Documenting Clemson University’s AAUW

Interacting with physical archives will always be part of the historian’s process. Despite the plethora of online sources, the vast majority are not available digitally. Additionally, there are certain aspects of place-based research, as well the handling of physical documents, that cannot be replicated with online databases. Other considerations, such as the inaccuray of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) must also be taken into consideration.

Traveling to an archive can be expensive, and therefore inaccessible to many researchers. However, the experience of travel, especially outside of one’s own country, gives the researcher more context, cultural awareness, and insight into the present-day implications of the history they study.¹ Additionally, the process of sifting through folders and boxes of documents often forces the researcher to notice things they would otherwise miss, especially in a keyword search.²

This week for Historical Thinking and Digital Research, we visited the Strom Thurmand Institute to view different archival collections. I was tasked with the American Association of University Women, Clemson Branch collection. I found some really interesting sources as I flipped through, some of which I will detail below.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) was established in 1881 with the mission to provide education to women and girls. The South Carolina chapter has been around since at least 1919, when the first branch was created in Greenville. The Clemson Branch has existed since 1947, when on

The Clemson branch was meticulously archived, and now the collection hosts a great deal of information about the status, concerns, and endeavors of South Carolinian women from the 1940s into the 1980s.

One of the documents I found in this collection was “A Legal Guide for South Carolina Women,” created by the South Carolina Commission on the Status of Women. According to the South Carolina Encyclopedia, the commission was first created in 1971, received federal funding in 1972, and received state funding in 1974.³ Although there is not a date on this pamphlet, I believe it was created sometime around the late 1970s or early 1980s. Smaller pamphlets created by the commission, featuring very similar but more concise information, are dated to 1979.

Another source, undated, I found interesting was a flyer, titled “AAUW Members! Please Support our Efforts Come Enjoy Some Fun and Serious Talk about Careers for Women.” This event, which featured information on a number of careers for women in different fields, was hosted in Daniel Hall at Clemson University.

I also found a copy of a newspaper article from The Messenger reporting on AAUW’s program for eighth grade girls from 1960.

Ultimately, this archival collection is a treasure trove for any researcher interested in the history of women and education in South Carolina. I would love to conduct a project with these sources.