American Council of Railroad Women Records, 1944-1977
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Laura Cutter. 2003-06-12
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
American Council of Railroad Women Records
Creation of American Council of Railroad Women Records
Time of Creation of American Council of Railroad Women Records
American Council of Railroad Women
Biographical History for: American Council of Railroad Women Records
Historical Note In 1944, a small group of women holding supervisory positions in railroad personnel and service held informal meetings in Chicago to discuss their changing roles in the railroad industry during wartime. Over the course of several meetings, they decided that they needed a permanent organization, and in September 1944 twenty-eight women voted to form the National Association of Railroad Women. (The name was changed to American Association of Railroad Women in 1952.) Unprepared by the railroads for promotions to management positions previously held by men, the women organized themselves "to provide a medium of exchange of ideas and experiences relative to our work; to discuss improvements in service and to plan for the better utilization of womanpower in railroading." Fall Meeting of the American Council of Railroad Women in their silver anniversary year, 1968 Membership eligibility was originally limited to women holding personnel or passenger service positions. Later, it was extended to include women employed in the United States and Canada as corporate officers, assistants and secretaries to presidents, lawyers, magazine editors, engineers, traffic representatives, personnel supervisors, public relations staffs, special representatives, and special investigators. The council's annual spring and fall meetings include the transaction of business, educational sessions, and entertainment. Throughout its history, the council consistently sought the approval of, and received support from, railroad management, which has contributed senior executives to the sessions as speakers and seminar leaders. Early reports and discussions covered such topics as "education of the travelling public" and "new and improved methods and equipment for cleaning both the exteriors and interiors of trains." Later meetings reflected the evolving membership interests, emphasizing legislative lobbying (including support for the Equal Rights Amendment), and such professional development topics as corporate decision making.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The records of the ACRW consist of ten linear feet of correspondence, minutes, reports, publications, photographs, scrapbooks, and other material documenting its history and activities from its founding until 1977. The records provide some insight into the attitudes and motivations of a group of professional women organized for their mutual benefit at a time when most women had "jobs" rather than "careers." The bulk of the material consists of meeting minutes (including speeches and miscellaneous material distributed at meetings); and membership applications and correspondence. The codebooks, assembled by the Governing Committee as an easily-accessed information source, partially duplicate the minutes, as they are compilations of similar types of material. The officers' correspondence, which largely concerns meeting arrangements and membership eligibility and recruitment, is most complete for the 1950s and 1970s, fragmentary in the 1960s, and non-existent for the earliest years. The membership files reflect the involvement in membership matters of both the Governing Committee and Membership Committee. They include individuals considered for membership, as well as those who actually joined the ACRW. The committee files are far from complete; apparently only scattered documentation of the Legislative, Publicity, and Public Relations committees has been retained. Other committees, including Archives, Service, Housing and Transportation, and Nominating, are represented only by their reports in the minutes.
Railroads--Employees--History--Sources
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Women railroad employees--History--Sources
Women in the professions--History--20th century--Sources
American Council of Railroad Women--History--Sources
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series
Series I. CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS, 1945, 1948, 1956, 1971
This series consists of booklets compiling bylaws and roster (1945); constitution and bylaws (1948); and several typescripts of later amendments. The records are arranged chronologically. Other versions (1955-1973) are included in the Codebooks (Series II).
Series II. CODEBOOKS, 1955-73
The codebooks were compiled by the Governing Committee members to serve as a "useful tool for future Governing Committees". They include the constitution and bylaws; lists of officers; members and their status; financial transactions; and records of decisions and actions on everything from membership eligibility to the cost of gummed labels. The series is arranged chronologically.
Series III. MINUTES, 1945-76
This series contains minutes of the Governing Committee, spring (or regional), and fall (or annual) meetings. Starting in 1973, the ACRW maintained related materials, such as programs, agendas, speeches, etc., in the minutes sequence. For pre-1973 materials of this sort, see the Meeting Files (series IV). The Governing Committee minutes also include agendas and memoranda; the general minutes include committee reports. The series is arranged chronologically.
Series IV: MEETING FILES, 1947-77
This series contains programs and menus; agendas; and correspondence about meeting arrangements and follow-up thank yous (1959, 1968-1977). From l973 on, materials of this sort are also maintained in the Minutes (Series III), resulting in some overlap between the series. The series is arranged chronologically.
Series V: OFFICERS' CORRESPONDENCE, 1951-77
This series contains little material from the organization's earliest years and is fragmentary for the 1960s. The bulk of correspondence dates from the 1950s and 1970s. Juva Dennis' file was received as a unit and has been maintained as such. It contains her correspondence from the time she joined the ACRW in l969 through her tenures as secretary (1970-72), second vice-president (1972-73), member-at-large (1974-75), and president (1976-77). Her file may partially duplicate the separate secretary's and president's correspondence for her years in those offices. The files are arranged chronologically under each office.
Series VI: MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-77
The files are arranged alphabetically by member or potential member name and include correspondence with or about that individual, applications, clippings, and a few photographs. It is unclear whether these files were maintained by various officers, the Governing Committee, the Membership Committee, or all of the above. This series also contains several folders of correspondence and miscellaneous items regarding membership in general. Membership matters are also addressed in the Officer's Correspondence (Series V).
Series VII: COMMITTEES, 1949-77
This series includes correspondence and related materials of the Legislative, Girl Scout Project, Public Relations, and Publicity committees, most of it from the 1970s. Many other ACRW committees, e.g., Service, Archives, and Finance, are represented only by their reports which appear in the minutes (Series III).
Series VIII: PUBLICATIONS, 1967-77
The Bulletin is the irregular ACRW newsletter. Some issues are missing from the series.
Series IX: PHOTOGRAPHS, 1968
This series contains color snapshots, some black and white glossies, and a few slides of the 1968 spring and fall meetings. Photographs of a few individual members are found in the Member Files (Series VI). The Scrapbooks (Series X) include pre-1968 photographs.
Series X: HISTORY, 1944-68
This series contains one long and several brief histories of the ACRW compiled between 1944 and 1956, as well as a short report of the first meeting in 1944, and five scrapbooks. Three were maintained by the Scrapbook Committee; two were compiled by individual members.
Bylaws and roster, 1945
Constitution and amended bylaws, 1948
Bylaws amendments, 1956, 1971
Codebook, October 4, 1955
Revised 1961, pt. 1
Revised 1961, pt. 2
Revised 1968, pt. 1
Revised 1968, pt. 2
Revisions 1970-73, pt. 1
Revisions 1970-73, pt. 2
Governing Committee Minutes
Miscellaneous minutes, agendas, and memoranda, 1956-59
General Minutes
First meeting, March 15, 1945
Second meeting, October 10-11, 1945
Eighth annual meeting, 1951
Regional and ninth annual meeting, 1952
Tenth annual meeting, 1953
Eleventh annual meeting, 1954
Twelfth annual meeting, 1955
Thirteenth annual meeting, 1956
Fourteenth annual meeting, 1957
Spring and fifteenth annual meetings, 1958
Sixteenth annual meeting, 1959
Seventeenth annual meeting, 1960
Spring and eighteenth annual meetings, 1961
Spring and nineteenth annual meetings, 1962
Twentieth annual meeting, 1963
Twenty-first annual meeting, 1964
Twenty-second annual meeting, 1965
Twenty-third annual meeting, 1966
Spring and twenty-fourth annual meetings, 1967
Spring and twenty-fifth annual meetings, 1968
Spring and twenty-sixth annual meetings, 1969
Spring and twenty-seventh annual meetings, 1970
Spring and twenty-eighth annual meetings, 1971
Spring and twenty-ninth annual meetings, 1972
Spring and thirtieth annual meetings, 1973
Spring and thirty-first annual meetings, 1974
Thirty-second annual meeting, 1975
Thirty-third annual meeting committee reports, 1976
Programs and menus, 1947-55
Programs and menus, 1956-58
Spring meeting, 1959
Annual meeting, 1959
Programs and menus, 1960-67
Silver anniversary meeting, 1968
Spring meeting, 1969
Annual meeting, 1969
Spring meeting, 1970
Annual meeting, 1970
Spring meeting, 1971
Annual meeting, 1971
Spring meeting, 1972
Annual meeting, 1972
Spring meeting, 1973
Annual meeting, 1973
Annual meeting, 1974
Annual meeting, 1977, n.d.
President
Jan-Jul, 1958
Aug-Dec, 1958
n.d.
Juva Dennis
Secretary
Treasurer's reports and correspondence, 1957-59, 1972-77
A-E
Andrews, Iva
Arbuthnot, Gene
Arehart, Marjorie
Armistead, Anne
Beauchamp, Lily
Beckham, Ioan
Beebe, Jane
Bernhagen, Edna
Bock, Emma
Boeckman, Alison
Boehm, Berenece
Boyden, Laura
Brown, Lu
Brundick, Matilda
Burchard, Lauretta
Canavan, Betty
Caplinger, Norma Jean
Carroll, Kathleen
Churchill, Phyllis
Clarke, Grace
Cobb, Harriet
Cook, Ruth
Copper, Joyce
Cosentino, Mary
Creagan, Helen
Croy, Frances
Cullen, Mary Louise
Cummings, Lenora
Darney, Elizabeth
Dennis, Juva
Dennis, Olive
DeVille, Inez
Dobes, Minnie
Donahue, Alice
Dorsett, Mary
Drechsler, Mildred
Dugan, Marjorie
Elvert, Vera
Entringer, Rosemary
Evans, Freda
F-K
Ferguson, Elva
Fleming, Ruth
Forrest, Neoma
Forsythe, Cora
Fratesi, Louise
Frazier, Gwen
Gallagher, Catherine
Gannon, Eileen
Giles, Louise
Gilpatrick, Jean
Giroux, Alice
Glafcke, Leona
Glasper, Esther
Gleason, Margaret
Glover, Marjorie
Goetz, Cecilia
Gordon, Mary Louise
Gray, Eleanor
Griffin, Katherine
Gross, Kathy Ann
Haney, Elizabeth
Harker, Marjorie
Helm, Geraldine
Hickman, Anne
Hill, Ruby
Hirst, Margaret
Hoffman, Maralouise
Holden, Margaret
Holloway, Ethylene
Hotton, Marie
Howard, Dorothy
Huedepohl, Helen
Hughes, Beverly
Hurley, Mary Ann
Irwin, Margaret
Jakeway, Mildred
Kasiurak, Patricia
Kehoe, Margaret
Kelly, Anna
Kezerian, Jennifer
Ketchin, Ansley
Keyes, Doris
Kluckhohn, Irene
Koch, Anna
Kowalczyk, Marie
Krimmel, Frances
Kyle, Charlotte
L-P
Labahn, Mary
LaBoon, Catherine
LaChance, E.
Lane, Angela
Lane, Goldie
Lee, Charleen
Lewis, Gertrude
Liebman, Diane
Logue, Dorothy
Mahan, Mary
Mahoney, Ruth
Mathews, Annette
Mavis, Vera
McDonald, Vee
McFie, Amelia
McKinney, Marion
McLaughlin, Margaret
McMulkin, Kathryn
Meehan, Marjorie
Meilleur, Frances
Merrill, Grace
Merriman, Catherine
Milhelm, Carolyn
Miller, Stella
Mitchell, Amy
Moore, Martha
Morasco, Lois
Morecock, Thelma
Murdock, Ruth
Myers, Wanda
O'Mara, C.
Parker, Irene
Patton, Janet
Pechtel, Dorothy
Perkins, Elaine
Peterson, Helen
Peterson, Irene
Petterson, Elsie
Phelon, Marjorie
Phillips, Esther
Porter, Hazel
Power, Evelyn
Poynter, Wandaleen
Prall, Inez
Prond, Lillian
Pulaski, Marie
R-Z
Randall, Charlotte
Reitz, Joan
Richardson, Ellen
Rieder, Martha
Rieke, Irene
Reilly, Virginia
Reynolds, Grace
Robinson, Betsy
Rogers, Carolyn
Ross, Lillian
Royon, Betty
Sadler, Jean
Sargent, Liz
Sheahan, Madeleine
Silverman, Sheila
Smilie, Emily
Soltes, Cynthia
Stanley, Priscilla
Stevenson, Ann
Stivers, Margaret
Stone, Edith
Stone, Shirley
Streza, Martha
Sullivan, Catherine
Swallow, Geraldine
Tanner, Virginia
Tartas, Elizabeth
Tuczkus, Ann
Vaupotic, Virginia
Walker, Josephine
Walker, Mary
Warden, Louise
Wetterlin, Ruth
Whitney, Jane
Williams, Hazel
Williams, Marie
Wilson, Nora
Winslow, Isobel
Yarwood, Margaret
Zack, Lucille
General correspondence
Rosters and other lists, 1957-77, n.d.
Survey, 1975
Forms and miscellaneous
Committee chairs, 1968-69
Legislative Committee
America's Sound Transportation Review Organization (ASTRO), 1971-73, n.d.
ERA Resolution and International Women's Year Commission, 1975-76
Dam and Lock Resolution, 1976
Coal Slurry Resolution, 1976-77
Miscellaneous, 1952, n.d.
Public Relations Committee
Reports and correspondence, 1973, n.d.
Operation Lifesaver, 1976
Publicity Committee
Press releases and clippings, 1949-69
Press releases, clippings, and correspondence, 1972-77
Girl Scout Project Committee, n.d.
ACRW Bulletin
Nov 15, 1967-Dec 8, 1970
Jan 13, 1971-Dec 1973
Jan 1974-Dec 1975
Feb 13, 1976-Aug 1977
Spring meeting, 1968
Fall meeting, reception and banquet, 1968
Fall meeting, 1968
"Docket Report" (first meeting of railroad industry women), 1944
Brief histories, 1949, n.d.
"History of the National Association of Railroad Women" (additions "history of ACRW," 1952 on), 1944-56
Scrapbooks
Volume I, 1949-59
Volume II, 1959-63
Volume III, 1963-68
1948-54 (kept by Virginia Vaupotic)
(kept by Marion McKinney)1948-53