Bound Preservation copies

The records in this series include Publications Department minutes, correspondence, reports, catalogs, and advertising. They document the work of those making decisions about the general interest publications, coordinating and scheduling all of the publications, and overseeing production. There are significant gaps in the minutes and only a few years of records of the production side of the operation, yet what survives provides significant insight into this aspect of the National program.

The series also includes some of the voluminous output of publications. Those that are filed with this series are the main Association-wide serials, the general interest books, and gift and keepsake items, such as engagement calendars. Other publications are filed with related records in other Series and Record Groups throughout the Records. For example, play scripts are in Pageantry and Drama, and the serial Foreign Born is in Immigration and Foreign Communities.

The National Board Library at YWCA headquarters in New York kept copies of many of the publications. That collection was transferred to the Sophia Smith Collection with the rest of the records. It is difficult to say for certain whether the collection, which consists of approximately 1700 books, pamphlets, scripts, serials, and other types of publications is complete. There are some projects mentioned in the minutes, for instance, that may not ultimately have been published, or may have been published under a different title.

For general information about the National Association and Community Associations, the Association Monthly/Womans Press/YWCA Magazine is an unparalleled source. In addition to the articles and columns, details of Association history can be traced through such things as staff and committee rosters, "secretarial changes," conference schedules, news from Community Associations, and conference and convention reports.