mnsss84 Canadian American Women's Committee Records, 1941-1969 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Burd Schlessinger. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
Northampton, MA
2003

Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Laura Cutter. 2003-06-12 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mnsss84 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Canadian American Women's Committee Records, 1941-1969 Finding Aid MS 355 Burd Schlessinger Revised 2002 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003 Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Canadian American Women's Committee Canadian-American Women's Committee/Association Records1941-1969 MS 355 13 boxes (5 linear ft.) Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College Northampton, MA
The Canadian-American Women's Committee was founded as an international organization with the aim of developing appreciation and cooperation between the two countries through increased knowledge. Records of the American Section and the Connecticut Branch include material on conferences, field study trips, affiliation with the National Council of Women, student exchanges, and administrative records. English. Historical Note

Letter to May Hall James, January 5, 1944

Vera Beggs and Cairine Wilson believed that the practical international cooperation between Canada and the U.S. developed during World War I could not be trusted to extend into the future solely through treaties and joint boards. In 1941, they founded the Canadian-American Women's Committee, an international organization with the aim of developing appreciation and cooperation between the two countries through increased knowledge. The Committee was composed of two sections. The Canadian division had headquarters in Ottawa, while the its American counterpart was based in New York. Each operated separately to suit their activities to the situation of their respective countries, and joint international conferences of Committee leaders were held to determine general policies. In both countries, the Committee worked a great deal with national women's organizations. In addition, it sponsored educational conferences, field study trips for college students and teachers, student exchanges, teacher exchanges, and lecture tours. Though the Canadian Section disbanded in 1966 and the American section disbanded in 1969, the group established permanent student exchanges.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Canadian-American Women's Committee Records consist of 5 linear feet of the records of the American Section and the Connecticut Branch. They contain material on conferences, field study trips (itineraries, student notes, and records regarding class activities), affiliation with the National Council of Women, student exchanges, and administrative records. Types of materials include clippings; publications, such as newsletters and pamphlets for conferences; correspondence; reports; financial records; minutes; and speech texts. Also included is correspondence concerning programs to foster mutual appreciation, cooperation, and communication (such as an art exchange between school-children).

 Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into four series:

I. Subjects II. American Section III. Connecticut Branch IV. Student Exchanges Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The records are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to portions of the Canadian American Women's Committee Records. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Canadian American Women's Committee Records, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

 Additions to the Collection

Periodic additions to collection are expected.

 History of the Collection

The Canadian American Women's Committee Records were donated to the Sophia Smith Collection by May Hall James.

Recent additions to this collection are unprocessed and are not reflected in the finding aid.

Processed by Burd Schlessinger. Finding aid revised in 2002 by Christine Jedziniak, intern.

 Search Terms Student exchange programs--Canada--History--Sources United States--Relations--Canada Women-International cooperation--History--Sources James, May Hall Beggs, Vera W. (Vera Wadsworth), d. 1968 Canadian-American Women's Committee--History--Sources Additional Information Related Material

Additional records of the Connecticut branch of the Canadian American Women's Committee are at the Schlesinger Library, Harvard University.

SERIES I. SUBJECTS 1 1 AAUW Conference 1 3 Art Exchange 1 3 Bibliography 1 4 Canadian tour, Willimantic 1 5 Chautauqua meeting Canadian section 2 6 Addresses of members 2 7 Canadian Institute of Public Affairs 2 8 Letters from Canadians 2 9-10 Cairine R. Wilson: correspondence, photograph 2 11 Newsletters 3 12-13 Conference on Canada, 1964-65 3 14 Conferences, general, 1943-49 3 15-25 Correspondence, 1942-65 3 26 Correspondence, official, 1949 3 27 Correspondence re: published materials on Canada, 1955-56 4 28 Field Study course to Canada, 1945 4 29 Field Study course to Canada (trans-Canada air tour), 1946 4 30 Fifteenth anniversary, 1957 4 31 Financial records 4 32 Hall, May James, photo 4 33 History 4 34 History, original meeting 4 35 League college project 4 36 MacSkimming visit 4 37 Manuscript materials and miscellaneous clippings 4 38 Miscellaneous material 4 39 Nursery education project 5 40 Project in international hospitality 5 41 Publications 5 42 Small informal group meetings 5 43 Survey of teaching about Canada in American Schools 5 44 Teacher exchange program 5 45 Twentieth anniversary SERIES II. AMERICAN SECTION 6 46-54 Chronological files, 1943-1969 Subject files 6 55 Activities, 1958 6 56 Addresses of members 6 57-58 Art teacher grants, 1960, 1966 6 59 By-laws 6 60-61 Correspondence, 1949-50 6 62 Correspondence and reports, 1953 7 63 Education re: Canada 7 64 James, May Hall, first trip to Canada, 1941 7 65 Meetings, major, 1951-59 7 66 Membership lists 7 67 New York group, 1959 7 68 Newsletters 7 69 Official publications 7 70 Quebec, Montreal Conference, 1950 7 70a Sophia Smith Collection 7 71 Transfer of headquarters 7 72 Treasurer's reports, 1949-67 National Council of Women in the United States (part of American Section). 8 73 General 8 74 Hospitality Committee SERIES III. CONNECTICUT BRANCH 9 75-78 Chronological files, 1946-1964 9 79 Art grants 9 80 Correspondence, minutes, reports, 1943-44 9 81 Correspondence and reports, 1945-49 9 82 James, May Hall, trip to Canada, 1949 9 83 Special records 9 84 Study guide on Canada 9 85 Traveling library 9 86 Treasurer's reports, 1944-67 SERIES IV. STUDENT EXCHANGES 10 87-98 Chronological files, 1844-1957 Toronto-Smith exchange 11 99-100 Correspondence, 1945-67 11 101 Newsletters, "The Journal" (Smith student experiences), 1953-65 12 102-106 Chronological files, 1960-1969 Subject files 13 107 Address list 13 108 Alberta--Central Connecticut, 1945-50 13 109 Alberta--First exchange, 1951-2 13 110 Alberta--TCC exchange, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1960 13 111 Central Connecticut State College 13 112 Danbury State Teachers College 13 113 Douglas College 13 114 Evaluation 13 115 General 13 116 Saskatchewan--Trenton 13 117 University of Maine 13 118 Willimantic State Teachers College