Harriet Bliss Ford papers
Scope and Contents
The papers include biographical materials, correspondence, memorabilia, photographs, writings, and subject files. The correspondence and subject files relate to her work with Century Magazine and her political and intellectual life during her residence in Northampton, Massachusetts. Included are plays and pageants written and published by Ford for the Young Women's Christian Association (as well as other YWCA publications), and manuscripts of her speeches and writings. There is also an unpublished biography of her husband, George B. Ford. Notable correspondents include Carrie Chapman Catt; Grace Coolidge; Elizabeth Cutter Morrow; William Allen Neilson; Ada Comstock Notestein; Abby Rockefeller; William Rose Bennet; Helena Gilder. and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1899-1953
Creator
Language of Materials
English.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in this collection may be governed by copyright. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. Researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Biographical / Historical
Harriet Chalmers Bliss was born in New York City and earned a B.L. from Smith College in 1899. She was an editorial assistant at Century Magazine, 1899-1912, and consulting editor of the Woman's Press Board, the Woman's Journal, 1927-29. She married George Burdett Ford in 1912. Ford was director of women personal in the American Red Cross Overseas, 1917-1920, and was chair of the Smith College Relief Unit, Pans Office. Ford was on the National Board of the YWCA from 1920 to 1930, and was vice president chair of the Publicity Organization. She was a member of the Committee on Cause and Cure of War from 1925 to1930. At Smith College, she was a publicity chair and trustee, 1923-36, and she was a "Trustee in Residence," 1931-36. She was on the Board of Directors of the Smith Alumnae Association and the American Association of University Women. Ford was involved in Northampton, Massachusetts city politics and the National League of Women Voters, 1950s. She was on the Northampton City Charter Committee, 1949, and the City Council, 1940s-50s. She wrote articles, poetry and plays, some of which were published, regarding various causes including women's issues and peace.
Extent
2.208 linear feet (6 containers)
Abstract
Civic leader; editor; YWCA executive; Red Cross official; and Trustee, Smith College. The correspondence and subject files of the Ford Papers document her work with Century Magazine and her political and intellectual life during her residence in Northampton, Massachusetts. Included is material written and published by Ford for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), and manuscripts of her speeches and writings. Notable correspondents include Carrie Chapman Catt; Grace Coolidge; Elizabeth Cutter Morrow; William Allen Neilson; Ada Comstock Notestein; Abby Rockefeller; William Rose Bennet; Helena Gilder; and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into five series:
- I. Biographical Materials
- II. Writings
- III. Memorabilia
- IV. Correspondence
- V. Subjects
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials in this collection were given to the Sophia Smith Collection by Harriet Bliss Ford and her niece.
Processing Information
Finding aid revised in 2002 by Gayla Spaulding, intern.
Subject
- Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947 -- correspondence (Person)
- Coolidge, Grace Goodhue, 1879-1957 -- correspondence (Person)
- H. de K. G. (Helena de Kay Gilder)--Correspondence (Person)
- Morrow, Elizabeth Reeve Cutter, 1873-1955 -- correspondence (Person)
- Neilson, William Allan, 1869-1946 -- correspondence (Person)
- Century Magazine (Organization)
- League of Women Voters of Northampton (Organization)
- Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. National Board (Organization)
- Nichols, Laura W. (Person)
- Ford, Harriet Bliss (1876 November 08-1964 February 20) (Person)
- Smith College. -- Administration (Organization)
- National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (U.S.) (Organization)
- Title
- Harriet Bliss Ford papers
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by mnsss.
- Date
- 2003
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2005-09-23: mnsss152 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
- 2017-07-26T17:48:11-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
