A History Of Our History To Date
by Shara Partin
ECW President 1994-97
For years, preserving the archives of the Episcopal Church Women consisted of ECW presidents meeting in a parking lot after an Annual Meeting to pass cardboard boxes containing records of previous administrations from trunk to trunk. The repositories were unused space in the attic, basement or closets of the current president's home. Sometimes the boxes were taken out and used as references in preparing for meetings and events. Occasionally irrelevant material was thrown away because space was an issue. Slowly but surely our history was being lost.
One of the lures for our fund-raising "Cottage Campaign" between 1993 and 1997 was a place to store our archives. Back then we thought the new ECW Cottage at The Summit Camp and Conference Center would be that place. When I began writing the little history, Serving More Than Tea, I realized we had a significant amount of information. However, it was either scattered about or kept in memory rather than stored where future searchers could find it easily. The willingness of the Diocesan ECW's Executive Board to fund the Serving More Than Tea project from 1998-2000 gave me confidence that when a place for an archive was found money for it would also be found.
In 2001 funds were made available to prepare and furnish a small room adjacent to the archive library in Diocesan House on St. Alban's Drive in Raleigh. May Sherrod and I cleaned and painted the room and purchased good furniture -- desk, chair, bookshelves -- for it. We chose to use archival quality folders rather than boxes for our material because not only would they better protect the delicate papers, they were easier for women to handle. Abigail Rovener from Raleigh was hired as a part-time archivist and began sorting and organizing. Notice that a safe place for historical material had been found was sent out, and people began submitting items for storage. Relevant material from other areas of the building were brought to the new Women's Archive Room. Women's Auxiliary journals and materials in the general diocesan collection were moved into our collection. This process continues and slowly a significant body of material is being gathered.
Despite the generosity of the board, it has not been all sweetness and light. The basement of Diocesan House flooded twice causing damage to rugs and furniture. Fortunately, there was insurance to pay for replacements. Our records were safe because they were up on shelves and not on the floor. However, work did have to stop for several months while the room was cleaned and put back into some semblance of order. Then Abigail resigned to take a full-time job.
Journals spanning more than a century have been sent to a book repair specialist for restoration or binding. I have worked at the Diocesan Department of Records and History to fund a part-time historian/archivist who would be willing to work with our collection as well as the diocesan general collection. If the Diocesan House property is changed we will have to move to the new location as well.
The job has just begun. Watch for material about Episcopal women and their work, and send it to the archive. And if you are in the Raleigh area and love to mess around in old stuff just let the or know. (Submitted January 2004.)
Postscript: In March 2005, the headquarters for the Episcopal Diocese of NC moved to downtown Raleigh (200 W. Morgan St., Suite 300). Some pictures of move-in day at the Women's Archive can be found here. Then in January 2007, Lynn Hoke, hired by the Diocesan ECW as a archivist and historian, started her part-time work on behalf of the Episcopal Church Women.
