Virginia Heim George Papers, 1925-1981
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 Brook Hopkins. 2003-06-05
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Virginia Heim George Papers
Creation of Virginia Heim George Papers
Time of Creation of Virginia Heim George Papers
George, Virginia Heim, 1908-
Biographical History for: Virginia Heim George Papers
Biographical Note 1908Born in St. Joseph, Missouri1929University of Wisconsin, major in economics1929-40Program Director, YWCA, working with industrial workers, Kansas City, Utica, PittsburghCamp Director, YWCA 1937Carnegie Institute of Technology, graduate study in group work1940-43Executive Director, YWCA, Rio de Janiero, Brazil1943-45Regional Assistant Director of USO, Brazil, Caribbean Area1946-48Program Consultant, YWCA, Czechoslovakia, with two-week special1948-51National staff, YWCA, Community Division, working with business1951-53Group work and recreational director, YWCA, Oakland, California1953-56Executive Director, YWCA, Yakima, Washington1956-66Executive Director, YWCA, Utica, New York1962-64Advisor, YWCA, Taipei, Taiwan1966-71Advisor, YWCA, Colombia, with three short periods in Lima, Peru1971Executive Director, YWCA, Omaha, Nebraska2003?Virginia Heim George died circa 2003
Scope and Contents of the Collection Virginia Heim (right) and others in Bogota, Columbia, circa 1966-71 The Virginia Heim George Papers consist of one linear foot of correspondence, diaries, clippings, and photographs. The inclusive dates are 1925 to 1981, but the major portion of the material dates from 1940 to 1948, related to her foreign secretary work for the YWCA in South America and Czechoslovakia and her USO work in the Caribbean. The papers are divided into two series, PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL. The PERSONAL material contains correspondence and diaries, both ranging from 1940 to 1981. The correspondence consists of letters to her family, mostly to her mother, with a small amount of incoming correspondence from family and friends, 1945-50. The nine diaries consist of six written between 1940 and 1948, plus three travel accounts from 1953, 1965, and 1981. Both the letters and diaries provide a detailed description of George's life while working for the YWCA and the USO. She was an eager and enthusiastic participant in her work and also took advantage of the opportunities it provided to travel extensively. She was a keen observer of the countries she visited and the people she met. Her wartime letters as well and those from postwar Czechoslovakia reflect the mail censorship of the times. As a result the diaries and the occasional letters that she was able to write freely are more candid. The diaries written from her two trips to Czechoslovakia in 1965 and 1981 contain particularly interesting accounts of life there, and the 1965 account reports earlier arrests and trials, particularly an incident involving the YWCA in 1948. The PROFESSIONAL material consist of clippings and articles about George and her work, 1925-1975, three reports from her Czechoslovakia and Germany experiences, 1948, and a nine-page speech on the USO, ca. 1945. In this series are also fifteen photographs, five of the USO, six related to the YWCA, and four of women in Puerto Rico.
lcnaf
United Service Organizations (U.S.)--History--Sources
Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A.--History--Sources
Young Women's Christian Association--South America--History--Sources
Young Women's Christian Association--World War, 1939-1945--War Work
lcsh
Caribbean area--History--20th century--Sources
series
SERIES I. PERSONAL
Correspondence
Outgoing to family
1944 Feb-Jun
1944 Jul-Dec
1945 Jan-Jun
1945 Jul-Dec
1946 Jan-Jun
1946 Jul-Dec
Incoming
Mildred Heim Gumm (sister), 1945-50
Friends, 1945-46, n.d.
Miscellaneous
Diaries
Jul-Nov 1940 (Brazil)
Jan-Feb 1941 (Brazil)
Jan-Feb 1943 (Brazil-San Francisco River trip)
1945-46 (Puerto Rico, Czechoslovakia)
1946-47 (Czechoslovakia)
1947-48 (Scandinavia, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland)
1959? (U.S. trip itinerary)
1965 (Czechoslovakia)
1981 (Czechoslovakia)
SERIES II. PROFESSIONAL
Clippings, articles, 1925-75
Reports, speech, 1945, 1948
Photographs
YWCA
USO
Puerto Rico