Scope and Content Note
The records of the Society of Woman Geographers span the years 1905-2015. The records are organized into three parts: Part I (1910-1987), Part II (1927-1998), and Part III (1905-2015). All parts of the SWG records contain inactive membership files; Part III additionally holds transcripts of oral histories of prominent members and a publications section containing newsletters, reports, and other printed matter from the society. Each part is arranged alphabetically by name of member. The files typically contain original nomination/application forms; correspondence pertaining to membership status, dues, and current activities; printed material, newspaper articles, obituary notices and memorial tributes; and photographs. Oral history transcripts in Part III are always indicated in the folder title, usually as a separate folder or folders. Each year members were asked to complete a summary of their research activities, travel, and fieldwork for publication in the society's bulletin. These sheets, sometimes supplemented by curriculum vitae, document the activities and accomplishments of lesser-known women. Conversely, since some of the society's more illustrious members, such as Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, and Pearl S. Buck, tended to be "more...honored member[s] than...particularly contributing one[s] -- except through reflected glory," (1) their files generally contain only routine material. Many members have files in more than one part of the collection. No file for SWG founding member Blair Niles is present in the collection.
United by their common interest in geography, SWG members have pursued widely divergent careers. Many members have been primarily known as geographers (Edna Fay Campbell, Elina González Acha de Correa Morales, Elsie May Grosvenor, Helen B. Smith, Helen M. Strong), or have worked in the closely related fields of oceanography (Marie Tharpe) or anthropology and ethnology (Mabel Cook Cole, Frances Densmore, Theodora Kroeber, Mary D. Leakey, Margaret Mead). Many others, however, have been explorers, mountain climbers, and big-game hunters (Delia J. Akeley, Mary Hastings Bradley, Muriel Agnes Eleanora Talbot Brown, Sally Clark, Hettie Dyhrenfurth, Pam Flowers, Marie Ahnighito Peary, Annie Peck) or environmentalists and naturalists (Rachel Carson, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Anne LaBastille, Lucile Quarry Mann, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam). SWG's members have also included aviators (Louise Arner Boyd, Amelia Earhart, Fay Gillis Wells); artists (Berta N. Briggs, Sally Clark, Lucille Sinclair Douglass, Lily Spandorf); archaeologists (Margaret Alice Murray, Esther Boise Van Deman); novelists (Bettina Peter Lum Crowe, Alice Tisdale Hobart, Margaret Landon); journalists, photographers, and broadcasters (Ruby A. Black, Margaret Bourke-White, Dickey Chapelle, May Craig, Ann Cottrell Free, Laura Gilpin, Ella Fullmore Harllee, Rose Wilder Lane, Mary Marvin Breckenridge Patterson); specialists in public health medicine and family planning (Marion Crary Ingersoll, Mary Lee Mills); librarians and archivists (Virginia Haviland, Irene Aloha Wright); and historian Mary Ritter Beard, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and member of Congress Frances Payne Bingham Bolton.
The SWG's emphasis on "personal association and interchange of ideas among members rather than on organizational activities" (2) suggests that the most significant records are the membership files and the oral histories. Administrative files and financial records have not been retained by the society, but much information about the organization's founding and operations can be gleaned from the files of members who served on the executive council or as officers of one of the regional chapters. Especially useful in this regard are files for Harriet Chalmers Adams, Dorothy M. Andrews, Mary Hastings Bradley, Berta N. Briggs, Edna Fay Campbell, Frances Carpenter, Mabel Cook Cole, Florence Page Jaques, Muna Lee, Mary A. Nourse, Elizabeth Fagg Olds, Marie Ahnighito Peary, Isabelle F. Story, and Helen M. Strong, as well as those for Elizabeth Derr Davisson, Nordis Adelheid Felland, Florence de L. Lowther, Reba Forbes Morse, Ruth Crosby Noble, Helen Damrosch Tee-Van, Mildred G. Uhrbrock and Mary Chamberlain Vander Pyl (New York); and Mary McRae Colby and Alice Foster (Chicago). Other records retained by the SWG include the files of current members and a separate photographic file. Mimeographed separation sheets present in some members' files refer to photographic images remaining in SWG custody.
SWG's members were professionally active and published widely in their respective fields. Information about members' careers or literary output is included in the annual summaries and curriculum vitae found in the collection, supplemented by publications of other professional associations, subject indexes and bibliographies appropriate to the field of specialization, and indexes to popular periodicals.
1. Elizabeth Fagg Olds to Megan Murray, November 12, 1982 (Murray file).