It’s International Women’s Day. I’ve been immersed in the records of the YWCA of the USA for the past year and would be remiss if I let this day go by without noting the amazing resources available in the YWCA of the USA records documenting an organization working to empower all women. Through advocacy, social justice, education and programming the YWCA USA has worked with and for women and girls in cooperation with other organizations and movements. You can read more about the history of the organization and the YWCA of the USA records in a previous blog post. Describing the microfilm, photographs and serials has been a powerful reminder to me of what great things women can accomplish when we put aside our differences and work together in support of a better life for all. In creating robust metadata records I hope to connect researchers to these documents and through increased access create opportunity for greater learning from and connecting to the past. The YWCA of the USA records are part of the Sophia Smith Collection where one can find the records and collections of individuals, organizations and subjects documenting women’s history.

It’s impossible to select an image or document that represents the long history and wide ranging activities of the YWCA USA. I’ve selected a few of the photographs that have recently come back from digitization that offer a very small sample of the work of the YWCA USA.