Women at Georgetown University

The archival materials listed here are intended as a starting point for research. They are available for use in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections on the 5th floor of Lauinger Library; request them via the Aeon request system.

Researchers are also encouraged to explore the descriptions of other records in the archives collection through the Georgetown Archival Resources site. Use the search box or the search icon in the gray row at the top of the screen to begin exploring. Remember that language changes over time. Terms to search on include: woman, women, girl, nurse. Searches can be truncated by adding a *, i.e. nurs* will find results for nurse, nurses and nursing. Additional search words can be added to the results screen using the Filter Results box to the right. Select the Georgetown University Archives repository option under Additional Filters heading to limit results to GU archives materials.

 In most cases, materials described on Georgetown Archival Resources site have not been digitized, so an in-person visit will be required. After researchers identify materials of interest, they can use the Aeon request system to request them and to schedule a research appointment.  Please note that access to unpublished materials dating from after 1970 requires the permission of the transferring office. Archives staff will forward requests for access.

As with any archival research project, please note that not all material in the archives relevant to the history of women on campus is described on Georgetown Archival Resources site; archives staff are happy to discuss research projects and direct researchers to additional resources.

• Varia: Numbered Series. Box 17, folder 312: Georgetown Women 273-7, 01/01/1957-12/31/1967

 

• Accreditation Reports, GTA 000355. Box 1: Middle States. Self Evaluation Reports, September 1960. Includes section on women students

 

• Dean of Discipline/Student Personnel Office /Student Development Office, GTA 000265.  Box 3: 1960: Includes: memos of December 1960 re issues with housing women students at Meridian Hill Hotel and letter of 01/19/1960 re termination of agreement for renting La Maria (1327 16th Street, NW) to house women students

 

• Varia: Numbered Series. Box 15, folder 287: Dean of Women 254-1, 01/01/1961-12/31/1965

 

• Chancellor’s Office (Bunn), GTA.GAMMS304. Box 14.1, folder 2. Includes transcript of address by Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver at Georgetown University Women's Day, March 13, 1965

 

• Dean of Discipline/Student Personnel Office /Student Development Office, GTA 000265. Box 3, 1967: Includes minutes from 05/10/1967 meeting of Women Students' Personnel Policy Committee

 

• Dean of Discipline/Student Personnel Office /Student Development Office, GTA 000265. Box 4, Annual Report, Vice President for Student Development, 1968-1969. Includes report from Dean of Women Patricia Rueckel

 

• President’s Office (Henle), GTA.GAMMS1.  Box 23, folder 710: 20:00 Women's Personnel Policies., 01/01/1968-12/31/1969. Includes items relating to Women's Student Personnel Policies Committee, housing for women students, and curfew for women students

 

• Annual Reports, GTA 000130. Box 3: Annual Report, Student Development Division, 1970-1971. Includes report from the Dean of Women

 

• Miscellaneous Archives Collection, GTA 000156. Box 1: Georgetown University Faculty Dames, 1975-1976. Brochure with program and officer roster

 

• Stewards Society Clipping Collection, GTA.GAMMS250. 1988. Clippings relating to the uncovering of the existence of the Stewards, a secret society which did not admit women. The society was exposed in 1988, when Professor Joseph T. Durkin, S.J., moderator of the Stewards, sent two letters to The Hoya voicing his objection to the group’s secrecy and refusal to admit women. Less than a week later,  a member of the society held a press conference in which he stated the Society would be dissolved (1 box, 0.25 linear feet)

 

• Women's Center, GTA 110721. 1989-2008. Note that access to unpublished materials dating from after 1970 requires the permission of the transferring office.  Archives staff will forward requests for access ( 4 boxes, 6 linear feet)

Please refer to the dedicated page in this guide for information about enslaved women on campus

• Old Archives: Business School, GTA 000244.  Records from 1936-1971. Folders from 1961 and 1962 relate to women in the School (2 boxes, 1 linear foot)

 

• Admissions, GTA 000267. Box 1, 1961: Includes letter [from President Bunn?], 11/29/1961, re admission of women to School of Business Administration: I wish to state after a meeting with the Board of Directors that no girls will be accepted in the School of Business Administration this year . . .

• Office of the Dean. College of Arts and Sciences. Box 31, folder 1182: Georgetown Visitation Convent, 01/01/1937-12/31/1954

 

• Office of the Dean. College of Arts and Sciences. Box 5, folders 196-197: Nursing School, 01/01/1952-12/31/1959

 

• Scrapbook: Georgetown University, December 1960-July 1961, GTA 000014. Contains clippings about Georgetown University. Among topics covered: women students in the Nursing School taking courses in the College of Arts and Sciences

 

• Old Archives: Georgetown at Fribourg, GTA.GAMMS258. 1950-1971. Georgetown at Fribourg was a study abroad program in Switzerland. Folders 69-7., 1961 - 1962 include correspondence discussing acceptance of women into the program, 1961 (1 box, 0.5 linear feet)

 

• College Dean (Davis), GTA.GAMMS58. Box 7, folder 19: Dormitories., 10/21/1968-04/23/1969. Among topics addressed: curfew hours for women residents, 1969

 

• Admissions, GTA 000267. Box 2: 1970. Includes Office of Undergraduate Admission annual report, 1968-1969. This references the  impact of applications to College from women

 

• Women's and Gender Studies Senior Theses, GTA 120227. 1990-2009 (4 boxes, 5 linear feet)

• Old Archives: Dental School, GTA 000206. 1897-1972. Box 1, folders 6-8 include material about the Dental Hygiene Program in the 1930s. Box 2, which has material from the 1950s, may provide information about the admission of the first women into the DDS program (3 boxes, 4.5 linear feet)

• Old Archives: Foreign Service School, GTA 000332. 1918-1970. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Box 2 which has material from the 1940s may provide information about the admission of the first women into the School (4 boxes, 6 linear feet)

 

• Archives of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. Addenda box 83: Includes letter from Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., re admission of women to "certain war courses in the School of Foreign Service" (6/21/1944)

 

• Foreign Service Women's Association, GTA 180501. 1955-1959. Includes meeting minutes, membership lists, and several iterations of the Women’s Association constitution (1 box, 0.5 linear feet)

 

• Scrapbook: Judith Marcia Bream (F 1960), GTA 850101. This scrapbook provides a sense of what life was like for women students at Georgetown in the late 1950s, especially in the Foreign Service School

 

• President's Office (Henle), GTA.GAMMS1. Box 4, folder 131: 10:70 School of Foreign Service., 01/01/1968-12/31/1970. Includes correspondence re ratios for women students, 1970

• Old Archives: Graduate School, GTA 000083. 1891-1971. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available.  Box 1, which  has material from the 1940s, may provide information about the admission of the first women into the School. Box 2: folders 13 and  26 include information about Sisters from Georgetown Visitation Convent who were enrolled in the Graduate School classes, 1922-1962 (2 boxes, 3 linear feet)

 

• Scrapbook: Georgetown University, 1930s-1950s, GTA 000012. Contains clippings relating mainly to the Graduate School. Among topics covered, the admission of women into the Graduate School, 1943

 

• History Department Files (1950s-1970s), GTA.GAMMS273. Box 1, folder 24: Board of Graduate Studies Meeting Minutes, 07/19/1943-10/25/1945. Contains meeting minutes of the Board of Graduate Studies. Includes newspaper clipping entitled, "Georgetown Admits 11 Women Breaking its 154-year Rule," (undated)

• Old Archives: Languages and Linguistics Institute/School, GTA 000247. 1949-1971. Many of the early women students (other than nursing students) at Georgetown were enrolled in Languages and Linguistics programs. An examination of these records may provide information specific to women students (2 boxes, 3 linear feet)

• Medical School Ledgers, GTA 000447, 1848-1931.  These include minutes of faculty meetings between 1848 and 1931. Sadly, the ledger which presumably would have documented discussion of the enrollment of Annie Rice and Jeannette J. Sumner in 1880 is missing. However, later ledgers do touch on the enrollment of women in the school, including the 1890-1900 ledger which includes minutes of the November 10, 1898 Medical Faculty Meeting at which the request from Louise Taylor to matriculate and take a course in dissection is discussed. Ms. Taylor’s request for matriculation in 1898 was postponed. However, a resolution was passed authorizing the Professor of Anatomy to give to Miss Taylor a special course of instruction in Anatomy at the College Building [an early name for Healy Hall.] Medical School classes at this time were held  at 920 H Street, N.W.

 

• Old Archives: Medical School, GTA 000293. 1851-1971. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available.  Box 6, which has material from the 1940s, may provide information about the admission of the first women into the School (12 boxes,  6 Linear Feet) 

• Old Archives: Nursing School, GTA 000428. 1903-1971. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available (3 boxes, 2.5 linear feet)

 

• Old Archives: Student Government, GTA 000318.  1939-1971.  Contains records of student councils of various schools, including the Nursing School Student Council.  Nursing School Student Council material is found in boxes 3 and 4 (4 boxes, 2 linear feet)

• Summer School / School for Summer and Continuing Education Brochures, GTA 000127. Box 2: Courses For Women., 1974-1979 and no date

• Old Archives: Dramatic Association/Mask and Bauble Club, GTA 000314. Box 3: Mask and Bauble, 1936-1937. Includes clipping from The Washington Post re ban on plays with female roles, 02/23/1936

• Serials: Hoya Saxa, GTA 000700, 1981-2003. A publication about Georgetown athletics. Includes profiles of athletes and coaches
• College Dean (Davis), GTA.GAMMS58. Box 3, folder 1: Athletics., 12/21/1959-10/28/1964. Among topics addressed: facilities for women 

• Sports Files: Women’s Basketball, GTA 000686, 1969-present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (5 boxes, 7.5 linear feet)

• Sports Photos: Women’s Basketball, 1965-Present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (4 boxes, 6 linear feet)
• Serials: The Hoya Nation, GTA 000701.  2007-2008, 2010-2011.  Women's Basketball Newsletter (0.1 linear feet)
• Sports Files: Women’s Lacrosse, GTA 000662, 1978-present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (2 boxes, 3 linear feet)
• Sports Photos: Women’s Lacrosse, GTA 000663. 1985-Present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (3 boxes, 4.5 linear feet)
• Athletics: Minor Sports, GTA 000097. Box 1, “Sailing Clippings, 1938-1970” includes articles on Kathleen "Skippy" White
• Athletics: Minor Sports Photographs, GTA 000139. Box 1, folder “ Sailing 1950s” includes photographs of two women, Kathleen "Skippy" White and Carole Bloise, who were members of the sailing team. Box 1, folder “GU Women's Sailing Team 1969 - Mid-Atlantic Association of Women's Sailors - Champions” includes a color snapshot
• Sports Files: Women’s Soccer, GTA 000669, 1991-present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (1 box, 1.5 linear feet)
• Sports Photographs: Soccer (Women’s), GTA 000667. 1992-2001. Arranged chronologically. (1 box, 1.5 linear feet)
• Sports Files: Tennis, GTA 000228. 1892-1989.  Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings. Includes information about women players (6 boxes, 9 linear feet)
• Sports Photographs: Tennis (Men and Women), GTA 000671.  Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. (1 box, 1.5 linear feet)
• Sports Files: Track and Cross Country, GTA 000657.  1889-Present. Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes information about women athletes (10 boxes, 15 linear feet)
• Sports Photos: Track – Individuals (Men & Women).  Arranged alphabetically by last name. No inventory is available (1 box, 1.5 linear feet)
• Sports Photos: Track and Cross Country.  Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes photographs of women athletes  (3 boxes 4.5 linear feet)
• Sports Files: Volleyball, GTA 000658. 1971-Present.  Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. Includes media guides and clippings (2 boxes, 3 linear feet)
• Sports Photographs: Volleyball, GTA 000659, 1972-Present.  Arranged chronologically. No inventory of contents is available. (2 boxes, 3 linear feet)

 

Coverage of women in athletics can be found in yearbooks and in student newspapers. Please refer to the page in this guide on Student Publications for details.