International Institute for Girls in Spain records

The records of the International Institute for Girls in Spain consist of correspondence, memorabilia, minutes, reports, photographs, publications, and other papers (in English and Spanish) relating to the history and activities of the IIGS and its cooperation with other educational organizations in Spain and the U.S. The records are a rich source for the study of educational reform and women's education in Spain, Spanish-U.S. cooperation, and the experience of Protestant missionaries in Catholic Spain.

In the early 1970s the Corporation assigned the task of organizing the bulk of the records to retired IIGS librarian Enriqueta Martin. Left unfinished, Miss Martin's arrangement was disordered when the records were moved in the late 1970s. Her work survives in two forms: an annotated card file (Series VII - Lists) and notes attached to individual items within the records. These notes (in Spanish) describe, comment on, or refute the contents of each item and have been left in place as part of the record.

The bulk of the material consists of files maintained in this country in the Boston office of the Corporation and by long-time Corresponding Secretary Mary Sweeney. Evidence contained in the records indicates that most of the early records produced and maintained in Spain were lost or destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. However, records kept in this country such as reports and published correspondence by founders Alice Gordon Gulick and William Hooker Gulick, and early directors such as Susan Huntington give insight into the early activities and progress of the school. The work of the Institute is best documented starting in 1950 due to the extensive records kept by Corresponding Secretary Mary Sweeney.

Surviving records produced and maintained in Spain consist of correspondence files of the director (Series II), library records (Series VI), personnel files (Series IX), photographs (Series X), memorabilia (Series IV), and student papers (Series XIV). These records are most complete for the period between 1950 and the late 1970s.