New England Learning Center for Women in Transition records

This partially processed portion of NELCWIT Records and documents the organization's founding and programming from 1975 to 2012. The date spans of 1976-81 and 1987-2001 are particularly well represented. Confidential client and shelter records are not included as part of the collection, and they will not be deposited at the Sophia Smith Collection.

SERIES I. ADMINISTRATION pertains to the creation and ongoing management of NELCWIT. The material contained in its Board of Directors and Planning Board committee files trace the organization's evolution from its conception to the creation of an effective agency with a paid staff and a large list of clientele. The committee work gives considerable evidence of the difficulty of reconciling the founders' egalitarian ideals with the day-to-day operations of a growing group, particularly in the sometimes-hostile environment of greater Franklin County. These factors are also evident in the administrative correspondence, internal news sheets, and fundraising files. In addition, the series' fundraising files indicate the intensive, creative efforts necessary to sustain a non-profit organization. The Personnel files include materials from reunions of NELCWIT staffers, and a small file of statistics for 1977 indicate the range of functions the organization served.

SERIES II. PROGRAMS contains materials of some of NELCWIT's ancillary efforts, including conferences, an anti-racism initiative of the 1990s, and participation in the Franklin County Coalition for a Safe Community (FCCSC). The FCCSC sponsored Violence Awareness Prevention Awareness events and was the result of a coalition among the county's health and human service agencies and organizations. This series also contains the records of the Woman of the Year banquet sponsored by NELCWIT from 1989-95. Woman of the Year efforts solicited input from the citizens of Franklin County to single out and celebrate the achievements of a local woman; it also served as a means of generating awareness and advertising revenue for NELCWIT.

NELCWIT's primary programming work is best documented in SERIES III. PUBLICITY AND WRITINGS. Publicity includes articles and newspaper clippings about the organization, as well as printed material produced by NELCWIT for outreach and fundraising purposes. Clippings from local newspapers trace the services provided by NELCWIT over the thirty-year course of its existence, documenting its emergency services, efforts to compel recognition of the toll of abuse, and the long-term counseling and support groups offered as means to cope with and healing from violence. News coverage also records the changing atmosphere in which NELCWIT was received, beginning with receptivity toward its efforts initially being found primarily in the alternative and feminist press and eventually garnering a greater appreciation and recognition for its work. A series of domestic violence-related homicides in Franklin County in the late-1980s brought a spate of press coverage to Franklin County and highlighted the necessity for domestic abuse awareness and prevention. The printed material produced by NELCWIT includes newsletters, brochures, fundraising appeals, and informational packets. These materials illustrate the variety of programs undertaken throughout the years and demonstrate one of the primary means by which NELCWIT sought to help women empower themselves, which was to provide the information and resources to recognize and escape abusive relationships.

Writings include a report, "Domestic Abuse of Women in Franklin County, Massachusetts," (1978) and a Master's Thesis, "New England Learning Center for Women in Transition: The Planning Stages of a Residential Learning Center for Women in Transition," (1978) give in-depth accounts of NELCWIT's treatment approaches and the type of situations in which it was called to assist. Files relating to the writing project "Shattered Silences" have considerable historical value. In 1991, NELCWIT solicited writings related to abuse for a published booklet. The poetry and prose pieces can be read as both therapeutic exercises for survivors and a means to implode the silences and misinformation surrounding sexual and physical abuse.

SERIES IV. SUBJECT FILES consists of printed materials which provide more general reference information and background on matters of violence; spousal, child, and sexual abuse; and feminism. These materials were possibly used by staff and clients as resource files.