Scope and Content Note
The records of the Colonial and Pioneer Women Project of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America were collected by the National Historical Activities Committee through the group's various state organizations. The records span the years 1852-1982, with the bulk of the items dating from 1976 to 1982. The collection consists primarily of essays written by members of the organization for the National Historical Activities Committee relating the lives of individual colonial or pioneer women. Most of the essays are about an ancestor or a woman of local prominence. Sources for the essays include family collections of correspondence, family Bibles, oral histories, local history sources (newspapers, local archives), and published historical works. Also included are copies of previously written or published accounts gathered by members and sent to the National Historical Activities Committee for the project.
The records were organized by the committee according to the state membership of the woman who wrote or collected the essay, which may or may not coincide with the state of residence of the colonial or pioneer woman who is the subject of the essay. A card file contains occasional cross-references for both the original collection and the first addition. A second addition made in 1998 is not described in the card file.