YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula records, circa 1948-2013

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Summary

Creators:
YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula
Abstract:
The Young Women's Christian Association of the Mid-Peninsula Records contains materials related to its history, administration, public policy advocacy, programming for women and children, and incorporation of the Stanford YWCA in 1982.
Extent:
51 Linear Feet 92 manuscript boxes, 6 flat boxes, 1 carton, 1 map folder; including posters, framed certificates, books, etc.; 6 cassette tapes, 3 reels of magnetic audiotape; 1 reel of super 8 film, 3 VHS tapes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Records (M1538), Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula opened in 1948 as a recreation center for business women. It expanded to provide recreational and social services for women that met the organization's mission of "empowering women and eliminating racism." This collection documents the organization's history, its administrative structure and daily operations, major programming and public policy efforts, and ties to the Stanford and national YWCA. The Mid-Peninsula YWCA closed in 2003. Formats include clippings, biographical and subject files, board and committee minutes, brochures, budgets, manuals, newsletters, photographs, reports, and scrapbooks.

Biographical / historical:

The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) began in England in 1855, and the first U.S. offices opened in New York (1858) and Boston (1859). It worked to serve the spiritual and material needs of young women living on their own in cities, providing safe residences, job training, daycare, exercise, and recreational programs, as well as developing leadership skills and encouraging civic participation. Today there are close to 300 branches in the United States and chapters in more than 122 countries.

The YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula began in 1948 through a local business women's organization, the Quota Club, opening a small recreation center at 535 Ramona in Palo Alto. By 1950 the group had moved to larger quarters at 627 Waverley and created a provisional YWCA board with Clarita Robinson as president. They incorporated in 1951, offering childcare, classes, and dances and accommodating teen and senior clubs. Aided by two gifts willed to the organization, two houses from Elsie Stone and GM stock from Constantine Ballentine, the Palo Alto YWCA purchased property at 4161 Alma and, in 1961, initiated a capital campaign to raise funds for a new building. Two major forces in this effort were board president Dr. Helen Pryor and executive director Helen Flack. Major donors included Hewlett Packard, Varian, Lockheed, Albert Hart, Elizabeth Gamble, and Lucie Stern. The building opened in 1963 and the name was changed from Palo Alto YWCA to Mid-Peninsula YWCA to reflect their expanded service area.

YWCA Mid-Peninsula programming was designed to meet its mission of empowering women and eliminating racism. While the national YWCA had passed an "Interracial Charter" in 1946, in the 1960s it became more actively involved in racial justice campaigns, establishing a national Office of Racial Justice (1965) and adopting the One Imperative (1970): "To thrust our collective power toward the elimination of racism, wherever it exists, by any means necessary." The YWCA Mid-Peninsula was active from the beginning in racial justice campaigns, hosting the first YWCA Racial Justice Institute (1969) and receiving the first YWCA Racial Justice Award (1985). Local racial justice initiatives included conferences, study circles, classes, workshops, and outreach programs. Examples included Black experience speakers, El Club, multicultural docents, civil rights forums, and affirmative action conferences. Other programs offered at the YWCA included childcare, day camps, the Rape Crisis Center, senior adult trips and classes, the Vietnamese refugee program, and the women and teen entrepreneurs programs. Public policy advocacy around issues effecting women was another significant YWCA Mid-Peninsula activity.

The YWCA Board voted to close and dissolve the organization in June of 2003, beset by growing deficits, shrinking programs, and a poor economic and funding environment in the Bay Area. Rape Crisis Center services were transferred to the YWCA of Silicon Valley, and Outlet, a program serving gay, lesbian, and transgender youth, was relocated. The Alma Street building was sold to Etz Chaim and became a Jewish temple. The bulk of the profits were used to create a YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Fund at the Women's Foundation of California. The remaining funds were donated to the World YWCA, the YWCA of the USA, and the Pacific Region YWCA.

YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Presidents:

1949-1951 Clarita Robinson
1951-1952 Edyth Manning
1952-1953 Mrs. Clifford Crummey
1953-1954 Bessie Loo
1954-1955 Dr. Gladys Shutt
1955-1957 Eula Huff
1957-1958 Mrs. Donald Texeira
1958-1960 Lois T. Piedmonte
1960-1961 Gracella Anderson
1961-1964 Dr. Helen Pryor
1964-1967 Kay Philips
1967-1969 Geneva Higbee
1969-1971 Virginia Debs
1971-1973 Marguerite Anderson
1973-1975 Doris Cone
1975-1977 Grace Wilbur
1977-1979 Mari Seid
1979-1981 Mary Nichols
1981-1983 Marilyn Williams
1983-1985 Carol McCoo
1985-1987 Lynn Mitchell
1987-1989 Antoinette Battiste
1989-1991 Margo Dutton
1991-1993 Barbara Sanner
1993 Mary Haynes
1993-1995 Keiko Hayashi
1993-1995 Helen Pellegrin
1995-1996 Antoinette Battiste
1995-1996 Jackie den Boer
1996-1997 Antoinette Battiste
1996-1997 Carol Nyholm
1997-1998 Antoinette Battiste
1997-1998 Megan Swezey Fogarty
1998-1999 Megan Swezey Fogarty
1998-1999 Myrna Irigon
1999-2000 Jan Sola
2000-2002 Debbie Ford-Scriba
2000-2002 Sally Lieber
2002-2003 Elsbeth TeBrake
2003-2004 Judy Kramer

YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Executive Directors:

1954 Anna Marie Long
1954-55 Katherine Cobb
1956-58 Mary Jane Upson
1960 Gula Gamble (4 months.)
1960 Fran Princelau
1961-65 Helen Flack
1965-71 Elizabeth Payne
1971-75 Karen Hyde
1975-1996 Kay Philips
1996 Jennifer Cumberpatch
1996 Kay Philips (interim)
1996 Ann Dougherty (interim)
1997-2000 Lorraine Phillips
1997-2000 Mary Douglas (interim)
1997-2000 Faith Rein (interim)
2000-2003 Sylvia Hines

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into nine series:

Series I. History

Series II. Administrative Records

Series III. People

Series IV. Financial Records

Series V. Public Policy

Series VI. Programs

Series VII. Stanford YWCA

Series VIII. National and World YWCA

Series IX. Audio/Visual Materials

Series X. Accession 2019-490

Series XI. Accession 2023-285

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual & born-digital materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.

Terms of access:

While Special Collections is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], YWCA of the Mid-Peninsula Records (M1538), Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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