Inventory of the Ordination of Women in The Episcopal Church Collection, 1963 -1977
Processed by Lucinda Glenn Rand; machine-readable finding aid created by
Xiuzhi Zhou
Graduate Theological Union Archives
© 1999
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, California, 94709
Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
Email: archives@gtu.edu
URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
The Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the Ordination of Women in The Episcopal Church Collection, 1963 -1977
Accession number: GTU 95-3-01
Shelf location: 2/F/5
The Graduate Theological Union Archives
Berkeley, California
- Graduate Theological Union Archives
- 2400 Ridge Road
- Berkeley, California, 94709
- Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
- Email: archives@gtu.edu
- URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
- Processed by:
- Lucinda Glenn Rand
- Date Completed:
- 4/1/96
- Cataloged:
- 4/1/96
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 1999 Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Title: Ordination of Women in The Episcopal Church Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1963 -1977
Accession number: GTU 95-3-01
Shelf location: 2/F/5
Size: Number of containers: 1 box
Linear feet: 5 in.
Linear feet: 5 in.
Type of material: Correspondence, newsclippings, individual ordination worship programs, sermons, newsletters, press releases, photographs of
ordinations, audiocassette of ordination.
Repository: The
Graduate Theological Union.
Berkeley, California
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], Ordination of Women in The Episcopal Church Collection, GTU
95-3-01, The Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Ordination of women --Episcopal church --History --Sources --20th century
Episcopal church --History --Sources --20th century
Clergy --Episcopal church --History --20th century
Women and religion --History --Sources
Worship programs --Episcopal church
Biographical/Historical Description
Episcopal women began, in the 1960's, to seek ordination to the priesthood. This was
denied by the church, the proposal being voted down at both the 1970 and 1973 General
Conventions. As a result of this, the Episcopal Women's Caucus formed in 1971, and two
later organizations: the National Coalition for the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood
and Episcopacy; and Women's Ordination Now. On July 29, 1974 an irregular ordination of
eleven women was held at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. This action caused
both controversy and movement in the process toward the acceptance of the ordination of
women. On September 16, 1976, the General Convention voted "to affirm the right of women
to be priests." (For a full discussion, see
To Celebrate a Whole Priesthood: The
History of Women's Ordination in the Episcopal Church,
Heather Ann Huyck: GTU
Library, BV676 .H83 1981a)
This collection was put together in 1977 at the Graduate Theological Union Library by
then Acting Librarian David Green. He published a letter in Episcopal diocesan newspapers
stating that the Library was collecting on this important subject, and requesting any
material (i.e., news articles, ordination worship programs, sermons, etc.) be sent to
him. Material was received from individuals who either had an interest in the events, or
from individual women who were being ordained. The material was arranged chronologically
by item and placed in three 3-ring binders, Volumes 1-3. Newspaper articles were stapled
to pieces of white paper. These articles have been photocopied; the originals, badly
acidified and bleeding through to surrounding papers, have been discarded.
Box Box 1, Folder ff 1
Vol. 1, 1963-76
Folder ff 2-3
Vol. 2, January 1977
Folder ff 4-5
Vol. 3, February -December 1977