Rochester Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records, 1893-1993

Summary

Abstract:
The Rochester Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records document an organization established in 1893 to improve educational, social, and economic conditions for women and children. The collection includes business and financial records, including meeting minutes, financial statements, and correspondence; philanthropic papers documenting numerous charitable projects; commemorative and promotional materials, including newsletters, flyers, and anniversary booklets; visual materials recording WEIU events; and commemorative and promotional artifacts.
Extent:
5.5 Cubic Feet 7 boxes.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Rochester Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records, [Box#, Folder#], Local History & Genealogy Division, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County N.Y.

Background

Scope and content:

The Rochester Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records, 1893-1993, comprise business and financial records, philanthropic papers, commemorative and promotional materials, visual materials, and artifacts documenting the organization's 100 years of operation. Business and financial records are composed primarily of meeting minutes and financial statements, 1893-1993. Also included are membership and board of directors' lists, by-laws, trusts and estates concerning sums bequeathed to the WEIU, and correspondence and miscellaneous papers on numerous topics such as passing of legal bills, prohibition of night work for women in factories, real estate purchases, and the incorporation and dissolution of the WEIU.

Philanthropic papers include newspaper clippings, brochures, reports, and correspondence for several charitable projects, such as the Danforth fund, the public defenders program, and the scholarship program. Commemorative and promotional materials are composed of program and event announcements, newsletters, membership information, flyers announcing annual meetings and elections, calendars, handbooks, and anniversary booklets that document the history of the WEIU. Visual materials include 35mm color transparencies, photographs and negatives, and a videocassette that document Opportunity Shop events, annual board meetings and picnics, scholarship recipients, and the 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C. Artifacts comprise a commemorative pen, a ribbon, promotional bags for the WEIU and Opportunity Shop, and a canvas bag for the Salvage Shop, which was used for donation pickup by the WEIU.

Biographical / historical:

The Rochester Women's Education and Industrial Union (WEIU) was established in 1893 to improve educational, social, and economic conditions for women and children. It was formed during a meeting held at the Chamber of Commerce by the Fortnightly Ignorance Club, a women's society founded in 1881 by Jane Marsh Parker, an early historian of Rochester, to discuss "vital topics of the day." The meeting was headed by Ignorance Club president Dr. Sarah Adamson Dolley, one of the first female physicians in the country, and attended by many local pioneering women, including Susan B. Anthony, one of the WEIU's founding members. A few days prior to the meeting, Anthony had been outraged by news of a local woman being jailed after fainting in the street simply because she had no place to go. Familiar with the Buffalo Women's Educational and Industrial Union, she invited that organization's president, Mrs. George W. Townsend, to the meeting to speak of the work it had been doing. Modeled after the Buffalo WEIU, established in 1884, and Boston's, begun in 1877, the Rochester WEIU became the seventeenth of its kind in the United States.

Individual committees carried out the work of the WEIU, with each led by a chairperson who served on the board of directors. Committees came in and out of existence over the years depending on the needs of the community and Union. Three prominent committees in the organization included the Educational Committee, established to monitor and improve educational conditions through regular school visits, talks, and lectures; the Legal Protection Committee, which provided free legal aid to women; and the Philanthropic Committee, which established a "Noon Rest" for working girls, an association that provided women with a comfortable place to dine, relax, and converse with friends.

Throughout its operation, the WEIU was known for a number of reform and philanthropic successes. With the support of the WEIU, Helen Barrett Montgomery was elected as the first female school commissioner in 1899. In 1913, the WEIU assisted in Nellie McElroy being hired as the first policewoman in Rochester. The Union introduced manual training and sewing into schools, started summer schools, and installed Rochester's first playground. In 1919, a scholarship fund was created to help women further their education, and in 1951, all WEIU membership proceeds went directly to this fund. The Danforth Fund was created in recognition of Edwina Danforth's service on the Board of Education. The program gave free eye examinations and loaned eyeglasses to schoolchildren. The Union's Voluntary Public Defender's office provided free lawyers to represent individuals in police court. A popular secondhand store called the Opportunity Shop, originally known as the Salvage Shop, was created by Fannie R. Bigelow to help stretch budgets. The shop opened in 1916, made possible with a $1,000 loan from George Eastman.

The WEIU began to decline due to some unfavorable decisions, including their support of an unpopular 1911 sanitary survey of Rochester by Caroline Bartlett Crane, and for a display they presented in a Child Welfare Exhibit on sexual hygiene. The dissolution of the WEIU occurred in the early 1990s when the organization joined the Rochester Area Foundation.

Custodial history:

The custodial history is unknown.

Processing information:

Processed February 2014 by consulting archivist Maria Soscia. This project was made possible by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into three series: Series 1: Documents, 1893-1993; Series 2: Visual materials, 1913-1990; Series 3: Artifacts, undated. Series 1: Documents are divided into three subseries: Subseries 1: Business and financial records, 1893-1993; Subseries 2: Philanthropic, 1921-1992; Subseries 3: Commemorative and promotional, 1908-1990. Series 2: Visual materials is divided into three subseries: Subseries 1: 35mm color transparencies, 1967-1977; Subseries 2: Photographs and negatives, 1913-1990; Subseries 3: Video, 1985.

Material specific details:
Negatives thought to be nitrate were scanned and discarded. The negatives were in an envelope marked "L.L. [Lavinia Lloyd] Dock, Suffrage Parade." The negatives were scanned and are stored as tiff files in the G drive under Cheri-->Manuscripts & Special Collections-->Digital Files-->WEIU Negatives.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions regarding access to this collection.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use in any current or future manifestations must be obtained in writing from the Rochester Public Library Local History & Genealogy Division.

Preferred citation:

Rochester Women's Educational and Industrial Union Records, [Box#, Folder#], Local History & Genealogy Division, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County N.Y.

Location of this collection:
Rundel Memorial Building
115 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
585-428-8370
lochist@libraryweb.org