Eldri Dieson Papers, 1928-1986, n.d.
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Annie-Sage Whitehurst. 2009-06-26
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Eldri Dieson Papers
Dieson, Eldri, 1905-1984
Biographical History for: Eldri Dieson Papers
Biographical Note Eldri Louise Dieson was born March 31, 1905, in Dell Rapids, South Dakota. After earning a B.A. from St. Olaf College in 1927, Dieson briefly studied sociology at the University of Minnesota and worked for the Lutheran Welfare Association in Minneapolis before joining the staff of the YWCA. In the summer of 1927 Dieson participated in the YWCA National Student Council's Students in Industry Project, known as "a summer course in reality." College graduates spent six weeks working in factories "as part of an experiment and to gain first hand information for social work." Between 1927 and 1942 Dieson worked as an Industrial or Business and Industry Secretary in YWCAs in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1927-30, 1936-42); Canton, Ohio (1930-32); and Allentown, Pennsylvania (1932). Dieson attended the New School of Social Work in 1935-36. During World War II Dieson moved to the national YWCA staff, working in the Community Division in the fall of 1942, then becoming an Industrial Secretary, 1943-48. During the summer of 1944 she worked in Maine with the Women's Emergency Farm Service of the Women's Land Army. After the war Dieson moved to the staff of the Foreign Division as a Program Consultant in Japan from 1948 to 1951. On her return to the U.S., she joined the staff of the United Community Defense Services staff of the YWCA helping new residents in rapidly growing cities and towns adjacent to defense industries. The aim of this work was to fill gaps in services for a relatively brief period until the cities and towns were able to do so. In 1955 Dieson went to the YWCA of Chile. She returned to the States in 1960 to help develop YWCA's Latin America United States Exchange Project. The Project provided opportunities for women from YWCAs in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and the United States to share inter-American concerns and resources. In 1960 she received St. Olaf College's Distinguished Alumni Award. Dieson went back to Chile the following year as director of the Latin America United States Exchange Project. From 1962 she also worked closely with the YWCA-Peace Corps project in community development in Valparaiso and Santiago. In the fall of 1965 Dieson took the post of Field Consultant for the Southern Region for the YWCA of the U.S.A. In this capacity she advised YWCAs in thirteen southern states on all aspects of program and administration. Dieson retired from the YWCA circa 1971. Eldri Dieson died in Hennepin, Minnesota in 1994.
The Eldri Dieson Papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection with the Records of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in 2002. The YWCA received them from Dieson's niece Tonia Jauch in 1993.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Eldri Dieson Papers consist of 4 linear feet of biographical materials, correspondence, diaries, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, photographs, research notes, and scrapbooks primarily related to Dieson's work for the YWCA of the U.S.A. The bulk of the papers date from 1948 to 1964 and focus on Dieson's work for the YWCA's Foreign Division in Japan and in Chile. A small portion of the contents are in Japanese and Spanish.
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
Copyright ownership of items created by Eldri Dieson is unknown. Copyright to materials authored by persons other than Eldri Dieson may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.
Related materials are in the YWCA of the U.S.A. Records A scrapbook created by Eldri Dieson during her college years is housed in the St. Olaf College Archives, Northfield, Minnesota.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2009
Young Women's Christian Associations -- Chile -- History
lcsh
Young Women's Christian Associations -- Japan -- History
lcnaf
Peace Corps (U.S.) -- Chile -- History
United Community Defense Services
Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. -- History
Japan -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
series
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS AND CORRESPONDENCE
This series contains a small amount of general biographical information plus letters Dieson wrote home to her family from YWCA postings in Japan, Kentucky, and Chile, 1948-64. Also included is Dieson's Guest Book which traveled with her from Japan to the United States to Chile and back to the U.S
SERIES II. ORGANIZATIONS
This series contains diaries, printed materials, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, research notes, and scrapbooks from Dieson's work for the Women's Land Army, the YWCA of the U.S.A., and YWCA/United Community Defense Services. There is a detailed scrapbook about the 1928 National Student Council's Student in Industry Project among these materials.
SERIES III. PHOTOGRAPHS
This series makes up more than half of the total bulk of the Papers. It consists of photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Dieson's work and travels in Asia and South America; and of various YWCA activities in the United States.
General 1932-85, n.d.
Correspondence to family 1948-64, n.d.
Guest book [mostly Japan] 1951-86
Women's Land Army: Women's Emergency Farm Service of Maine 1944
YWCA of the U.S.A.
Students in Industry National Student Council Summer Project
Scrapbook 1928-29
Round robin letters by 1928 participantsDec 1930
Foreign Division, Japan
General 1948-51, 1986, n.d.
Correspondence from Hisae [S.?] 1950
Diaries 1948-50
"Religious and Historical Background of Japan" by Shizu Nakajo, lecture for the World Fellowship Committee of the Tokyo YWCAn.d.
Scrapbook 1948-49
United Community Defense Service-YWCA Paducah, Kentucky: handbook 1951
Foreign Division, Chile
General 1957-85, n.d.
YWCA-Peace Corps project 1963, n.d.
YWCA Latin America-US Exchange Project 1961
Prints and negatives
Miscellaneous 1986, n.d.
YWCA of Chile
Loose photographs and postcards 1955-65
Album 1961
YWCA of Japan
Loose photographs and postcards 1985-88, n.d.
Albums 1948-51, 1986
United Community Defense Services programs
Paducah, Kentucky 1953, n.d.
Piketon, Ohio 1954
Conference, Dallas, Texasspring 1978
Student Leadership Workshop, Learning Center XII 1981
National Student Assemblyn.d.
Roundtable at Morgan State University or Howard Universityn.d.
Unidentified meeting at 600 Lexington Ave.n.d.
Slides
Argentina: gauchos 1955-64
Cambodia: Angkor Watn.d.
Chile 1955-64
Costa Rican.d.
Jamaican.d.
Japan 1948-51
Thailand, Bankok
Other countries 1951, n.d.
United States
Paducah, Kentuckyn.d.
South Dakotan.d.
United Community Defense Services 1951
Unidentified events 1955-69, n.d.