For sixty years (1907–1966) St. Margaret’s House in Berkeley, CA, educated women for service in the Episcopal Church as deaconesses, missionaries, and educators. It had its origin in a deaconess training program initiated in 1907, and later, the program expanded beyond training to include a School for Christian Service; a Student House for women students; and a Church Service Center. Although its building had been named St. Margaret's House since 1914, the institution formally adopted the name in 1950. By the 1960s, the movement toward full equality for women in the church had diminished the need for a separate women’s training school, and in 1966 the St. Margaret’s House Board of Trustees voted to terminate its educational programs. St. Margaret’s House itself became the Berkeley Center for Human Interaction and Training Center for Organizational Renewal, (later renamed the Strong Center) a non-profit unaffiliated with the Episcopal Church. The archive of 3.8 cu. ft. ranges in date from 1908 to 1966 and includes organizational records, class lectures, and photographs; material dated 1967–1997 concerns successor organizations and biographical information of former faculty.
