Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm88065707
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
Part I of the records of the Society of Woman Geographers was given to the Library of Congress in 1988 by the Society. Part II was given in 2001 and Part III from 2007 to 2015, all gifts from the Society of Woman Geographers.
Parts I and II of the records of the Society of Woman Geographers were processed and described by Karen Stuart in 1990 and 2003. Part III was processed and the finding aid revised in 2016 by Karen Linn Femia with the assistance of Chanté Flowers and Brian McGuire.
Part I of the collection is described in
Audio recordings of oral histories have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Divison where they are identified as part of the records of the Society of Woman Geographers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of the Society of Woman Geographers is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The records of the Society of Woman Geographers are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Roman numeral designating the Part followed by a colon and container number, Society of Woman Geographers Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Society of Woman Geographers (SWG) was founded in 1925 by four friends -- Gertrude Emerson Sen, Marguerite Harrison, Blair Niles, and Gertrude Mathews Shelby -- to bring together women actively interested in geography, world exploration, anthropology, and allied disciplines. Analogous to the Explorers Club, which did not admit women until 1981, the SWG provided a forum for its members to exchange knowledge, recognize excellence, and offer mutual encouragement. Chapters were organized in New York and Washington, now the group's headquarters, and later in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida, and New England. At-large and corresponding members have resided throughout the United States and in more than fifty countries around the world.
Membership in SWG is gained by election following a process of nomination and evaluation. Active members are those who have conducted research and fieldwork, are recognized authorities in their disciplines, and have contributed to the world's knowledge through their publications, films, photographs, or artistic works. Associate members are similarly well-traveled women whose interests and activities are compatible with those of active members, but who do not fulfill all requirements of active membership. More than one thousand women have become members since the SWG's inception.
The records of the Society of Woman Geographers span the years 1905-2015. The records are organized into three parts: Part I (1910-1987), Part II (1927-1998), and Part III (1905-2015). All parts of the SWG records contain inactive membership files; Part III additionally holds transcripts of oral histories of prominent members and a publications section containing newsletters, reports, and other printed matter from the society. Each part is arranged alphabetically by name of member. The files typically contain original nomination/application forms; correspondence pertaining to membership status, dues, and current activities; printed material, newspaper articles, obituary notices and memorial tributes; and photographs. Oral history transcripts in Part III are always indicated in the folder title, usually as a separate folder or folders. Each year members were asked to complete a summary of their research activities, travel, and fieldwork for publication in the society's bulletin. These sheets, sometimes supplemented by curriculum vitae, document the activities and accomplishments of lesser-known women. Conversely, since some of the society's more illustrious members, such as Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, and Pearl S. Buck, tended to be "more...honored member[s] than...particularly contributing one[s] -- except through reflected glory," (1) their files generally contain only routine material. Many members have files in more than one part of the collection. No file for SWG founding member Blair Niles is present in the collection.
United by their common interest in geography, SWG members have pursued widely divergent careers. Many members have been primarily known as geographers (Edna Fay Campbell, Elina González Acha de Correa Morales, Elsie May Grosvenor, Helen B. Smith, Helen M. Strong), or have worked in the closely related fields of oceanography (Marie Tharpe) or anthropology and ethnology (Mabel Cook Cole, Frances Densmore, Theodora Kroeber, Mary D. Leakey, Margaret Mead). Many others, however, have been explorers, mountain climbers, and big-game hunters (Delia J. Akeley, Mary Hastings Bradley, Muriel Agnes Eleanora Talbot Brown, Sally Clark, Hettie Dyhrenfurth, Pam Flowers, Marie Ahnighito Peary, Annie Peck) or environmentalists and naturalists (Rachel Carson, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Anne LaBastille, Lucile Quarry Mann, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam). SWG's members have also included aviators (Louise Arner Boyd, Amelia Earhart, Fay Gillis Wells); artists (Berta N. Briggs, Sally Clark, Lucille Sinclair Douglass, Lily Spandorf); archaeologists (Margaret Alice Murray, Esther Boise Van Deman); novelists (Bettina Peter Lum Crowe, Alice Tisdale Hobart, Margaret Landon); journalists, photographers, and broadcasters (Ruby A. Black, Margaret Bourke-White, Dickey Chapelle, May Craig, Ann Cottrell Free, Laura Gilpin, Ella Fullmore Harllee, Rose Wilder Lane, Mary Marvin Breckenridge Patterson); specialists in public health medicine and family planning (Marion Crary Ingersoll, Mary Lee Mills); librarians and archivists (Virginia Haviland, Irene Aloha Wright); and historian Mary Ritter Beard, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and member of Congress Frances Payne Bingham Bolton.
The SWG's emphasis on "personal association and interchange of ideas among members rather than on organizational activities" (2) suggests that the most significant records are the membership files and the oral histories. Administrative files and financial records have not been retained by the society, but much information about the organization's founding and operations can be gleaned from the files of members who served on the executive council or as officers of one of the regional chapters. Especially useful in this regard are files for Harriet Chalmers Adams, Dorothy M. Andrews, Mary Hastings Bradley, Berta N. Briggs, Edna Fay Campbell, Frances Carpenter, Mabel Cook Cole, Florence Page Jaques, Muna Lee, Mary A. Nourse, Elizabeth Fagg Olds, Marie Ahnighito Peary, Isabelle F. Story, and Helen M. Strong, as well as those for Elizabeth Derr Davisson, Nordis Adelheid Felland, Florence de L. Lowther, Reba Forbes Morse, Ruth Crosby Noble, Helen Damrosch Tee-Van, Mildred G. Uhrbrock and Mary Chamberlain Vander Pyl (New York); and Mary McRae Colby and Alice Foster (Chicago). Other records retained by the SWG include the files of current members and a separate photographic file. Mimeographed separation sheets present in some members' files refer to photographic images remaining in SWG custody.
SWG's members were professionally active and published widely in their respective fields. Information about members' careers or literary output is included in the annual summaries and curriculum vitae found in the collection, supplemented by publications of other professional associations, subject indexes and bibliographies appropriate to the field of specialization, and indexes to popular periodicals.
1. Elizabeth Fagg Olds to Megan Murray, November 12, 1982 (Murray file).
2. Ibid.
The collection is arranged in three parts:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm88065707
Inactive membership files to 1987. Correspondence, application forms, annual reports of activities, printed material, obituaries, and photographs.
Arranged alphabetically by name of member.
Inactive membership files from 1987 to 2001. Correspondence, application forms, annual reports of activities, printed material, obituaries, and photographs.
Arranged alphabetically by name of member.
Inactive membership files to 2015, oral history transcripts, and publications of the society, including newsletters, reports, and pamphlets. Membership files include correspondence, application forms, annual member reports of activities, printed material, obituaries, and photographs.
A members file arranged alphabetically by name of member followed by a publications file arranged alphbetically by type of publication.