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Home >> Sophia Smith Collection >> Virginia Heim George Papers, 1925-1981
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Virginia Heim George Papers, 1925-1981
2 boxes (1 linear ft.)
Collection number: 221

Abstract:
YWCA executive, YWCA overseas secretary, and USO official. Most material in the George papers pertains to her foreign secretary work in South America and Czechoslovakia and her USO work in the Caribbean. Personal letters and travel diaries include descriptions of life in Brazil and the Caribbean and in post-war Czechoslovakia and West Germany. Material also includes speeches, clippings and photographs.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on access:

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

Restrictions on use:

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to unpublished works of Virginia Heim George. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College
Northampton, MA

Biographical Note
1908 Born in St. Joseph, Missouri
1929 University of Wisconsin, major in economics
1929-40
Program Director, YWCA, working with industrial workers, Kansas City, Utica, Pittsburgh
Camp Director, YWCA
1937 Carnegie Institute of Technology, graduate study in group work
1940-43 Executive Director, YWCA, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
1943-45 Regional Assistant Director of USO, Brazil, Caribbean Area
1946-48 Program Consultant, YWCA, Czechoslovakia, with two-week special
1948-51 National staff, YWCA, Community Division, working with business
1951-53 Group work and recreational director, YWCA, Oakland, California
1953-56 Executive Director, YWCA, Yakima, Washington
1956-66 Executive Director, YWCA, Utica, New York
1962-64 Advisor, YWCA, Taipei, Taiwan
1966-71 Advisor, YWCA, Colombia, with three short periods in Lima, Peru
1971 Executive Director, YWCA, Omaha, Nebraska
2003? Virginia Heim George died circa 2003
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Virginia Heim (right) and others in Bogota, Columbia, circa 1966-71

Virginia Heim (right) and others in
Bogota, Columbia, circa 1966-71

The Virginia Heim George Papers consist of one linear foot of correspondence, diaries, clippings, and photographs. The inclusive dates are 1925 to 1981, but the major portion of the material dates from 1940 to 1948, related to her foreign secretary work for the YWCA in South America and Czechoslovakia and her USO work in the Caribbean.

The papers are divided into two series, PERSONAL and PROFESSIONAL. The PERSONAL material contains correspondence and diaries, both ranging from 1940 to 1981. The correspondence consists of letters to her family, mostly to her mother, with a small amount of incoming correspondence from family and friends, 1945-50. The nine diaries consist of six written between 1940 and 1948, plus three travel accounts from 1953, 1965, and 1981. Both the letters and diaries provide a detailed description of George's life while working for the YWCA and the USO. She was an eager and enthusiastic participant in her work and also took advantage of the opportunities it provided to travel extensively. She was a keen observer of the countries she visited and the people she met. Her wartime letters as well and those from postwar Czechoslovakia reflect the mail censorship of the times. As a result the diaries and the occasional letters that she was able to write freely are more candid. The diaries written from her two trips to Czechoslovakia in 1965 and 1981 contain particularly interesting accounts of life there, and the 1965 account reports earlier arrests and trials, particularly an incident involving the YWCA in 1948.

The PROFESSIONAL material consist of clippings and articles about George and her work, 1925-1975, three reports from her Czechoslovakia and Germany experiences, 1948, and a nine-page speech on the USO, ca. 1945. In this series are also fifteen photographs, five of the USO, six related to the YWCA, and four of women in Puerto Rico.

This collection is organized into two series:


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

Restrictions on use:

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to unpublished works of Virginia Heim George. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Virginia Heim George Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA

Additional Formats

Selections from the Virginia Heim George Papers can be viewed in the Web exhibit "An Ever-Widening Circle of Friendship": YWCA Overseas Secretaries from China to Liberia.

History of the Collection

The Virginia Heim George Papers were a gift of Mrs. George in 1989.

Processing Information

Processed by Susan Boone, 1990.


Additional Information
Contact Information
Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

Phone: (413) 585-2970
Fax: (413) 585-2886

Email Reference Form: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/emailform.html
URL: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/

Language
English.