Title based on contents and provenance of records
M-8565 and M-9388 have been amalgamated with M-8412
The Local Council of Women in Calgary was organized in 1894 by Lady Lougheed, although it did not become firmly established until 1912. The Council is the local link in a network of councils which include the Alberta Provincial Council of Women, the National Council of Women in Canada, and the International Council of Women. In each case, the councils are composed of various organizations in federation to accomplish common goals. Affiliate organizations have included hospital and church auxiliaries, feminist groups, social and service clubs, and political associations. The CLCW's first president and its driving force in the early years was Mrs. R.R. Jamieson. The CLCW's activities have always reflected its three main areas of concern: family, community and nation. In its early years it lobbied for the enfranchisement of Alberta women in 1916, legal aid for women, and the inclusion of women on local boards and government committees. During the First World War, the CLCW established a labour bureau and became involved in the war effort. In the 1920s concern shifted to community affairs and urban renewal. During the depression the CLCW fought for vocational schools, provincial family planning clinics, and better working conditions for women. After the Second World War it advocated the return to the home of women who had served in the labour force and armed services, and concerned itself with the issues of equal pay for equal work, native rights, and the economic status of widows. During the 1960s and 1970s the CLCW's areas of interest included young offenders, female prisoners, child abuse and the environment. In 1994, the CLCW, which had been headed by an increasingly conservative executive, broke with the National executive over its handling of a widely publicized social issue. Following a lengthy and increasingly acrimonious investigation of the relationship between the two bodies, the CLCW withdrew from the National Council of Women and disbanded in 2000. In 2003, a small group of Calgary life members headed by Dorothy Groves revived the CLCW but declining membership over the next few years resulted in its dissolution in 2012. For further information see A Leaven of Ladies : A History of the Calgary Local Council of Women / Marjorie Norris. -- Calgary : Detselig, 1995; Anne White's article "The Calgary Local Council of Women : Traditional Female Christianity in Action (1895-1897 and 1912-1933)" in Canadian Society of Church History Historical Papers, 1998, p. 67-88; and Marjorie Norris’s notes in file M-9666-38: “Demise of the 1912 CLCW” (2012, 2014).
Published
The fonds consists of constitution and bylaws, annual reports, minutes, correspondence, reports and resolutions, and membership lists. Includes financial records, records detailing projects, yearbooks, newsletters, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks, and photographs of National Council of Women meetings and CLCW activities. Also includes an illustrated history of the group, compiled in 1994.
Gifts of Calgary Local Council of Women, Mrs. Harvey Buckmaster, Sheila Johnston, Donalda Vine-Mutton, Jean Mekitiak, and Marjorie Norris, 1968-2014.
Digital content is available: https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/Package/2R3BF1S3LR5YS
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