Overview of the Collection

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Index Terms

Administrative Information

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Meeting Materials, 1912-1989

Historical Information, 1912-1988

A Finding Aid for the Records of the Church Women United [1912-1989]

Part of the Local Organizations Collection at the Plainfield Public Library

Finding aid prepared and encoded by Anna Henderson.

Biographical Note

Church Women United [1912-1989] began in 1912 as the Federation of Women's Missionary Societies. Its object was to "to arrange interdenominational meeting for study and prayer in order to increase the interest and efficiency of the missionary organizations of various churches." It grew as an independent organization until the 1940s, when it aligned itself with the goals of the new national organization, the United Council of Church Women, of which it became the Plainfield chapter in 1944. The name was officially changed at the start of 1945. The Council represented women from seventy Protestant denominations who had been involved with the Council of Women for Home Missions, the Committee on Women's Work of the Foreign Missions Conference, and the National Council of Federated Church Women. UCCW began as a movement of prayer, action and advocacy by Christian women to express their unity of Jesus Christ.

Today, the CWU is a women's movement fundamentally grounded in the biblical principles of the Christian faith and the richness of denominational diversity. In many communities, CWU is best known for three annual worship celebrations: World Day of Prayer, May Friendship Day (formerly May Fellowship Day), and World Community Day. Through prayer, study and action, Church Women United has celebrated and strengthened a diverse community of Christian sisterhood and action. The Plainfield Council of Church Women changed their name to Church Women United in 1967, which it remains today.

Church Women United (CWU) is a biblically based movement representing Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian women. Church Women United is a racially, culturally, theologically inclusive Christian women's movement, celebrating unity in diversity and working for a world of peace and justice. It is organized into more than 1,200 local and state units working for peace and justice in the United States and Puerto Rico and is supported by constituents in state and local units and denominational women's organizations. It is recognized as a non-governmental organization by the United Nations.

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Scope and Contents

Church Women United [1912-1989] began in 1912 as the Federation of Women's Missionary Societies, later changing its name to the United Council of Church Women and then to Church Women United in 1967. This collection documents the organization back to the first meetings of the Federation through its evolution to the Plainfield area chapter of Church Women United. It includes the constitution and by-laws, general meeting and committee meeting minutes, newsletters, annual reports, attendance records and a variety of additional historical documents.

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Arrangement

The "Church Women United" collection is arranged into two series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

The "Church Women United" collection is available for research.

Access is restricted to materials prepared by the Local History department staff. All materials must be viewed in the Plainfield Room and may not be removed to another area of the library without permission of the Library Director or designee. Materials must be handled carefully and kept in order. Materials must not be leaned upon, altered, folded, ripped, or traced upon. Marks may not be added or erased from materials. Materials must be returned directly to Local History department staff and inspected before the researcher leaves the Plainfield Room.

Restrictions on Use

One photocopy may be made (by Plainfield Public Library staff) of each document for the purpose of research; official Local History departmental reproduction fees may apply. Permission to publish must be obtained by the Plainfield Public Library Board of Trustees as delegated to the Library Director. Permission to publish does not constitute a copyright clearance. The researcher is responsible for further copyright restrictions. The Plainfield Public Library is not responsible for the misuse of copyrighted material.

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Organizations:

Places:

Subjects:

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Physical Charateristics or Technical Requirements

This collection consists of paper documents, which do not require any additional technology for access.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Identification of item; Date (if noted); the "Church Women United" collection, Box and Folder Number; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey.

Acquisition Information

Part of the collection was donated by Doris Patterson; the source of the majority of the collection, however, is unknown.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Anna Henderson in March 2008. The finding aid was written by Anna Henderson in March 2008. Finding aid content follows the guidelines suggested by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.

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Detailed Description of the Collection