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Inventory of the Centers And Programs. Office Of Women's Affairs/Center For Women And Religion, 1969-88.
GTU 92-3-1
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Title: Centers And Programs. Office of Women's Affairs/Center for Women and Religion,
Date (inclusive): 1969-88.
Accession number: GTU 92-3-1
Shelf location: 3/D/5 - 3/E/2 (Negatives, 1/A/2; Slides, 1/A/3); Record Group: RG 7, Subgroup C
Creator:
Office of Women's Affairs/Center for Women and Religion
Size: 15 boxes; 10 1/2 ft.
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union.
Berkeley, California
Introduction: The collection came to Archives from the Center in the order preserved here. The CWR office kept their records chronologically
by academic year then alphabetical within each year. The records were kept by a succession of staff persons, therefore the
completeness and organization of each years' records vary. Records for CWR Board of Directors and Steering Committee may not
be complete. There was a series of three-ring binders that held the minutes from 1970-80 as well as file folders of minutes
within each academic year's records. It is not clear whether the binders or the file folders held complete minutes. Since
there were no binders after 1980, and not necessarily file folders of minutes in each year, the minutes from 1980 - 87 are
spotty at best. Likewise, records for CWR publications are incomplete. There is a complete run of the OWA Newsletter (1975-77),
and the
Journal of Women and Religion (1981-88), but the CWR Newsletter (1983-87) is incomplete.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing
to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Centers and Programs. Office Of Women's Affairs/Center for Women and Religion, GTU 92-3-1, The Graduate
Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Feminism -- Religious aspects -- History -- Sources
Graduate Theological Union. Center for Women and Religion
Graduate Theological Union. Office of Women's Affairs
Women -- Clergy -- History -- Sources
Women -- San Francisco Bay area -- History -- Sources
Women and religion -- History -- Sources
Women in church work -- History -- Sources
The Center for Women and Religion, the oldest center for women in theological education, was founded in 1970 as the Office
of Women's Affairs by Bay Area women in religion, including some GTU women, who recognized "that seminary women at the GTU
schools needed a channel, an advocate, an office through which to express their needs and concerns."
(CWR Newsletter, Summer 1978, pg. 10) It operated originally out of Unitas, the campus ministry program at the University of California, Berkeley.
Soon, OWA became affiliated with the GTU, though the process, complicated by discussions about and differing expectations
of funding, sponsorship, and support, was not smooth or simple. By 1977 or 1978, the name was changed to the Center for Women
and Religion. For a short period, both names were used for various events and functions. After affiliation with GTU, OWA/CWR
had an office at the 2465 LeConte Building (then the administration building for the GTU), expanding later to an office in
the GTU Annex at 2452 Virginia and the CWR House at 1730 Scenic.
OWA/CWR conceived that the foci of its work would be in the areas of research, the status of women in religious structures,
and community building for women students, faculty, staff, and spouses moving to the goal of ending sexism and promoting justice
in and through religion. It worked to accomplish these goals through the distribution of resources, offering GTU courses,
and through various sponsored conferences, programs, events, and groups. Early publications include
Women and the Word: Toward a Whole Theology an anthology of women's writings;
Women in a Strange Land: Search for a New Image, a collection of writings about women's experiences of isolation during the period of early feminist theological scholarship;
and
Woman: A Theological Perspective, 1974, a bibliography on women and religion compiled by Clare Fischer and Rochelle Gatlin, and an updated
Breaking Through: A Bibliography of Women and Religion, 1980. CWR has published a newsletter since 1975, and since 1981, the
Journal of Women and Religion.
By 1985, CWR was able to express its purpose thus: the Center is "an international network of members committed to mutual
support, education, and action. It is an ecumenical community whose purpose is: (1) to transform theological education through
curriculum, faculty development, and pedagogical transformation pursuant to a feminist perspective, and through research and
resource development; (2) to affirm and support equal and just participation of women within religious institutions; (3) to
affirm and support ministry by CWR and by women beyond the traditional structures of church and theological education; and
(4) to develop seminars and extra-seminary funding sources." ("Proposal to Attend the UN Decade for Women in Nairobi, Kenya,
July 1985")
1)
Articles on Women (bound volume). Collected by CWR staff for the GTU Library, 1972-77. Rare Book: HQ1393 G7.
2)
Breaking Through: A Bibliography of Women and Religion, Clare B. Fischer and Rochelle Gatlin, 1980. Rare Book: Z7963 R45 F57.
3)
Woman: A Theological Perspective, Clare B. Fischer, 1974. Rare Book: Z7963 T5 F5.
4)
Women in a Strange Land: Search for a New Image, eds., Clare B. Fischer, Betsy Brenneman, Anne McGrew Bennett, 1975. Rare Book: HQ1394 W64.