Saint Joan's International Alliance, U.S. Section records
Scope and Contents
The St Joan's International Alliance, U.S. Section records document the organization's early efforts to encourage support for woman suffrage within the Catholic Church and later to promote ordination of women priests and broader social issues affecting women in the Church and society. The records also document the work of the SJIA the United Nations section in promoting women's rights at the international level including such causes as the abolition of child and forced marriage and slavery traffic; political rights of women; equal access to education and economic opportunities; and family law. Types of materials include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, conference materials, membership files, publicity materials, audio recordings, articles, clippings, books, pamphlets and memorabilia.
Dates of Materials
- 1963 - 2014
Creator
- Saint Joans International Alliance, U.S. Section (Organization)
Language of Materials
English, French, Italian, German
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Biographical Note
Gabrielle Jeffery and May Kendall founded the St Joan's International Alliance in England in 1911. Its initial name was the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society. Their goal was to create an organization which would encourage support for woman suffrage within the Catholic Church. Men were encouraged to join but could not hold posts in the group. The organization soon established international relations and had members in twenty-four countries from five continents. Once women's suffrage was attained in Great Britain in 1918, the organization gradually broadened its role to consider other social issues affecting women. In 1923 it was renamed the St. Joan's Social and Political Alliance. The name was changed again, in 1954, to the St Joan's International Alliance. After the Second World War, the organization's areas of interest expanded further to include abolition of child and forced marriage, slavery traffic, and traffic in persons; the political rights of women; equal access to education, vocational training, and economic opportunities; family law and elimination of discrimination against women. Since 1952 it has been recognized as an official consultative body by the UN, UNESCO and the World Labour Organisation. In the church, the Alliance has petitioned for revision of the marriage liturgy, revision of the canons of the code that adversely affect women, and admission of women to the diaconate and priesthood on the same terms and under the same conditions as men.
Extent
27.333 linear feet (30 containers)
0.000536 Gigabytes
Abstract
The St Joan's International Alliance was established in England in 1911 as the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society, to encourage support within the Catholic Church for woman suffrage. Once women's suffrage was attained in Great Britain in 1918, the organization gradually broadened its role to include other social issues affecting women, eventually including abolition of child and forced marriage; slavery traffic; the political rights of women; equal access to education, vocational training, and economic opportunities; family law and elimination of discrimination against women. In the church, the Alliance has petitioned for revision of the marriage liturgy, revision of the canons of the code that adversely affect women, and admission of women to the diaconate and priesthood. Materials in these records includeaterials include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, conference materials, membership files, publicity materials, audio recordings, articles, clippings, books, pamphlets and memorabilia.
Arrangement
This collection has been added to over time in multiple "accessions." An accession is a group of materials received from the same source at approximately the same time.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Boxes 5, 6, 6a, and 6b from Accession 2008-S-0102 contain documents that have a very strong and noxious odor to them. They have been rehoused in materials that should abosorb some of this odor over time, but some odor is likely to remain permanently.
As a preservation measure, researchers must use digital copies of audiovisual materials in this collection. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request the creation of and access to digital copies.
This collection contains materials received from the donor in digital form that are not currently available online. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request access to this digital content.
Other Finding Aids
One or more content listings to individual accessions in this collection are available for download. Links can be found in the description of the individual accessions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
C. Virginia Finn, St. Joan's International Alliance, U.S. Section, 2008-2016.
Appraisal
As part of the rehousing of Accession 2008-S-0102 boxes 5 and 6 in 2022, copies of publications beyond two copies were removed and destroyed. Additionally, one folder of bank stubs and similar transactional financial information was destroyed, as were copies of a few publications that had been rendered illegible, apparently by some type of contamination that caused the pages to stick together and bleed. All publications that were destroyed were duplicates of materials retained in the collection.
Processing Information
Boxes 5 and 6 of Accession 2008-S-0102 were found to have a very strong and noxious odor. In 2022, the contents of these boxes were rehoused in MicroChamber boxes and folders with the intention that it would reduce the odor to the point that the materials are usable.
The contents of computer media in this collection has been copied to networked storage for preservation and access; the original directory and file structure was retained and file lists were created.
Processing Information
Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
- Agendas
- Audiotapes
- Books
- Brochures
- Bylaws
- Catholic Church -- United States
- Directories
- Electronic records
- Feminism -- Religious aspects -- Catholic Church
- Financial records
- International cooperation
- Mailing lists
- Minutes
- Newsletters
- Ordination of women -- Catholic Church
- Sexism -- Religious aspects
- St. Joan's International Alliance. United Nations Section
- St. Joan's Social and Political Alliance
- Women -- International cooperation
- Women and religion
- Women in the Catholic Church -- United States
- Women's rights -- International cooperation
- Women's rights -- Religious aspects -- Catholic Church
- Women's suffrage
- articles
- clippings
- correspondence
- memorabilia
- reports
- Title
- Finding aid for Saint Joan's International Alliance, U.S. Section records
- Status
- Legacy Finding Aid (Updated)
- Author
- Ellice Amanna
- Date
- 2019-01-02
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2017-07-26T17:48:24-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2019-01-02: Finding aid updated to current standards and published
- 2020-06-17: Description added for born-digital content.
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
