16 American Archivist / Vol. 58 / Winter 1995

Pease Award Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021

"No Documents—No History": Mary Ritter Beard and the Early History of Women's Archives

ANKE VOSS-HUBBARD

Abstract: The 1930s marked an important moment in the history of the national preser- vation effort in the United States. While the establishment of the National Archives ensured the preservation of the public record, a quest to salvage the record of women's role in civilization was just beginning. Historian Mary Ritter Beard made a commitment to the promotion of women's archives throughout the next decades. After she failed to establish a World Center for Women's Archives at the dawn of the Second World War, Beard sought her dream in institutions of higher learning, inspiring many colleges and universities to collect source material by and about women. made the greatest com- mitment to support a women's archives on its campus. Beginning in the early 1940s, nurtured a close relationship with an ardent supporter of such an archives at Smith College, Margaret Storrs Grierson, the collection's director from 1942 through 1965. The tireless effort of these two women provided the foundation for what has evolved into one of the most widely recognized woman's collections in the United States.

About the author: Anke Voss-Hubbard wrote this essay while obtaining her M.L.S. in Archival Administration at the School of Information Science and Policy, University at Albany—State Uni- versity of New York. She also holds a B.A. and an M.A. in American history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is currently the project archivist at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where she is processing the Hugh Moore Dixie Cup Company Collection and the Robert and Helen Meyner Papers. The author expresses her gratitude to Philip Eppard, Amy Hague, Margery Sly, and Mark Voss-Hubbard for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Early History of Women's Archives 17

Without knowledge of women in history records. Although they had had some pres- as actual history, dead women are idential support in the past, Jameson and sheer ghosts to living women— his assistants watched numerous legislative and to men} efforts to establish a national archives fail —Mary Ritter Beard in the first two decades of the twentieth

century. Finally a bill passed both houses Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 THROUGHOUT HER CAREER, historian Mary of Congress, and in May 1926 President Ritter Beard (1876-1958) called on archi- Calvin Coolidge signed a bill that author- vists, educators, and historians to preserve, ized funding for an archives building; it teach, and examine the contributions of took Congress almost another decade, women in building our civilization. Ac- however, to establish a program with cording to historian Nancy F. Cott, Beard "broad authority to preserve and care for believed that women had always been "co- the archives of the federal government."3 makers of civilization side by side with With the passage of the National Ar- men" and that "documenting their past chives Act of 1934, shared leadership would help to cement it established an agency to direct a national 2 into contemporary reality." Beard's un- preservation effort. During the 1930s and flagging commitment to these goals even- 1940s, repositories dramatically increased tually inspired Margaret Storrs Grierson, their efforts to collect unpublished source the founding archivist of the Sophia Smith material. The growth of special collections Collection at Smith College, to rally the was especially visible at numerous aca- administration and the alumnae of this demic libraries. According to William L. women's college to support a collection of Joyce, "[a]s research became a primary primary source material in women's his- university objective[,] ... scholarship was tory. The story of Beard's involvement in institutionalized and professionalized."4 founding this collection illuminates her To Beard's dismay, however, the efforts of lasting contribution to the study of women libraries to collect primary sources rarely and her important place in the development included material related to women's his- of women's archives in America. tory. Beard, of course, was not the only his- torian to recognize the value of primary The Beginning of a Quest for Women's source material to historical research and Archives the urgency of preserving those records. Beginning in the late 1800s, historian J. Just as Jameson's goal appeared to have Franklin Jameson led the campaign for a been achieved, Mary Beard's quest to es- national archives from his position at the American Historical Association (AHA) 3 and the Department of Historical Research Donald R. McCoy, "The Struggle to Establish a National Archives in the United States," in Guardian at the Carnegie Institute. Jameson and oth- of Heritage: Essays on the History of the National ers spent many years seeking support for Archives, edited by Timothy Walch (Washington, an archives to preserve federal government D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1985), 15. See also Victor Gondos, Jr. Franklin Ja- meson and the Birth of the National Archives, 1906- 1926 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, '"The Historical Approach to Learning About 1981), and James O'Toole, Understanding Archives Women," speech given at , 22 May and Manuscripts, Archival Fundamentals Series (Chi- 1944, Mary Ritter Beard Papers (A-9), Schlesinger cago: Society of American Archivists, 1990). Library, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass. "William L. Joyce, "The Evolution of the Concept 2Nancy F. Cott, ed., A Woman Making History: of Special Collections in American Research Librar- Mary Ritter Beard Through Her Letters, (New Haven: ies," Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship 3 Press, 1991), 21. (Spring 1988): 23, 25. 18 American Archivist / Winter 1995

tablish a women's archives began. In 1935, Beard continued to publish articles and Beard initiated plans to establish a center books on women's history, even as she de- for the preservation and study of primary voted considerable attention and energy to source material about women. Suzanne promoting women's archives and a univer- Hildenbrand has pointed out that Beard's sity curriculum that would use primary

achievements "encouraged many individ- sources to teach women about their past. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 uals and institutions to preserve materials Since both archivists and historians had in [by and about women] that might other- the past considered material on women to wise have been lost."5 Beard's work on be- be historically insignificant, the curator of half of women's archives was part of a the women's collection at Radcliffe Col- broad movement to establish women's col- lege was not surprised that they "did not lections in the decades before and after the immediately or happily begin to record Second World War. Her idea for a world new ideas and activities of women.'' But center was one of the earliest such efforts. women in the archival and historical pro- By the early 1930s, Beard had made fession were instrumental in calling for a clear her particular interest in women's his- new recognition of women's archives.7 tory. Mary Beard and her husband, histo- Mary Beard's interest in preserving rian Charles Beard, had written several sources on women's history was ignited by (now well-known) history textbooks, in- a disagreement with some basic premises cluding American Citizenship (1914) and of the women's movement in the early The Rise of American Civilization (1927). twentieth century. Beard sparked contro- The true nature of the Beards' partnership versy in the suffrage movement in the seems destined to remain a mystery be- 1930s when she rejected the idea women cause none of their correspondence with had been subjugated throughout history each other survives. What is clear, how- and called for a reexamination of docu- ever, is that Mary Beard's role in these col- mentary evidence to prove her thesis. laborative works was barely acknowledged Beard believed women had always been by her contemporaries. Her scholarly rep- partners with men in the making of history. utation rested instead on her voluminous She explained in an address that when "we work on the history of women, most no- trace the lives and labors of women up tably her magnum opus Woman as Force through the countless centuries, we find in History: A Study in Traditions and Re- women always playing a realistic and dy- alities.6

5 Suzanne Hildenbrand, "Women's Collections To- edited, 1931); America Through Women's Eyes (New day," Special Collections 3 (Spring/Summer 1986): York: Macmillan, 1933); and, of course, Woman as 2; Hildenbrand traces the growth of these collections Force in History (New York: Macmillan, 1946). to early twentieth-century feminists who sought to 7Eva Moseley, "Women in Archives: Documenting preserve the documentary record of their movement. the History of Women in America," American Ar- 'See Cott (ed.), A Woman Making History, 4-19; chivist 36 (April 1973): 216. See also in that issue, and Beard and Beard, American Citizenship (New Miriam Crawford, "Women in Archives: A Program York: Macmillan, 1914); The Rise of American Civ- for Action," 223-32; Mabel Deutrich, "Women in ilization, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1927). Their Archives: Ms. Versus Mr. Archivist," 171-81; Elsie other collaborative efforts include America in Mid- Freeman Freivogel, "Women in Archives: The Status passage, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1939); The of Women in the Academic Professions," 182-202; American Spirit: A Study of the Idea of Civilization and Joanna Schneider Zangrando, "Women in Ar- in the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1942); A Basic History of the United States (New York: Dou- chives: An Historian's View on the Liberation of bleday, 1944); A selected number of Mary Beard's Clio," 203-24. See also Michele F. Pacifico, "Found- publications include On Understanding Women (New ing Mothers: Women in the Society of American Ar- York: Longmans, Green, and a book of essays she chivists, 1936-1972," American Archivist 50 (1987): 370-89. Early History of Women's Archives 19

namic function, or role, in society."8 In a realized that historians needed to examine fundamental challenge to feminist thought more documentary evidence before they of that time, she argued that women and could examine and incorporate women's men shared equally wherever "operations contributions to civilization into books and are carried on efficiently for the care and curricula. According to Nancy Cott, Beard protection of life, or where this fundamen- believed that libraries and archives con- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 tal cultural responsibility is discarded in the tained the materials that would illustrate pursuit of self-interest."9 As Beard saw it, women's integral role. In Beard's aim to women were equally responsible for defin- "widen the frames of history to the women ing the values of the society. as they were in past actuality," Cott ar- This formulation, according to historian gues, "documents were her eyepiece, ... Barbara Turoff, led to Beard's belief that [for] only on documents could a new vi- "only when women learned of their his- sion rest." In a great irony, however, torical significance would they regain self- Beard herself never viewed her own papers confidence."10 Without that knowledge, as a source for the study of women.14 "modern women have little chance to ful- fill their potential."" Although she praised The World Center for Women's Arthur Schlesinger's 1922 appeal for his- Archives torians to consider women's contributions Beard's quest to collect and examine the to history, she had little regard for histori- documentary evidence of women began in ans who focused on the contemporary bat- earnest in 1935, when Hungarian-born pac- tle for women's suffrage while ignoring ifist-feminist ap- Schlesinger's plea to integrate women into proached her with the idea of establishing history. In Beard's view, most scholarship the World Center for Women's Archives continued to approach women's history (WCWA). Schwimmer was primarily con- from the "conventional view of women as cerned that "the facts of women's struggle negligible or nothing or helplessly subject 12 and achievement" to bring peace to the to men." world be preserved, an idea illustrated in Although her rejection of the main- her statement on "A Feminist-Pacifist Ar- stream feminist thought remained contro- chive." Although Schwimmer's goal was versial, Beard's call to widen the field of limited to documenting women's role in historical inquiry inspired many.13 Beard the peace movement, Beard's was wider.

8"Woman—the Pioneer," a radio broadcast in 1939, jointly sponsored by Columbia Broadcasting 8. For other selected studies, see Gerda Lerner, "New Systems and the Women's National Radio Commit- Approaches to the Study of Women in American His- tee, in Mary Ritter Beard: A Source Book, edited by tory," Journal of Social History 3 (Fall 1969): 53- Ann J. Lane (New York: Schocken Books, 1977), 62; and "Placing Women in History: Definitions and 193. Challenges," Feminist Studies 3 (Fall 1975): 5-14; '"Introduction," America Through Women's Eyes, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "The New Woman and the 5. New History," Feminist Studies, 3 (Fall 1975): 185- '"Barbara K. Turoff, Mary Beard as Force in His- 98. tory (Dayton, Ohio: Wright State University, 1979), '"Beard, A Woman Making History, 47-48; a 32. scholar once asked to examine Beard's correspon- "Turoff, Mary Beard as Force in History, 48. dence with of the Woman's Party. Beard 12Mary Ritter Beard, Woman As Force in History replied that although there must have been some im- (New York: 1946; reprint ed., New York: Persea portant documents among them, she had not kept Books, 1987), 59. most of her correspondence, adding, "It has not been concern for my own archives which has thrust me into 13One of the earliest discussions appears in Alma the big archives business." Mary Beard to Mary Phil- Lutz, "Women's History," Journal of the American brook, 17 November [1936], in Beard, A Woman Association of University Women 40 (Fall 1946): 6- Making History, 164. 20 American Archivist / Winter 1995

From the outset, she believed the WCWA Beard gathered numerous sponsors, should expand to collect material about "women of the kind who would really women's various activities, functioning as push [WCWA] along to realization," and both an archives and an education center their involvement again altered the imme- for the study of women. As Beard stated in diate goals of the organization. Women a letter to prospective sponsors in 1935: friends such as , Jane Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 "[W]e want more than shelves filled with Addams, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's records. It is our idea to make this center daughter Harriet Stanton Blatch offered a vital educational plant in which the cul- valuable support for an archives that would ture represented by the archives will re- preserve women's history. The scope of ceive the attention at present given in 'seats Beard's project broadened, reflecting the of higher learning' to the culture of men wide array of backgrounds and occupations alone."15 of the women lending their assistance. The WCWA had its first organizational Much to the distress of Rosika Schwim- board meeting in New York on 15 October mer, Beard's expansive vision of the 1935. In addition to appointing a board of WCWA's mission no longer was that of a directors as the main decision-making center focusing solely on women in peace body, attendees of the inaugural meeting movements.17 In 1936, Schwimmer re- voted to invite well-known women spon- signed from the center's board of directors sors to serve in an advisory capacity. From in frustration. Schwimmer's dream for a the beginning the WCWA was torn by in- collection devoted to her and other wom- ternal strife over the center's mission and en's role in the struggle for peace would focus. As Schwimmer and others consid- be realized, however, in 1942, at the New ered a collaboration with the New York York Public Library.18 Public Library, the Library of Congress, or The WCWA finally gathered an opera- some other institution, Beard voiced strong tional fund, with endorsements from such opposition successfully arguing that such a prominent women as union would undermine the WCWA's or- and and support from Fan- ganizational independence and "again take nie Hurst, , Georgia women off the record." Beard later ex- O'Keeffe, and Alice Paul. It was officially pressed these sentiments in a letter to Sue launched on 15 December 1937, at the Bailey Thurman, a member of the ' 'Negro Biltmore Hotel in . A pam- Women's Archives Committee" of the phlet, bearing the Center's motto, "No WCWA, which was calling for a separate documents, No history," which had been black women's archives: "Many women coined by French historian Fustel de Cou- and men deny the validity of a separate ar- langes, also stated the WCWA's purpose: chive for women. I maintain that only by dramatizing women can women be recog- nized as equally important with men."16 To make a systematic search for undeposited source materials dealing with women's lives and activities, in-

15Ann Kimbell Relph, "The World Center for "Mary Beard to Rosika Schwimmer, 12 May 1936, Women's Archives, 1935-1940," Signs 4 (Spring in A Woman Making History, 151; A Woman Making 1979): 601, 599. History, 145. 16Mary Beard to Rosika Schwimmer, 14 February '"Suzanne Hildenbrand and E. Wynner, "Women 1936, in A Woman Making History, 148; Mary Beard for Peace: The Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection of the to Sue Bailey Thurman, 25 March 1940, in A Woman New York Public Library," Special Collections 3 Making History, 198. (Spring/Summer 1986): 37^2. Early History of Women's Archives 21

terests and ideas, as members of so- June 1940, in a letter to the members of ciety everywhere.... To reproduce the board of directors, she wrote, "Unless important materials, already depos- strong new blood can be transfused into ited elsewhere, by means of micro- our movement's management, neither my film and other modern processes.... continuous service nor any other service, To encourage recognition of women old or new, will carry us further toward our Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 as co-makers of history.19 goal.... I will not go on soliciting archives when there is no real push for money."22 The center's demise in 1940, shortly after Despite wide publicity and initial sup- Beard's resignation, was blamed on the port from prominent individuals, the outbreak of the Second World War and the WCWA never received the financial sup- inability of any organization not involved port it needed to meet its far-reaching in the war effort to raise funds. In private, goals. Disagreements among its leadership however, Beard expressed a different view: about racial issues furthered weakened the "I don't like to hide behind the idea that WCWA. Mary Beard had asked Mary we are a casualty of war because I think McLeod Bethune, founder and president of we are hiding our own inefficiency."23 the National Council of Negro Women Although unable to build a permanent (NCNW), for her organization's assistance future for itself, the WCWA had neverthe- in promoting African-American women's less, during its five years of existence, pub- history. In 1938 Bethune was invited to licized Beard's ideas for the preservation chair the Negro Women's Archives Com- of women's history. The center had re- mittee because of her advocacy of African- ceived numerous pledges from women, and American women's history dating back to 20 its preliminary work in soliciting women to the mid-1920s. Although she declined, donate or deposit their papers in an ar- Bethune and the NCNW worked with the chives center later proved to be invaluable. WCWA the following year. African-Amer- Moreover, through the efforts of numerous ican women soon concluded, however, that state volunteers, the center had identified the WCWA's commitment to promoting historical records about women in private their efforts was tentative at best. No Af- hands, historical societies, universities, and rican-American women ever served on the other archives. Among many other activi- board of directors, only two were asked to ties, it had promoted exhibits of women's become sponsors, and expenditures for 21 collections at the Library of Congress and their committee's fieldwork was minimal. the National Archives. From its offices in Frustrated both by a lack of solidarity Washington and New York, the center among the members about these and other compiled and distributed lists of secondary issues and by her inability to solve the pro- sources essential to the study of women, ject's financial woes, Mary Beard finally served as a clearing house for information resigned from the board of the WCWA. In about women at other institutions, and fur- nished information for a series of radio "World Center for Women's Archives brochure, In- ternational Organization Records, Sophia Smith Col- lection (SSC), Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. 22Mary Beard to the members of the Board of the 20Marjorie White to Mary McLeod Bethune, 28 No- World Center for Women's Archives, 26 June 1940, vember 1938, Mary Beard Papers (SCH). in Beard, A Woman Making History, 211—12; Mary 21Bettye Collier-Thomas "Towards Black Femi- Beard to Miriam Holden, 15 August 1940, in Beard, nism: The Creation of the Bethune Museum Ar- A Woman Making History, 216. chives," Special Collections 3 (Spring/Summer 23Mary Beard to Miriam Holden, 10 October 1940, 1986): 43-66. in Beard, A Woman Making History, 220. 22 American Archivist / Winter 1995

talks on women in American society. gained recognition among librarians and Beard also convinced Ellen Woodward, an college presidents such as Wilbur Jordan at officer of the Federal Works Project's Radcliffe College and Herbert Davis at Historical Records Survey, "to instruct the Smith. Even before the closing of the field workers ... to make a note of wom- WCWA, Beard had contacted several in- en's records when they found them. The stitutions of higher learning, "attempting Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 note was to take the form of a 'WH' in the to affect their curricula as well as [their] margin." Although Woodward gave the in- collecting policies," Cott notes. Margaret structions and the reporting took place, Grierson, archivist of the women's collec- Beard recalled that Woodward's superiors tion at Smith College from the early 1940s "were exceedingly cross and said it had no through the mid-1960s, also recalled that place in the reports."24 Smith ' 'was but one of many institutions In part because of Mary Beard's early where she sowed the seed."27 work with the WCWA, several colleges Evidence of Beard's involvement with and universities, most notably Radcliffe numerous educational institutions can be College and Smith College, began collect- seen in correspondence in the Sophia ing source material for the study of wom- Smith Collection and in the records of the en's history.25 After these collections took WCWA at the . Writ- shape in the early 1940s, a number of other ing to one of her supporters of the World institutions throughout the country launched Center, Beard reported that the librarians at additional projects in an effort to docu- Syracuse were following her advice to ac- ment, preserve, and provide better access quire more books and manuscripts "for to sources on women's history.26 Beard this advancing education ... so everyone associated with WCWA ... may feel that social ideas are not all being destroyed by 24"Brief Report of the WCWA," 13 November the sweep of war." Beard not only gave 1939, Mary Beard Papers, SCH; Mary Beard to Mar- garet Grierson, 22 June 1940, Mary Beard Papers, SSC. 25For a brief history of these collections and their holdings see Patricia M. King, "Forty Years of Col- 1980): 180-90; Eva S. Moseley, "Women in Ar- lecting on Women: The Arthur and Elizabeth Schles- chives: Documenting the History of Women in inger Library on the History of Women in America," America," American Archivist 36 (April 1973): 215— Radcliffe Special Collections 3 (Spring/Summer 22; Mary J. Oates, "Religious Archives Undo Stere- 1986): 75-100; Mary Elizabeth Murdock, "Exploring otypes about the Role of Sisters," Catholic Library Women's Lives: Historical and Contemporary Re- World 63 (1991): 47-52; Sarah Pritchard, "Library of sources in the College Archives and the Sophia Smith Congress Resources for the Study of Women," Spe- Collection at Smith College," Radcliffe Special Col- cial Collections 3 (Spring/Summer 1986): 13-36. For lections 3 (Spring/Summer 1986): 67-74. For a dis- selected projects attempting to preserve women's his- cussion of special reference issues in a women's tory, see Ronald J. Chepsiuk and Ann Y. Evans, archives see Anne Engelhart, "Remembering the "Videotaping [Women's] History: The Winthrop Women: Manuscript Reference at the Schlesinger Li- College Archives' Experience," American Archivist brary," Reference Librarian 13 (Fall 1985): 11-22. 48 (Winter 1985): 65-68; Ruth Edmonds Hill, "The 26 Black Women Oral History Project," Behavioral and For studies about new sources of women's his- Social Sciences Librarian 4 (Summer 1985): 3—14; tory, see Martha S. Bell, "Special Women's Collec- "NOW Oral History Project at Radcliffe," Library tions in United States Libraries," College and Journal, .115 (March 1990): 16; Diane Pederson, Research Libraries 20 (May 1959): 235^2; Sandra "The Photographic Record of the Canadian YWCA, L. Chaff, "Archives and Special Collections on 1890-1930: A Visual Source for Women's History," Women in Medicine at the Medical College of Penn- Archivaria 24 (Summer 1987): 10-35; and "Wom- sylvania," Bulletin of the Medical Library Associa- en's History: A Heritage of Strength and Vision," tion 66 (January 1978): 55-57; R. McQuaide, "A Ohio Libraries 2 (January/February 1989): 7. Well-Kept Secret: The Religious Archive as a Ref- erence Source," Reference Librarian 13 (Fall 1985): 27Beard, A Woman Making History, 118; Hand- 137-48; Eva S. Moseley, "Sources for the 'New written draft from Margaret Grierson to William Women's History'," American Archivist 43 (Spring Beard, (1959), SSC Donor Files, Smith College Ar- chives (SCA), Northampton, Massachusetts. Early History of Women's Archives 23

her advice to these institutions, but distrib- Rights Collection following the donation in uted some important source material for 1943 of the papers of alumna Maud Wood the study of women.28 Park, a noted suffragist. Newly appointed When the WCWA project folded in late college president Wilbur K. Jordan con- 1940, many of the donated collections fell tacted Mary Beard for advice on improving into Beard's keeping. She returned some of the collection. Beard responded by ex- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 the books and manuscripts at the donors' pressing hope for Radcliffe's success in es- request, but she distributed others to Rad- tablishing a women's archives; she subse- cliffe College, the Institute of Women's quently wrote numerous letters advising Professional Relations, Connecticut Col- Jordan on how to establish such a collec- lege, Purdue University, Hunter College, tion. From the events that followed, how- Columbia's Teachers College, Barnard ever, one may conclude that despite initial College, and Smith College. Despite the enthusiasm, Radcliffe was not fully com- WCWA's demise, Beard's careful distri- mitted to the project Beard envisioned. In bution of the salvaged records promoted, a letter to Margaret Grierson, Beard re- in the opinion of one biographer, "a con- called the Radcliffe's librarian's question cern for the preservation of women's re- about the scope of the intended collection. cords among educators who then attempted Somewhat irritated, Beard replied, "[WJhere similar projects."29 Although Beard had women began their distinctly human advised several college librarians on their work." According to Beard the male li- collections' strength in women's history, brarian was silent for a moment, then asked her most significant involvement was with "How many books do you think we ought the women's archives at Radcliffe and to have—5000? Beard replied "[T]hat Smith. Beard's mission for the WCWA had would make a good start."31 been to support the education of women in In Beard's view, the collection at Rad- their history. Her enthusiasm for collec- cliffe was growing very slowly. She noted tions at these two institutions was in 1945 that "President Jordan ... seems grounded in her belief that, by placing an to falter, for reasons I do not understand, archives at a women's college, this goal in the ardent and yet practical promotion 30 could be achieved. of a great women's archive at Radcliffe." What must certainly have added to Beard's Mary Beard and Radcliffe frustration was that she had sent Jordan a list of women "who were interested in the Beard's involvement with Radcliffe Col- WCWA and might contribute financially," lege began when it established a Woman's and she herself contributed $1,000 to the Radcliffe project. She also gave the college the WCWA records, the Leonora Reilly pa- 28Mary Beard to Alice Lachmund, 7 December 1942, Mary Beard Papers, SSC; Beard's correspon- pers, the Inez Irwin papers, and other col- dence discussing these efforts can be located in the lections. Although Beard kept abreast of papers of women who supported the WCWA and do- progress on the project, the institution nated their papers to Smith College; also see WCWA records in the Mary Beard Papers, SCH. 29Turoff, Mary Beard as Force in History, 72. For the full list of institutions that received material from the defunct WCWA, see memorandum from the World Center for Women's Archives, 25 November 1940, International Organizations Records, SSC. For a description of Beard's involvement at other col- "Among the many letters, see Mary Beard to Wil- leges, see, for example, Mary Beard to Alice Lach- bur Jordan, 14 January 1944, 7 June 1944, Mary mund, 17 August 1943, Mary Beard Papers, SSC. Beard Papers, SCH; Mary Beard to Margaret Grier- 30Beard, A Woman Making History, 132. son, 28 October 1949, Mary Beard Papers, SSC. 24 American Archivist / Winter 1995

would not contact her again to promote Beard's son, Grierson noted that it was their women's archives until 1951.32 Mary Beard "who patiently led us to a In her response to Radcliffe's archivist, clear understanding of the significance of a disappointed Beard recalled her early women in history and to a clear conception support for and contribution to the project, of the proper nature of our research collec- only to "learn for the first time detail of tion. It is very truly her own creation."35 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 its status at this moment." She concluded Newly appointed Smith College presi- rather bluntly that she had "led many dent Herbert Davis first proposed the wom- women to believe that Radcliffe was the en's archives at an Alumnae Association place in the U.S. for a great collection. I meeting held in conjunction with com- have regretted that Radcliffe ... was in no mencement on 14 June 1941. Davis, who great sense apparently warranting that be- saw the archives as a literary collection of lief."33 works by women writers, noted that such a collection "is yet to be found anywhere The Start of the Smith College Project outside certain private collections ... in addition to printed books." He also urged While she was involved with the project the founding of "an association of the at Radcliffe in the early 1940s, Beard had friends of the Smith College Library, to also become interested in a similar effort support us in the gathering together such a at Smith College. At Smith, at least one collection. [T]hey will help bring us into person greeted Beard's efforts with open contact with people having suitable books arms. Subsequent success of the women's and manuscripts."36 collection at Smith College can be attrib- Davis evidently wrote Beard soon after uted primarily to an "intimate, lasting his address, though his letter has not sur- friendship'' that developed between Smith vived, and she responded with character- archivist, Margaret Grierson and Mary 34 istic enthusiasm, commending Smith Beard. Their mutual admiration and College for its intention to "broaden the shared commitment to promoting women's base of their education by supplying [stu- history is clear in their correspondence, dents] with richer materials for discovering spanning the early 1940s until Beard's themselves as co-makers of history." She death in 1958. Grierson had all the skills warned, however, that this would not be Beard had once recommended for director achieved unless Smith made an equally of a women's archive—a person who strong commitment to hiring faculty "who would need to be "a capable woman to go are wise about women as [a] historical into the field as an interpreter, archives col- force. I think it is not an extreme statement lector, and fundraiser." In a letter to that at present our faculty lacks such mem- bers." Despite these notes of caution, 32The material donated to Radcliffe was listed in a Beard was hopeful enough to inform one memorandum from the WCWA, 25 November 1940; of her WCWA supporters that "[President Records of International Organizations, SSC; Mary Davis] has written me about his purpose as Beard to Nancy Cox-McCormack Cushman, 10 Au- gust 1945, Cushman Papers, SSC; Turoff, Mary Beard as Force in History, 65; Mary Beard to Wilbur Jordan, 27 June 1944, Mary Beard Papers, SCH; see Mary Beard to Nancy Cox-McCormack Cushman, 18 35Mary Beard to Wilbur Jordan, 9 January 1944, May 1947, Cushman Papers, and Mary Beard to Ma- Mary Beard Papers, SCH; handwritten draft from rine Leland, 6 February 1951, Mary Beard Papers, Margaret Grierson to William Beard, (1959), SSC SSC. Donor Files, SCA. "Mary Beard to Elizabeth B. Borden, 8 February ''Typescript of speech by President Herbert Davis, 1951, Mary Beard Papers, SSC. before the Alumnae Association meeting, 14 June MBeard, Mary Ritter Beard: A Source Book, 54. 1941, Records of the President's Office, SCA. Early History of Women's Archives 25

if he really intends to make it count large session on 20 February 1942. Margaret in education."37 Grierson, Smith College Archivist since Within a few months of her initial con- 1940, was appointed executive secretary of tact with Smith College in August 1941, the FSCL and director of the women's col-

Beard offered Davis some source material lection, which was introduced as a special Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 from the WCWA for Smith's collection. project of the society. In the first of her His acceptance of the gift and his ex- detailed annual reports for the Friends, pressed interest in preserving primary Grierson reported that the Works of sources gave Beard "intense pleasure," Woman Writers collection "is an appro- and she expressed her hope "to do more priate project for the college which so no- and better work for you in the future."38 tably enlarged the opportunity of achieve- Indeed, Mary Beard periodically sent ment for women by first providing them an books and other printed matter relating to education equivalent to that offered their women's history to the Smith collection. brothers."40 Paradoxically, Beard considered her own Although Herbert Davis had proposed manuscripts and letters of little value to the women's collection, neither he nor historians. In response to Grierson's inter- Grierson were certain about its intended est in collecting her papers, Beard admitted mission after it was formally established. that she had not retained any of her own Davis seemed partial to making it a strictly manuscripts, since she could only "regard literary collection. Grierson, however, ex- [her] revisions as revealing to excess the pressed her uncertainty in a letter to Nina fuzziness of [her] mind." She even went Browne, the college archivist she had re- so far as to ask that some of her "bum placed in 1940: "I think that you are right speeches," donated to Smith as part of an- in feeling that President Davis is not clear other woman's collection, be destroyed "to in his own mind as to what he wants." save my face." Unfortunately, Beard's ad- Clearly reflecting Beard's influence to ex- mission that she did not save her papers pand the collection beyond literary women, was true. But her promise in the 1941 let- Grierson continued: "Mrs. Beard, as you ter, "to get others to give you what I do know, rather hoped that we would be in- not have to give" would nonetheless signal terested in carrying on the work of the the beginning of Beard and Grierson's abandoned women's archives."41 39 fruitful relationship. In the early summer of 1943, Beard in- The Friends of the Smith College Li- vited Grierson to her home in Milford, brary (FSCL), the organization that Presi- Connecticut, to discuss "a model archive" dent Davis had envisioned would take and the steps needed to accomplish that charge of the women's archives, was for- ideal.42 Although she later admitted having mally inaugurated at an Alumnae Council been skeptical about Beard's vision for Smith, Grierson returned exclaiming, "I am all enthusiasm!" Grierson's brief stay "Mary Beard to Herbert Davis, 5 August 1941, Re- at Beard's home convinced her that histo- cords of the President's Office, SCA; Mary Beard to Eva Hansl, 12 August 1941, Eva Hansl Papers, SSC. rians had ignored women's role in shaping 38For her offer of material from the WCWA, see Mary Beard to Herbert Davis, 24 October 1941; Mao- Beard to Herbert Davis, 6 November 1941; see also 16 November 1941 and 21 November, 1941, Records ""Annual Report of the Friends of the Smith College of the President's Office, SCA. Library, March 1942, SCA. 39Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 7 December "'Margaret Grierson to Nina Browne, 8 April 1943, 1941, Mary Beard Papers, SSC; Mary Beard to Mar- Nina Browne Papers, SCA. garet Grierson, 8 November 1948, Mary Beard Pa- 42Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 1 June 1943, pers, SSC. Mary Beard Papers, SSC. 26 American Archivist / Winter 1995

history. She now believed that Smith must name change was a direct response to "redefine the collection to include works Beard's suggestions. The women's collec- about, as well as by women ... material tion was becoming such an important pro- that records and reflects the ideas, interests, ject of the Friends of the Library, that in visions, endeavors and achievements of 1945 librarian Harriet McPherson included Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 American women as a force in shaping the "a special mention" to the collection, patterns of our national growth." Surpris- which is "devoted to material by and about ingly, Davis did not seem to mind straying women," in her annual report to the pres- far from his earlier proposal for a literary ident of the college.47 collection. According to Grierson, "[H]e In 1946, the women's archives was re- even suggested that we might get women named the , in to come to give talks on various aspects of honor of Sophia Smith who had donated women's activities."43 her fortune to found Smith College in On hearing about Grierson's success in 1870. In the FSCL annual report for 1946, winning support for the "new" collection, Grierson wrote, "[t]he collection of mate- Beard praised her newfound friend: "You rial directed toward a fuller and clearer performed a master feat.... Your force knowledge of the history of women is in will play a goodly part in designing a new line with our founder's intention" to offer interpretation of women in history."44 The women the same rigorous academic train- prospect of a distinct women's collection, ing as had always been offered to men. As however, did not meet with enthusiasm by one alumna, who was a friend of Grierson everyone. As Grierson noted in the and a supporter of the women's collection, Friends' annual report, at least one alumna wrote in a college publication, the project protested a separate women's collection, "will prove to be one of the most signifi- saying, "Aren't women people?" Grierson cant contributions Smith College will make responded that "[t]he purpose of the col- to the future."48 By the end of 1947, the lection is certainly not to sharpen the dis- popularity of the women's collection tinction between the sexes ... but further among alumnae and friends of the college to diminish the distinction by gathering an was growing rapidly. The Friends of the imposing evidence of work of women Library reported that its growing member- comparable in every way to that of men."45 ship, now numbering more than 700, was To Beard the episode was a perfect illus- due largely to "the increasingly popular tration of why a women's archives was enterprise in the collection of material in needed. The alumna's question indicated that too many women needed to realize "that to be "people" they must be rec- "Bulletin of Smith College, President's Report Is- ognized as such and not lost to view."46 sue, 18 December 1945, SCA. 48Sophia Smith envisioned the college providing In 1945 the collection was renamed the new opportunities for women but said that: "It is not Historical Collection of Books By and my design to render my sex any the less feminine but About Women. It is not certain whether the to develop as fully as may be the powers of wom- anhood, and furnish women with the means of use- fulness, happiness, and honor, now withheld from them." The women's collection, it seemed could play 43Margaret Grierson to Nina Browne, 10 July 1943, an integral part in the educational experience that Nina Browne Papers, SCA. Smith had hoped to provide for women. These ex- "Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 27 June 1943, cerpts are from the last will and testament of Sophia Mary Beard Papers, SSC. Smith, 8 March 1870, SCA; Annual Report of the KAnnual Report of the Friends of the Smith College Friends of the Smith College Library, 1946; the de- Library, 1943, SCA. voted friend of the women's collection was Dorothy '"Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 11 April 1943, Brush and her article appeared in the Smith College Mary Beard Papers, SSC. Quarterly 37 (August 1946), SCA. Early History of Women's Archives 27

the social and intellectual history of Her annual report of 1947 recognized that women."49 growing amounts of Smith's materials, To ensure that women's contributions such as "manuscript collections, corre- would be treated equally with those of spondence, records of organizations, men, Smith College decided to shelve ephemeral printings," required special Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 books by and about women with the rest storage facilities.52 of the material already in the library, thus Grierson's detailed list of donations was avoiding "physical segregation of the ma- growing steadily by the end of the 1940s. terial within the library."50 But Beard's Beginning in 1949, her annual reports de- views were influential in the way women's voted separate section to acquisitions for works were represented in the library's cat- the Sophia Smith Collection, listing do- alog. Because she feared that women's ma- nated books and manuscripts under such terial would be invisible in a large library headings as literary interests, education, served by only one catalog, Beard urged religion, medicine, woman's movement, the library to create a separate catalog for antislavery, and foreign materials. materials related to women stressing that such a catalog would be necessary "if re- search is to be handled in connection with The Sophia Smith Collection Matures the subject." In support of her contention, The seventh year of the Sophia Smith Beard invoked her own experience in re- Collection coincided with Smith College's searching the role women played in urban election of a new president. Knowing how history, pointing out that she had been un- unlikely it was that a woman would be ap- able to find materials about women at the pointed, Beard complained rather pointedly New York Public Library, which at that that "if only in the whole land there were time had no separate catalog. One cannot a woman who knew enough about women measure the influence Beard had on the de- to take [Herbert Davis's] place, how grand cision, but in 1947 the Smith library de- that would be!"53 When Benjamin Fletcher veloped a separate subject card catalog of 51 Wright was named to replace Davis in materials related to the history of women. 1949, Beard was hopeful that the support In comparing this arrangement with the for the women's collection at the college women's archives at Radcliffe, Grierson would continue. She had met the president- noted that " [Radcliffe's] is a physically elect earlier at the home of Wilbur Jordan, separated collection," and in her view, Radcliffe's president, and she recalled, "much of what is purely feminist loses its "Professor Wright asked me to tell him significance in segregation.... It is artifi- more about my idea of women." Unfor- cial to consider one sex as a world apart." tunately, however, Wright did not believe Balancing the goal of a physically nonse- that a college required such a research fa- gregated collection with the goal of ensur- cility, and he therefore lacked Davis's ing the preservation of delicate materials commitment to the expansion of the Sophia was a dilemma that gnawed at Grierson.

52For Grierson's comments on the arrangement of "''Annual Report of The Friends of the Smith Col- the collections, see "Consideration of Several As- lege Library, 1947, SCA. pects of the Sophia Smith Collection in Comparison ^Annual Report of The Friends of the Smith Col- with the Radcliffe Women's Archives," a report by lege Library, 1945, SCA. Margaret Grierson, September 1950, Records of the 5'Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 22 June SCA/SSC, SCA; Annual Report of The Friends of the (1944), Mary Beard Papers, SSC; for a more detailed Smith College Library, 1947, SCA. description of the new catalog see Annual Report of 53Mary Beard to Dorothy Hamilton Brush, 26 Jan- the Friends of the Smith College Library, 1947. uary 1949, Dorothy Brush Papers, SSC. 28 American Archivist / Winter 1995

Smith Collection.54 Nevertheless, after her faculty at Smith and the surrounding col- initial disappointment with Wright, Beard leges were among those users. told Grierson that, with or without his sup- Early in her involvement with the So- port, the collection's "development will phia Smith Collection, Mary Beard had proceed and be a center, as you rightly de- cautioned that the archives would succeed Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 clare, for the higher education of only if the faculty incorporated it in their women."55 Grierson agreed. teaching. If one goal of the archives was to By the early 1950s, Beard had begun la- educate women about their past, "the fac- boring to expand the archives program at ulty must cooperate by setting research Smith College to include seminars on projects." Although Margaret Grierson re- women's history. From the time of calls a few faculty members, such as Smith Wright's inauguration as Smith's president history professor Daniel Aaron, incorpo- and lasting through the mid-1950s, Beard rating the collection in assignments, most campaigned to win his support for such faculty, especially at Amherst and other lo- seminars. Although she scheduled several cal colleges, "steered [students] away" speaking engagements at the college and from using the source material in the early penned numerous letters to the skeptical days.58 The situation changed slowly, but it president, her efforts were fruitless; she did change. By the late 1950s many faculty seemed only to annoy him with her re- members and students at Smith, as well as peated requests. In one such letter Beard a growing number of faculty members at asked, "Don't you think the time has come other colleges and universities, had recog- to launch a course on women in history at nized the collection's unique holdings. In- Smith College!" In the margin Wright deed, a 1959 letter from Grierson to noted to his secretary, "Stop these!"56 As William Beard, Mary's son, shows the de- Margaret Grierson recalled much later, gree to which the collection was altering Wright did not hold the Sophia Smith Col- the habits of the faculty: "[Mary Beard] lection—and especially the idea of semi- would especially rejoice ... that at least a nars in women's history—in high regard.57 dozen of our professors have revised their 59 But with or without the administration's courses to include women in their fields." support, the Sophia Smith Collection was While more and more people were prais- being noticed. During the 1950s, the FSCL ing the Sophia Smith Collection, support annual reports documented, in addition to from the college's administration was in- the growing book and manuscript collec- termittent and unpredictable. Hence, the tion, a steady increase in the use of the growth of the collection during the 1950s source materials in the women's collection. and 1960s continued as a result of Grier- To the dismay of its director, however, few son's extensive and descriptive reports and skillful relations with potential donors. Ac- cording to the current archives specialist, Maida Goodwin, Grierson was frequently more familiar with the contents of these 54For a description of her meeting with Wright, see Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 19 March 1949, collections than the donors themselves. In Mary Beard Papers, SSC; For Wright's views of the a 1948 letter to Eleanor Garrison, William SSC, see Margaret Grierson to Eleanor Garrison, 3 December 1950, Margaret Grierson Papers, SCA. 55Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 17 February 1951, Mary Beard Papers, SSC. 58Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 6 March 1944, 56Mary Beard to Benjamin Fletcher Wright, 4 April Mary Beard Papers, SSC; Margaret Grierson in con- 1954, Records of the SSC, SCA. versation with Anke Voss-Hubbard, 5 July 1993. "Margaret Grierson to Barbara Turoff, 16 October "Margaret Grierson to William Beard, 1959, SSC 1979, SSC Donor Files, SCA. Donor Files, SCA. Early History of Women's Archives 29

Lloyd Garrison's granddaughter, Grierson tempting to influence the purview of the rejoiced at the revelation that the Garrison archives' holdings. Although she privately family was becoming "Smith-minded" in criticized Alma Lutz's biography of Eliz- their search for a depository. Although the abeth Cady Stanton, calling Lutz an "in- initial donation was small, Grierson did not tellectual juvenile," Beard nonetheless neglect to tell Garrison that "what you believed Lutz's papers would be very val- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 have given us ... has put us more firmly uable to the collection. Beard also disa- on the map."60 In view of the fact that greed with Margaret Sanger's method of more than one hundred document boxes distributing birth control to poor women, containing Garrison family papers now but when Grierson announced the acquisi- grace the shelves, her dedication was not tion of Sanger's papers, Beard replied that in vain. Responding to a description of one "they are among the basic materials for the of her family's donations, Eleanor Garrison study of [women]." In regard to musicol- wrote, "[O]f course I've read and reread ogist Sophie Drinker's collection, Beard the report and fluffed up with pride at all noted perceptively, "She has an extraor- honorable mentions. You certainly did full dinary collection of books on and by justice to the offerings."61 As with all other women in her home—is an avid collector acquisitions, Grierson never failed to make .. . what she will do with it before she dies an extensive note of the additions to the or where she may will it, I wonder."64 collection in her yearly reports. Grierson Beard downplayed her role in expanding later recalled that at first she had no idea the Sophia Smith Collection, but Grierson what her role as executive secretary of the reported growing interest among potential Friends of the Smith College Library donors as a result of Beard's association would entail, but that she concluded the so- with the collection. Beard's recognition ciety would probably like her "to write among prominent women, combined with 62 about the collections." It is also clear her faith in the collection, resulted in some from her daily logs that Grierson made a important acquisitions over the years.6S point to carefully inspect every new acqui- sition before she reported on their contents. Throughout Mary Beard's involvement with the collection at Smith, she had di- rected attention to numerous women whose letter includes the name of a physician at the State Department who would be a good source for material papers she thought should be solicited. She on Latin American countries, Mary Beard to Margaret also advised Grierson to take a proactive Grierson, 14 October 1944. In another she recom- approach to collection management, filling mends that Grierson contact Eleanor Roosevelt to get the original copy of her speech to the WCWA, Mary her letters with frequent suggestions about Beard to Margaret Grierson, 26 October 1945; all let- possible donors.63 Here, Beard was not at- ters are in the Mary Beard Papers, SSC. "For Beard's comments on Lutz, see Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 6 March 1944; on Sanger, see Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 2 July 1946; and on Drinker, see Mary Beard to Margaret Grierson, 31 March 1950, all letters are in the Mary Beard Papers, 60Margaret Grierson to Eleanor Garrison, 19 No- SSC. vember 1948, Garrison Family Papers, SSC. "Because of the noninterventionist stand both "Eleanor Garrison to Margaret Grierson, 19 March Beards took during the war, Mary Beard believed that 1950, Garrison Family Papers, SSC. "the name Beard is anathema in many, many quar- "Margaret Grierson in conversation with Anke ters," and she expressed doubt that it "has the pull Voss-Hubbard, 5 July 1993. which you think it has" (Mary Beard to Margaret 63In this letter, for example, Beard advises Grierson Grierson, 6 March 1944, Mary Beard Papers, SSC). to contact Luther Evans at the Library of Congress On Beard's influence, see Margaret Grierson to Nina for material about the suffrage amendment, Mary Browne, 15 April 1944, Nina Browne Papers, SCA; Beard to Margaret Grierson, 30 July 1945. Another in these letters, for example, Beard recommends to 30 American Archivist / Winter 1995

Even after Beard's death in 1958, a woman in Beard's view. As she boldly stated in who had worked with her on a book about 1938: Japanese women offered her correspon- dence to Smith only because she recalled [T]here has been no systematic Beard's enthusiasm for the collection.66 effort to get the story of women to- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/1/16/2748750/aarc_58_1_hr300127g3142157.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 In 1968, three years after her retirement, gether in any Archive center. . . . the trustees of the college presented Mar- Men preside over most libraries. garet Grierson with the Smith College They naturally think of manuscripts Medal in recognition of her achievements in terms of men. In view of these and service. In announcing the award, conditions, . . . the need of a special President Thomas C. Mendenhall ex- library for women's papers seems claimed, "Under your skillful hand the convincing.69 Collection was given its eventual shape and purpose: the intellectual and social his- As Beard's work demonstrated, the strug- tory of women around the world."67 gle to establish women's archives had to Grierson was too modest to accept such overcome many hurdles. The historic trans- tributes to her achievements. As she re- formation at universities and colleges in called in 1992, despite her two decades of the 1930s and 1940s, to professionalize work establishing and enlarging the Sophia and institutionalize scholarship did not in- Smith Collection, "I was around only for clude women's history. It was not until pi- the beginning, for the planting of an oneers, like Mary Beard, who recognized acorn.'' It was Mary Beard, she would later that only through the establishment of insist, who deserved at least part of the women's archives could women's history credit for the collection. As Grierson wrote be thoroughly professionalized and insti- to a donor in 1961, "I wish that [Mary tutionalized. Beard] might be at hand to see how her The early history of the Sophia Smith project has developed and to give contin- Collection also exemplified how the devel- uing advice to us. I hope it is obvious to opment of archives have often depended on one and all, that our enterprise took shape the vision and toil of nonarchivists. Beard in an earnest effort to make material some was the direct inspiration for the Smith of Mary Beard's sound ideas."68 College collection of primary source ma- While academic libraries were busy col- terial on women, and she encouraged such lecting primary source material, their ar- collections at numerous other institutions. chives supported only the research of men, As Beard stated while organizing the WCWA, "If we only accomplish the stim- ulation of interest and thinking in colleges and communities by our plan for a great journalist Margery Steer and Alice Lachmund, a friend from her WCWA period, that they send their Women's Archive, I shall believe that we 70 source material to Smith (Mary Beard to Margery have been justified in this movement." Steer, 28 April 1951, Margery Steer Papers; Mary Beard was fortunate to find Margaret Beard to Alice Lachmund, 30 March 1943, Mary Beard Papers, SSC). Grierson, a knowledgeable person dedi- <*Ethel Weed to Margaret Grierson, 31 May 1960, cated to preserving the evidence of wom- SSC Donor Files, SCA. en's achievements, who would make her 67For T. C. Mendenhall's Smith College medal ci- tation, 23 October 1968, see Margaret Grierson Pa- plan a reality. pers, SCA. 68Margaret Grierson to Amy Hague, 17 September "Mary Beard to Elsie Yellis, 16 May 1938, Mary 1992, Margaret Grierson Papers; Margaret Grierson Beard Papers, SCH. to Margery Steer, 4 April 1961, SSC Donor Files, 70Mary Beard to Theodore C. Blegen, 14 July 1939, SCA. Mary Beard Papers, SCH.