Contents


Collection Overview

Administrative Information

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Thesis "'On the Edge of Tomorrow': Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race, 1920-1944" by Frances Sanders Taylor [Anton], Stanford University, 1984

Notes on taped interviews (handwritten) 1981-82

Interview with Mary Jane Willet 5 Oct 1967: notes

Interview permission forms 1981-82

Interviews -- CD USE COPIES

Interviews -- Audiocassette originals 1981-82 (32 total)

Interviews -- CD Preservation masters 2010 (32 cds)

Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race (1920-1944) Collection

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Maida Goodwin.

2011

Collection Overview

Title:Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race (1920-1944) Collection
Dates:1920-1944
Abstract: YWCA workers. Fourteen audiotaped interviews with women who were involved with the Student Young Women's Christian Association in the southeastern United States between 1920 and 1944 conducted by Frances Sanders Taylor [Anton], 1981-82 as part her doctoral dissertation.
Extent: 5 boxes(2 linear ft.)
Language: English
Identification: MS # 679

Administrative Information

Related materials can be found in the Sophia Smith Collection in the YWCA of the U.S.A. Records and in the papers of various YWCA staff members, especially Winnifred Wygal. Additional interviews with Sue Bailey Thurman and Frances Harriet Williams are in the Black Women Oral History Project. Additional material about Katharine DuPre Lumpkin can be found in the Smith College Archives.

Additional and related materials available in other repositories include the Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Papers in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina; the Sarah Gibson Blanding Papers in the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University; the Grace Towns Hamilton Papers at the Atlanta History Center; and the Sue Bailey Thurman Papers at Boston University.

Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2011

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race (1920-1944) Collection, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection. The SSC owns copyright to the writings by Frances Sanders Taylor Anton. Copyright to original interviews is also held by each interviewee or her estate. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and also satisfy all copyright holders. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.

Original audiovisual materials may not be used. Research copies are available.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

This is a collection of fourteen audiotaped interviews (transferred to CD) with women who were involved with the Student Young Women's Christian Association in the southeastern United States between 1920 and 1944. The interviews were conducted by Frances Sanders Taylor [Anton] in 1981 and 1982 as part of the research for her Stanford University doctoral dissertation, "'On the Edge of Tomorrow': Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race, 1920-1944."

Group at YWCA Student Conference, Waveland, Mississippi, 1931

Also included is a copy of the thesis, interview permission forms, and Taylor Anton's notes on the interviews. In addition, there are notes Taylor Anton made on a 1967 taped interview with YWCA student staff member, Mary Jane Willett. It is unclear who conducted the 1967 interview.

Taylor Anton's questions deal primarily with the women's memories of their YWCA involvement, and the YWCA's work on issues related to race, but she also inquires about their family background, and their lives and careers after their work for the Student YWCA. Many of the women interviewed first became associated with the YWCA as members, joining either as teenagers or during their college years. Later, they served as volunteer leaders and/or joined the staff at the local, regional, or national level. The YWCA made a point of hiring staff members to work in its Southern Region (southeast) who were themselves raised there believing that they would understand the territory best and be more effective advocates for YWCA program within that milieu.

Five of the women interviewed were African-American (Catchings, Hamilton, Logan, Thurman, and Williams) the remaining nine were white. Their names are as follows:

Sarah Gibson BlandingKatharine "Kasha" ButlerRose May Withers [Catchings]Mary "Polly" Moss CuthbertsonLois GratzGrace Towns HamiltonElizabeth "Betty" Smith [Harrington]Wenonah Bond Logan Katharine DuPre LumpkinFrances Helen MainsRosalie OakesAugusta Winn RobertsSue Bailey [Thurman]Frances Harriet Williams

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Box

Folder

11-3
Thesis "'On the Edge of Tomorrow': Southern Women, the Student YWCA, and Race, 1920-1944" by Frances Sanders Taylor [Anton], Stanford University, 1984

Box

Folder

14-7
Notes on taped interviews (handwritten) 1981-82

Box

Folder

18
Interview with Mary Jane Willet notes 5 Oct 1967:

Box

Folder

19
Interview permission forms 1981-82


Interviews -- CD USE COPIES

Box

Folder

110
Sarah Gibson Blanding (1 cd) 10 May 1982

11
Katharine Butler (4 cds) 11 May 1982

12
Rose May Withers Catchings (3 cds) 16 Dec 1982

13
Mary Moss Cuthbertson (3 cds) 12 May 1982

14
Lois Gratz (1 cd) 12 Feb 1983

15
Grace Towns Hamilton (1 cd) 3 Nov 1981

16
Elizabeth Smith Harrington (3 cds) 13 May 1982

17
Wenonah Bond Logan 20 Dec 1981

18
Katharine DuPre Lumpkin (2 cds) 9 Oct 1981 & 14 May 1982

Box

Folder

21
Frances Helen Mains (3 cds) 20 Dec 1981

2
Augusta Winn Roberts (4 cds) 24 Jul & 28 Aug 1982

3
Rosalie Oakes (2 cds) 6 May 1982

4
Sue Bailey Thurman (3 cds) [sound quality poor] 7 Jun 1982

5
Frances Harriet Williams (2 cds) 14 Nov 1982


Interviews -- Audiocassette originals(32 total) 1981-82

Box



3
Sarah Gibson Blanding (1 tape) 10 May 1982


Katharine Butler (4 tapes) 11 May 1982


Rose May Withers Catchings (3 tapes) 16 Dec 1982


Mary Moss Cuthbertson (3 tapes) 12 May 1982


Lois Gratz (1 tape) 12 Feb 1983


Grace Towns Hamilton (1 tape) 3 Nov 1981


Elizabeth Smith Harrington (3 tapes) 13 May 1982

Box



4
Wenonah Bond Logan (1.5 tapes) [second tape shared with Frances Helen Mains] 20 Dec 1981


Katharine DuPre Lumpkin (2 tapes) 9 Oct 1981 & 14 May 1982


Frances Helen Mains (1.5 tapes) [second tape shared with Wenonah Logan] 20 Dec 1981


Augusta Winn Roberts (4 tapes) 24 Jul & 28 Aug 1982


Rosalie Oakes (2 tapes) 6 May 1982


Sue Bailey Thurman (3 tapes) 7 Jun 1982


Frances Harriet Williams (2 tapes) 14 Nov 1982

Box



5
Interviews -- CD Preservation masters (32 cds) 2010