The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Washington State College (now Washington State University) was established in 1895. It provided the women of the college a place to worship, held bible classes, and located housing and employment. It also served as a social organization that cooperated with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Washington State College. A popular social event in the 1910s-1930s was the conferences held at Seabeck, (located on Washington's Hood Canal). Topics at Seabeck focused on issues of the YWCA's and YMCA's of the Pacific Northwest.
During the 1940s, the chapter concentrated on global issues. For example, the YWCA had plans to send care packages overseas although the lack of funds prohibited such action. In the 1950s-1960s, the organization studied politics and world relations, presenting programs on various subjects, including the war in Vietnam and the Democratic system. In 1969, the YWCA adopted the imperative "the elimination of racism." Programs of the 1970s and 1980s offered more projects on cultural awareness in the United States.
Membership grew steadily until 1954, peaking in that year with 711 members. In 1972, the membership had dropped to 219 members. The student body provided sole support for the YWCA until 1917 when the University partially funded the secretary's salary. Other assistance was provided by the Helen A. Fuller Endowment Fund established by Fuller in 1929. As of 2012, the United Way supported over 75% of the YWCA budget.
This collection consists of records of the YWCA of Washington State University, including budgets, newsletters, meeting minutes, correspondence, and other materials. It also includes volumes of material on student volunteer activities, fundraising, awareness campaigns, political position statements, instructional videos, and other media. The collection also covers student and professional conferences, meetings, and activities related to political activism and student involvement. There are numerous boxes of correspondence, instructional materials and financial documents.
MS 1991.27, 1947-1987 (0.5 linear feet) - This accession includes correspondence and institutional records.
MS 1997.46 (11 linear feet) - This accession consists of administrative and financial records for the YWCA. This includes correspondence, student cabinet and board minutes, budget materials, advisory board minutes, student handouts and training materials, records from conferences and events hosted by the YWCA. This accession also includes materials on Women's studies, sexual violence, stereotypes, and racial minorities. In addition, this accession contains materials related to various programs, such as peer mentoring, tutoring, and babysitting.
MS 1999.14, 1908-1996 (3 linear feet) - This accession consists of training manuals, various program binders, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings in three ring binders. This accession also includes handbooks published by the YWCA and an instructional video.
MS.2019.08, 1954-2003 (.25 linear feet) - Primarily contains early constitutional documents and event material related to YWCA activities from about 1982-1984, and then 1998-2003. Materials often focus on racial justice activities and issues. Processed by WSU graduate student Uwakmfon John in 2025, during which the YWCA origin was identified and it was reclassified to this set of accessions. Four folders: Administrative, 1954-1973; Activities, 1982-1983; Racial Justice, 1983-1984; Activities and Administrative, 1998-2003.
This is an unprocessed collection. Any arrangement reflects either a pre-existing order from the records' creators or previous custodians, or preliminary sorting performed by staff.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Preliminary Guide to the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Washington State University Records, 1908-2003 (MSSM 033)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
This collection was donated in installments to Washington State University Libraries by members of the YWCA from 1991 to 1999 (MS 1991-27, MS 1997-46, MS 1999-14). MS 2019-27 was transferred to WSU Libraries' MASC by Tomyia Wallace, an office assistant in the Womens' Center, on Dec. 5, 2019 and initially retained as UA2019-08 before being preliminarily processed in 2025 by WSU graduate student Uwakmfon John and reidentified as MS 2019-27 at that time.
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Washington State University Records,
1906-1980
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of the State College of Washington
Photographs,
Additional YWCA photographs can be found in the Washington State University Office of University Publications
and Printing/WSU Press WSU Photographs, 1947-1983
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.