Episcopal Women's History Project to Hold First National Conference
Episcopal News Service. March 25, 1982 [82077]
Salome Breck, Editor, The Colorado Episcopalian
AUSTIN, Tex. (DPS, March 25) -- The Episcopal Women's History Project, not yet two years old, will hold its first national conference June 1-3 at the site of the Church's national archives, here.
"We are delighted to meet at the headquarters of the Church Historical Society and the site of our national archives," said Dr. Joanna Bowen Gillespie, president, and one of the group's founders. "As an organization involved in researching and recording some of the little known history of our many outstanding women, a visit to the archives, where some of the finished material will be placed, is most appropriate."
Mary Sudman Donovan, another of the founders, and an historian, will chair the conference which is titled: "Notable Episcopal Women, the Feminine Dimension of Church History." Donovan describes it as "designed to explore the varied ways in which women have exercised their ministries within the Episcopal Church. The program will include historical studies of churchwomen of the past, with oral history presentations by today's women."
The conference will be limited to 100 people. "However, it is open to both men and women, to academicians and amateurs, clergy and laity -- who search for a holistic understanding of Church history," Donovan continued.
The small group of women who met in New York during the summer of 1980 is now growing into a network of members of "Historical Connections." The latter are women (at least one to every diocese is the goal) who become responsible for contacting women whose histories should be preserved, taping their stories as interviews and then editing and transcribing them for diocesan or national archives.
Women who have undertaken this responsibility will find many helps in the Austin conference. Donovan has planned workshops on techniques for gathering women's history, discovering and preserving relevant source materials, and organizing history projects and programs.
Church history as related to Anglican women, will be presented in three sessions:
"Women in the Colonial Church will be chaired by Dr. Patricia E. Bonomi, Professor of History, New York University.
The second is "Women of the Nineteenth Century Church", chaired by Mary Sicilia of St. Mark's Cathedral, Minneapolis.
The Rev. Frank Sugeno of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest will chair the third session, "Women in the Twentieth Century Church." Each session will include three papers.
Gillespie is associate professor of sociology at Drew University, and an Affiliated Scholar, Center for Research on Women, Stanford University, guest lecturer for both the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, and Stanford as well as for many church groups. Her husband is the Very Rev. David M. Gillespie, Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.
Donovan is a doctoral degree candidate at Columbia University, where her dissertation is "Women's Ministries in the Episcopal Church". She was, until her move to Arkansas, lecturer in history at Drew University, teaching courses in American Women's History and Urban History, and dean of the Lay School of Christian Studies in the Diocese of Newark. Her husband is the Rt. Rev. Herbert A. Donovan, Bishop of Arkansas.
Membership in the Episcopal Women's History Project is $10.00 a year. With membership comes a subscription to the eight page printed newsletter which carries stories from all parts of the country.
Inquiries about the Project should be directed to Cynthia Kimball McLean at General Theological Seminary/ Episcopal Women's History Project/ 175 Ninth Ave./ New York 10011.
The conference in Austin begins at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1. The conference fee of $40.00 includes registration, dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and lunches on Wednesday and Thursday.
Participants may be housed in the Seminary, in Austin homes, or in nearby motels. Attendance entitles one to continuing education credits from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest.
Mrs.Roger Stoneham/ 1707 Wethersfield/ Austin TX 78703 is the conference registrar. Registration fees should be sent to her. We will send scholarship application forms to those needing financial help, and will send conference registration forms to interested persons. Please include name and address.