DONORS
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ACCESS
The Sophia Smith Collection is open to the
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The Sophia Smith Collection continues to
Sophia Smith
grow by donations of new collections and additions to
existing holdings. Prospective donors are invited to
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public free of charge. Because of their fragility and
call, write, or visit to discuss placing papers with us.
COLLECTION
uniqueness, the materials do not circulate, but are
available for use in the reading room by anyone who can
L O C AT I O N
provide photo identification and is willing to abide by the
room is on Level A of Alumnae Gymnasium where it
regulations. For those unable to visit, the staff regularly
shares facilities and staff with the Smith College
responds to questions by phone, mail, fax, and e-mail.
Archives. The wheelchair-accessible entrance is
Information on photocopying and other duplication
through Neilson Library. Directions, campus maps, and
services is available on request or by consulting the
information on transportation, accommodations, and
SSC’s Web site.
parking are available on our Web site or by calling or
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The Sophia Smith Collection reading
Wo m e n
’s
Histor
y Man
uscr
ipts
emailing the SSC.
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It is advisable to contact the SSC before visiting because
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the staff can often provide information to help you plan
READING ROOM HOURS
Monday, Tuesday,
your visit as well as inform you of relevant restrictions.
Thursday, and Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 pm.; Wednesday:
Some materials are stored off-site and require 48-hours
1 p.m. to 9 p.m. (selected Sunday afternoons during the
notice for retrieval. Requests for access to newly-
academic year—call or consult our Web site for dates)
received and unprocessed material can sometimes be
accommodated, depending upon donor directives and
1 Marchers at a Gay Rights demonstra-
legal restrictions.
tion, 1970s. Photo by Cary Herz. Herz
For more information, please contact
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Papers 2 Membership brochure, circa
THE SOPHIA SMITH COLLECTION
2005. SisterSong Women of Color
Staff members are glad to make appointments and give
Reproductive Health Collective Records 3 Women Strike for
group or class presentations about the holdings and the
Peace, Washington, DC, 1969. Photo by Diana Davies. Davies
use of primary sources. We request that Five College
Papers 4 Monaghan Mills illustration, circa 1904. YWCA of
and Smith faculty arrange orientation sessions for their
classes when planning assignments using the SSC.
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
telephone: 413 585-2970 · fax: 413 585-2886
e-mail: ssc-wmhist@smith.edu
web site: http://libraries.smith.edu/libs/ssc
the USA Records 5 Cupcake #3 by Jocelyn, 1996. Girl Zines
Collection 6 Henrietta Roelofs, undated. Photographer
unknown. Rhoda McCulloch Papers 7 Advertising brochure
Smith College is committed to maintaining a diverse community in an atmosphere
for “The Modern Method of Birth Control,” 1938. Planned
of mutual respect and appreciation of differences. Smith College does not discrim-
The SSC Web site features an up-to-date list of collec-
Parenthood League of Massachusetts Records 8 Centre for
inate in its educational and employment policies on the bases ofrace, color, creed,
tions, numerous subject guides, news, exhibits, and lesson
Development and Population Activities group. Peggy Curlin,
religion, national/ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or with regard to the
plans for teachers. Also from the Web site, researchers
bases outlined in the Veterans Readjustment Act and Americans with Disabilities
right. Photographer unknown. Population and Reproductive Health
Act. Smith’s admission policies and practices are guided by the same principle,
Oral History Project 9 Vera Barger and an unidentified YWCA of
can access full inventories of processed collections and
China staff member, circa 1925. Photo by Grace Steinbeck. YWCA
brief descriptions of all SSC collections.
of the USA Records
concerning women applying to the undergraduate program and all applicants to
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the graduate programs. For more information, please contact the Office of
Institutional Diversity, (413) 585-2141.
LLEGE
O
C
H
T
AT SMI
THE SOPHIA SMITH COLLECTION
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at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository
The Sophia Smith Collection’s manuscripts and archives
of individuals’ papers, organization records, oral histories,
document the lives of individual women and families and the
periodicals, and other primary sources documenting
work of organizations whose focus is on women and women’s
women’s history. It was founded in 1942 to be the library’s
issues through letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs,
distinctive contribution to the college’s mission of educating
minutes, reports, publications, and a host of other materials.
women. Under the inspired leadership of its first director,
Oral histories capture compelling life stories and demonstrate
Margaret Storrs Grierson, the Sophia Smith Collection
the persistence and diversity of grass-roots organizing on
evolved from a collection of works by women writers into a
behalf of women. Over 1,000 current and historical periodical
historical research collection of archival resources docu-
titles include nineteenth-century “ladies’” magazines,
menting the lives and activities of women. In 1946 it was
mainstream twentieth-century women’s magazines, 1970s
named to honor the founder of Smith College.
women’s movement newsletters, and late-twentieth century
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self-published Zines. A complete list of collections is available
Today, the Collection consists of over 9,500 linear feet of
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on our Web site at http://libraries.smith.edu/libs/ssc.
material in manuscript, print, photographic, and audiovisual
formats. The holdings document the historical experience
Cover: YWCA Girl Reserves, Evanston, Illinois, 1944. Photo by Arthur
of women in the United States and abroad from the colonial
Allen. YWCA of the USA Records 1 Lucretia Peabody Hale, circa
era to the present. Subject strengths include women’s rights
1850s. Photo probably by Edward Everett Hale. Hale Family Papers
and suffrage; reproductive health and justice; U.S. women
working abroad; the arts (especially theatre); the professions
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2 Letter by Susan Hale, July 1857. Hale Family Papers 3 Cartoon by
Alison Bechdel, 2007. Bechdel Papers
4 Illustration by J.R. Rouse from “Native Women’s Reproductive Rights
Agenda,” circa 1996. Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center Records
5 Helen Gurley
(especially social work and journalism); middle-class family
Brown and friends, circa 1940s. Photographer unknown. Brown Papers
life in nineteenth- and twentieth-century New England; and
Mexican-American women held in the U.S., March 1971. YWCA of the USA Records
the contemporary women’s movement across categories of
demonstration by the Rape Crisis Squad, 1974. Photo by Cary Herz. Herz Papers 8 League of Women
race, class, and sexual orientation. Many of these collections
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6 Button from the first conference of
7 Defensive techniques
Shoppers pamphlet, 1937. LWS Records 9 National Congress of Neighborhood Women flyer, undated.
NCNW Records bk Arizine, spring 2000. Art by Penny Jackson. ARISE for Social Justice Records bl Sticker
are rich sources of visual as well as manuscript and printed
from New Jersey state suffrage campaign, undated. Suffrage Collection bm The Roys family, 1911. Photo-
material.
grapher unknown. Roys Papers bn Crosby St. resident, New York City, 1970s. Photo by Cary Herz. Herz Papers
bn
bl
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