Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers, 1918-1972 (bulk 1932-1958)
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Annie-Sage Whitehurst. 2009-06-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers
Creation of Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers
Time of Creation of Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers
Wygal, Winnifred
Biographical History for: Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers
Biographical Note Winnifred Crane Wygal was born August 25, 1884 in Springfield, Missouri, to Frank and Katie A. Bigelow Wygal. Frank Wygal was a wagon maker at the Springfield Wagon Works. Both parents read widely and encouraged their daughters to do likewise. Frank Wygal's Christian socialist beliefs fostered a strong commitment to social justice in the young Winnifred. In an autobiographical manuscript, Wygal wrote of her childhood: "I was wanted and loved and cherished. Life was exciting and good almost at once." After graduating from Springfield High School, "Windy" Wygal attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, where she first joined the Young Women's Christian Association. After receiving her B.A. in 1906, Wygal taught high school English and Latin in Missouri from 1906 to 1911. Wygal attended the YWCA's National Training School in New York City and did graduate coursework at Columbia University in 1911-12. Drury awarded her an M.A. in 1912. A life-long student, Wygal also did post-graduate work at Union Theological Seminary and the University of Chicago Divinity School, as well as "special reading" with Canon Streeter at Oxford University and with H.B. Sharman of the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Graduate Study. In 1913 Wygal took a job at the YWCA at the University of Nevada, Reno. In 1917 or early 1918 she joined the War Work Council staff of the national YWCA. She supervised five Hostess Houses where servicemen could meet with family and friends, and three recreational service centers at Camp Funston at Fort Riley near Manhattan, Kansas. From there, Wygal transferred to the YWCA's North Central region field staff in 1919 or 1920, as a Student Secretary. She moved to the National Student Council staff (the college and university student department of the YWCA) in 1922, where she remained until 1935, working on program and personnel and serving several years as acting executive, associate executive, and finally, executive of the Council. Much of Wygal's work in the Student YWCA centered on helping young women to distinguish between "the prohibitions imposed by culture" and "the universal imperatives." In 1935 Wygal transferred to the Laboratory Division where she developed religious resources for use in YWCA programs. In May of 1935 Wygal was co-chair with Gregory Vlastos, of the Fletcher Farm Seminar on Religion, a ten-day seminar led by Reinhold Niebuhr, Henry Nelson Wieman, and Paul Tillich. Wygal attended the Conference of the Church on Life and Work at Oxford University in 1937 and she wrote preparatory materials for the World Christian Youth Conference in Amsterdam in 1939. A 1940 staff reorganization moved Wygal's work to the Division of Community YWCAs. Wygal retired from the YWCA in 1944. For many years after retirement, Wygal did extensive free-lance speaking and discussion leading to young people's groups in churches and YWCAs. She was the author of many works relating to personal and group worship and the first woman to be a deacon at Riverside Church in New York City. In a meditation written for Wygal's memorial service in 1972, YWCA General Secretary Edith Lerrigo described Wygal with the words "deep," "ardent," "committed," "flaming," "impatient," and "dedicated." Winnifred Wygal died of a heart attack in New York City on September 8, 1972. She was buried in San Antonio, Texas.
The Winnifred Crane Wygal 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 Winnifred Wygal in 1969 and from her estate in 1972.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Winnifred Crane Wygal Papers consist of 1.75 linear ft. and are primarily related to her professional and public life, dating from 1918 to 1972. Types of materials include biographical materials, correspondence, memorabilia, notebooks, administrative planning files, subject files, and writings. The bulk of the papers date from 1932 to 1958 and focus on Wygal's work planning religious services, writing religious program materials, and as a speaker and discussion leader for the YWCA and for other religious groups. Wygal's notebooks (1932-58) document her part in wide variety of conferences, councils, meetings, worship services, courses, seminars, and discussion groups in the YWCA and other national, international, and local organizations. They also include notes on lectures and conferences she attended and books and articles she read. The main subject of Wygal's writings, most published by the YWCA's Womans Press, is the development of meaningful worship services, and relevance of religion in twentieth-century life.
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
Copyright ownership of Winnifred Wygal's writings is unknown. Copyright to materials authored by others 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 must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." 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 in the Sophia Smith Collection are in the YWCA USA Records, Sophia Smith Collection.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2009
Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. -- History
lcsh
Young women -- Religious life -- United States -- History
Women and religion -- United States -- History -- Sources
Wygal, Winnifred, b. 1884
lcnaf
Biographical materials and memorabilia
General 1961-72, n.d.
Favorite poems 1918, n.d.
80th birthday celebration 1964
Subject file on miscellaneous religious topics 1965, n.d.
Notebooks
Correspondence
Typescript of letter re visit to Gandhi's ashram at Ahmedabad, India with Ruth ?5 Feb 1928
Professional activities
Fletcher Farm Seminar on Religion 1935
YWCA of the U.S.A. 1936, 1948, n.d.
Speaking engagements 1950-53
Workshop, Church World Service Center, New Windsor, Maryland 1958
Worship services for an unidentified Convention in Toronton.d.
Writings
Articles 1936-55, n.d.
Autobiography: typescript fragmentsn.d.
Book reviews 1945-52
Study guides 1947, 1950
Miscellaneous typescripts and fragmentsn.d.
"A Christman Service:" typescript 1936
The Good Life-A Discipline , The Womans Press 1936, 1941
How to Plan Informal Worship , Association Press 1957
Jesus-A Brief Study , The Womans Press 1936
Our Religious Vocabulary: A Glossary of Terms in Current Use , The Womans Press 1939
Principles of Religious Practice in the Community Association Program , The Womans Press 1938
"The Question: Meditations on Meaning, Maturity and Faith," typescriptn.d.
Questions and Answers About You , by Tirzah Anderson and Winnifred Wygal, The Woman's Press 1945
Reflections of the Spirit: Resources for Personal and Group Worship , The Woman's Press 1948
Stop, Think and Do! by Elizabeth Palmer, Janet Fowler Nelson, and Winnifred Wygal, The Womans Press 1941
The Struggle for the Union at YWCA , AFSCME Local 1707 Community and Social Agency Employees Union, n.d.
The Superb Adventure: Acquiring a Theory of Living , The Womans Press 1934
We Plan Our Own Worship Services, The Womans Press (1940), and revised edition (1945) 1940, 1945
We the Peoples of the Ecumenical Church, Woman's Division of Christian Service, Board of Missions and Church Extension, The Methodist Church 1949