Sisters Inc. records
Scope and Contents
The Sisters Inc. Records consist of administrative and programming material from the organization's 12 year tenure. Among the administrative materials are fundraising files, board and committee minutes, and reports. Two boxes of financial records are closed to research. Records of programming for girls, particularly the mentoring program, are documented with writings, information sheets, and surveys that detail participants and activities. There are production materials and tapes from a video project as well as conference and research files.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1996 - 2008
Creator
- Sisters Inc. (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The records are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection with the following caveat: 2 boxes of financial records are separated and closed to research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the unpublished works in this collection that were created by the organization Sisters, Inc. Copyright to materials authored by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. Permission must be obtained to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use." It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Biographical / Historical
Sisters Inc. (sometimes known as Sisters Ink) was a small, community-based organization in the rural hilltowns of Western Massachusetts from 1996-2008. It was started by local women in the community who wanted to support girls as they entered adolescence by creating a "hardiness zone," a community in which girls could flourish and remain bold and strong. Founded by Ellen Pulleyblank Coffey and Deborah Coffey, the organization was directed by Kelly Anderson for most of its tenure. Programs included: an art-based mentoring program for girls ages 9-12, a music based program for teen girls, a mother-daughter reading group, self-defense workshops, and annual art exhibits, lectures, and public events aimed at creating dialogue around the needs and desires of girls. Over the years, Sisters reached hundreds of rural girls and women and hosted events with Carol Gilligan, Evelyn Harris, Rachel Maddow and others. Sisters Inc was funded by Community Development Block Grants, the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, and Local Cultural Councils. All events and programs were free to participants. The organization folded in 2008 due to lack of funding.
Extent
2.396 linear feet (4 containers)
0.000432 Gigabytes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Community service organization. The Sisters Inc. (sometimes known as Sisters Ink) a community-based organization in the rural hill towns of Western Massachusetts operated from 1996-2008 in support of girls as they entered adolescence. Founded by Ellen Pulleyblank Coffey and Deborah Coffey, the organization was directed by Kelly Anderson for most of its tenure. Programs included: an art-based mentoring program for girls ages 9-12, a music based program for teen girls, a mother-daughter reading group, self-defense workshops, and annual art exhibits, lectures, and public events. The records consist of administrative and programming material; fundraising files, board and committee minutes, reports, conference and research files. Records of programming for girls, particularly the mentoring program, are documented with writings, information sheets, and surveys that detail participants and activities.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Sisters Inc. Records were donated to the Sophia Smith Collection by Kelly Anderson in 2011.
Processing Information
Accessioned by Amanda Izzo, May 2011
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.
Genre / Form
- Financial records
- Grant proposals
- Manuals
- Membership applications
- Membership lists
- Minutes
- Notes
- Questionnaires
- Surveys
- Videotapes
- Writings
- clippings
- correspondence
- photographs
- reports
Topical
- Children's writings, American -- 20th century
- Community development -- 20th century
- Community development -- 20th century
- Electronic records
- Girls
- Girls -- Societies and clubs -- 20th century
- Girls -- United States
- Publicity
- Rural women
- Women -- Massachusetts, Western -- Social conditions
- Women in community development -- Massachusetts, Western
- Youth -- Services for -- United States
- Title
- Sisters Inc. records
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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)
- 2017-07-26T17:48:21-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2020-06-23: Description added for born-digital content.
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
