Hocken Digital Collections

Young Women's Christian Association, Dunedin : Records

Details

Reference NumberARC-0458CreatorYWCA, DunedinDescriptionThe collection is extensive. It includes constitutional documents, minutes of the board, executive, finance committee and other committees, membership, staff and board records, correspondence, reports, financial records, and administrative papers. There is also a minute book for the Mosgiel YWCA. There are papers relating to publicity, buildings and property (including architectural plans of Kinnaird House), and hostel accommodation, as well as historical material including YWCA anniversaries (Jubilee, 75th, and 100 year celebrations), Women's Suffrage Centennial, an Oral History Project, camp journals, and other papers relating to YWCA history. There are also scrapbooks (1953-1995) and newspaper clippings relating to the YWCA, along with newsletters, pamphlets, and other publications, papers and ephemera. The collection also contains photographs, slides and negatives of the board and office holders, YWCA, and other activities. There is a separate series of papers, photographs and slides from Marian Coxhead, and a series of papers and photographs relating to Jean Begg.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyFormed in 1878, the Dunedin branch was the first YWCA in the Southern Hemisphere, taking up the early motto 'By love serve one another'. As a non-profit Christian organisation that developed from women's christian societies the Dunedin branch ran bible classes and supported immigrants. The first hostel accommodation opened in 1903, and in the thirties and forties hostels were also run in Mosgiel and Milton; such hostels accomodated girls coming to Dunedin for employment, and poor workers. Between the wars the YWCA ran a number of youth initiatives including sports teams (basketball, tennis), social clubs, and the Girl Citizens Movement that promoted personal virtues and civic duty. They also ran camps, an initiative that continued into the fifties. The 1950s saw increased involvement with the World YWCA and international affairs through the One World Club and World Fellowship, along with fundraising for a new Hostel complex. Opened in 1967, Kinnaird House provided accommodation for many young women and men, as well as being a centre for the many YWCA programmes and initiatives for women, children and youth. The 1970s was a peak period for the association, with over 1000 members and over 3000 enrolled in classes. During the 1980s the focus of the YWCA shifted towards women's issues including rape advocacy and support, abortion, women in work, and global rights, a focus that continued into the nineties under the new Association motto 'Empowering Women'. Financial difficulties in the 1980s also continued into the 1990s, and in 1994 Kinnaird House was sold and the organisation moved to new premises in Stuart Street. The YWCA celebrated the suffrage centennial in 1993, and in 1995 the Y Auxiliary commissioned an Oral History Project that contributed to the museum exhibition 'If they could have bottled it', in 1997.

Photograph

YWCA group in garden in front of house

Depicts Or Relates To

SubjectsWomen - Societies and clubsYouth - Societies and clubsWomen's rightsYoung Women's Christian Associations

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Young Women's Christian Association, Dunedin : Records

Hocken Collections | Te Uare Taoka o Hākena