Smith College Special Collections records
Scope and Contents
Smith College Special Collections records include directors' chronological files and correspondence; articles about Special Collections; meeting notes; Special Collections position searches; donor files; deeds of gift; accession records; the SSC 50th Anniversary celebration files; exhibit materials; posters; photos; materials related to production of "Creating Women's History: The Sophia Smith Collection" video; old card catalog files; and digital images and av recordings of special collection events.
Dates of Materials
- 1846 - 2018
Creator
- Smith College Special Collections (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for use with following restrictions on access:
All office files are closed for 10 years following their date of creation.
Accession, gift, and other donor records are closed permanently.
Conditions Governing Use
Smith College retains copyright of materials created as part of its business operations; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. 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. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not created by Smith College, 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
The Smith College Archives document the life of the College by collecting materials created by students, faculty, administrative and departmental staff during the course of their time here.
The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, archives, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. It was founded in 1942 to be the library's distinctive contribution to the college's mission of educating women.
Since 2014, the College Archives, Sophia Smith Collection, and Mortimer Rare Book Collection have been adminstratively unified as the Smith College Special Collections.
Extent
33 Gigabytes (2,350 digital files)
208.593 linear feet (369 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Smith College Archives document the life of the College by collecting materials created by students, faculty, administrative and departmental staff during the course of their time here. The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, archives, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. This collection contains the administrative records of the College Archives and Sophia Smith Collection.
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. Note that in most cases, container numbers start over at 1 with each new accession.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
This collection contains materials received in digital form that are not currently available online. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request access to this digital content.
As a preservation measure, researchers must use digital copies of audiovisual materials in this collection. Please consult with Special Collections staff or email specialcollections@smith.edu to request the creation of and access to digital copies.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials were transferred to College Archives on an ongoing basis, including larger accessions in 1991, 1998, 2002 and 2015.
Processing Information
Starting in September 2022, Smith College Special Collections will be renumbering many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
- Title
- Finding aid to the Smith College Special Collections records
- Status
- Legacy Finding Aid (Updated)
- Author
- Scott Biddle
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 10/1/2018: First version of finding aid published
- 2018-11-5: Finding aid updated as part of the College Archives Survey
- 2019-04-24: Resource name changed from "Smith College Archives and Sophia Smith Collection records" to "Smith College Special Collections records"
- 2019-07-11: Special collections events (av and photos) added
- 2020-07-01: Added 11 flat file folders, updated scope and contents note
- 2020-11-17: Added 61 boxes and updated 11 boxes, updated dates and extents and S and C note
- 2021-01-25: Added Accession 2020-A-0015 and 2020-A-0016
- 2021-05-05: Added Accession 2021-A-0003
- 2022-03-03: Added Accession 2022-A-0012
- 2022-04-05: Added Accession 2022-A-0034 and Accession 2022-A-0035
- 2022-04-19: Added Accession 2022-A-0045
- 2022-10-05: Added Accession 2022-A-0091 and 2022-A-0092
- 2022-10-11: Added Accession 2022-A-0094 and 2022-A-0095
Repository Details
Part of the Smith College Archives Repository
