Background
Founded in 1980 as an independent national organization of Episcopal women, the Episcopal Women's History Project documents the lives of women who have made outstanding contributions to the Episcopal Church. The Project aims to raise awareness about the historic place of women in the Church and their ethnic, racial, regional, and class diversity. The focus of the organization has been on publications, the recording of oral histories, and, recently, promoting independent projects with the aid of grants. The Project encourages researchers who seek to explore women's contributions to the Episcopal Church and disseminates their findings. It has been a model for similar efforts in other faith communities.

The transfer of EWHP Collections to The Archives of the Episcopal Church began in 1989 with a vote of the Board to name the Archives as the repository for interviews and oral histories sponsored by EWHP. The earliest deposit of actual archival material did not occur until 1998; the main body of EWHP records generated from its office at General Theological Seminary were deposited by the President, Barbara Schnorrenberg, in 1999. The organizational records cover the years 1976 to the present and give evidence of the organization’s dual purpose to promote the recognition of women in the historic ministry of the Episcopal Church and to sustain its own mission as an organization of education and as a network of historically-minded Episcopal women. The EWHP Archives have been accessioned and arranged into two groups, the Organizational Records and the Historical Collections. The EWHP Collections are open to research. For further information on EWHP, consult the Project's website at www.ewhp.org.

I. Organizational Records. Seventeen (17) separate sets of organizational records have been received by the Archives and document EWHP administrative and program activities from 1976 to the present. These records measure approximately 9 cubic feet. Included in these records are minutes, correspondence, conference agendas, biographical data, resource files, program documentation, and other interview-related materials pertaining to the administration of the project. Record material chronicling the formation of the Project, oral history guidelines, and a run of the EWHP newsletter, Timelines, are also present.

II. Historical Collections. The group of records is chiefly comprised of interviews and oral histories. A small series of other material (e.g., writings) which were collected by the EWHP office is noted as a separate series. Tapes, transcriptions, questionnaires, correspondence, printed material, and photographs comprise the records collected and created by EWHP members and volunteers as part of the oral history interview process. These collections have been deposited by a variety of members who have worked from the field and contributed to the collection. Deposit agreements and copyright waivers have been obtained from the women and the interviewers. Spanning the 1970s to 2006, these twenty-five (25) accessions amount to approximately 2.6 cubic feet. Note: the audio tape recordings that the Archives uses to authenticate an oral history do not accompany all the transcriptions. These transcriptions have been classed as Oral Interviews and have been set apart from the Oral Histories.

Series 1: Oral Histories. The oral histories, which include both the audio tape and transcriptions for the majority of interviews, are present for the following individuals:
Abbott, Fran (audio tape only)
Bussing, Elizabeth Barker
De Wolf, Perry (audio tape only)
Dykstra, Florence (audio tape only)
Eastwood, Edna
Evans, Scott
Falshawe, Gladys
Flagg, Mary Nash
Fletcher, Maud (audio tape only)
Ford, Yolande (audio tape only)
Guilbert, Theodora Sorg
Hirst, Derby Quin
Jenkins, Ruth
Kellerman, Marion McDonald
McGee, Lee (audio tape only)
McKee, Christianne Louise
Page, Patricia Nichols
Patterson, Margaret (Peggy) P.
Riggs, Katherine, Reverend
Rodenmayer, Betsy
Talbot, Dorothy (audio tape only)
Talmadge, Anne (Nancy) T.
Toy, Fran Yee
Van Sant, Beatrice Vickery, Ruth Bacon
Walsh, Mary
Waymouth, Dr. Charity
Wedel, Cynthia
Wilson, Doris V.

Series 2: Oral Interviews. This series includes interview transcriptions only. The authenticating audio tapes are not available for the interviews with these individuals:
Bailey, Lueta
Boyle, Helen
Chinnis, Pamela Pauly
Christie, Marjorie Lounsbery
Dozier, Verna
Emery, Violet
Forsythe, Ruby M.
Gammack, Ellen B.
Guilbert, Theodora Sorg
Harvey, Avis
Hodgson, Mrs. Charles
Hoff, Phebe Margaret*
Kelleran, Marion McDonald
King, Gladys Ross
Lewis, Eleanor N.
Lichtenberger, Florence
Mattesich, Virginia Creed
Michaelsen, Dorothy S.
Micks, Marianne H.
Neumann, Haydee S.
Plumley, Catherine S.
Ruark, Mary Gail Hutts (summary only)
Rucker, Aileen S.
Schnurbush, Helene
Shepard, Gabriella
Sherman, Margaret M.
Shoemaker, Helen Smith
Sydnor, Katharine N.*
Turnbull, Helen Broyden
Van Sant, Beatrice
Waymouth, Dr. Charity
Young, Frances M.

For further information on the Episcopal Women’s History Project write to EWHP at 1140 4th Street #332, Santa Rosa, CA 95404. You may also contact the following officer:

Susan Johnson, President
susannjohnson@mac.com
Diocese of West Texas