and Field Committees in RECORD GROUP 2. PREDECESSOR ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL BOARD.

Routine reports on activities of Community Associations can be found in the YWCA of the USA's main serial publication: The Association Monthly/Womans Press/YWCA Magazine/YWCA Interchange in SERIES 6. PUBLICATIONS of RECORD GROUP 6. PROGRAM.

Similar types of records about Student Associations is in RECORD GROUP 7. STUDENT WORK.

In other repositories

The Sophia Smith Collection maintains a list of repositories known to hold historical records of Community and Student YWCAs.

SERIES I. SERVICES TO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS

SERIES II. MEMBERSHIP OF ASSOCIATIONS

SERIES III. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO CLUB

SERIES IV. COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS FILES