The Archives of the American News Women's Club (ANWC) documents
the history of the ANWC from its founding in 1932 until the present
and contains scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, issues of newsletters,
membership information and directories, event files, photographs,
and several audiotapes and videotapes. Also included are records
documenting the operation of the clubhouse. Membership in the ANWC
was initially limited to women reporters and writers employed by
newspapers. Membership later expanded to include women from all
areas of communications. (Website: http://www.anwc.org).
Archive
Project:
After several
years of consideration, the ANWC has signed an agreement with
the University of Maryland Libraries to establish and maintain
an archival repository that will ensure physical preservation
of the many papers, scrapbooks, photographs, and related materials
that chronicle the club’s unique and illustrious history.
ANWC’s precious memorabilia will be housed as a Special
Collection, the Archives of the American News Women’s Club,
and will be catalogued and cared for by experienced archivists.
The collection will become available to researchers from around the world,
ensuring the club’s accomplishments are recognized by historians,
while the close proximity of the university will allow the material to
remain accessible to club members. We owe a vote of thanks to ANWC member
and UMD Professor Maurine Beasley for facilitating this
mutually beneficial partnership.
Library
Project: Contact the Club Manager at anwclub@covad.net to
donate
books to the library.
ANWC Archive Project
Years of ANWC
memorabilia, stored in boxes in the ANWC basement, have finally
been sorted and temporarily indexed. The archives reflect a range
of topics — from the history of women in journalism in
Washington, DC to the associate members who brought their socialite
guests to the club for events, programs and networking. Currently,
we have over 20 boxes of items. The
Archives Committee has set up a separate photo file to catalogue
all the photographs in the archival folders, identify each subject,
prepare the items for scanning and use for club promotional and
publicity purposes.
In April 2004,
the American News Women’s Club donated
their archives to the Archives and Manuscripts Department (http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV)
at the University of Maryland Libraries. The archives, which
documents the history of the ANWC from its founding in 1932 until
the present, contains scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, issues
of newsletters, membership information and directories, event
files, photographs and several audiotapes. Also included are
records documenting the operation of the clubhouse.
The University
of Maryland Libraries actively collect archival records that
document the history of women in the region (http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV/rguide/womens.html),
as well as papers in the field of journalism (http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV/rguide/jourres.html),
making the Archives of the American News Women’s Club an
excellent addition to our holdings. The archives are now open
for research to anyone, such as students, professional researchers,
and former club members in the Maryland Room, Hornbake Library,
University of Maryland.
For more information,
contact Jennie A. Levine, Curator for Historical Manuscripts
at 301-314-2712 or Levjen@umd.edu.
ANWC Library Project
From the sublime
(the Harvard Classics) to the ridiculous (the 1961 memoir I Married
a Psychiatrist), the ANWC library provides a wealth of knowledge
and amusement. The collection includes histories, books written
and generously donated by club authors, paper- and hardback fiction
spanning the years, and volumes about illustrious contributions
of ink-stained scribes, reporting on overseas wars. I
Can Tell It Now: Stories Behind the Great News Events of the
Past 25 Years is one such work. Published in 1964, I Can Tell
It Now collected then-untold stories by members of the Overseas
Press Club, covering the Second World War and its many fronts
and battles, to the rise of Khrushchev and Castro. The book was
donated by the Club’s own Jessie Stearns, who reported
in 1964 on the abrupt transition of power from the Kennedy Administration
to Lyndon Johnson’s. The contributors’ names are
the stuff of nostalgia from a golden age of vivid, passionate
reporting: Mary Hemingway, Drew Middleton, Margaret Bourke-White,
Fleur Cowles, Robert Trumbull, Quentin Reynolds, Frank Gibney
and Harrison Salisbury. The reporters in these pages have made,
at the very least, footnotes to a history that they witnessed
in the making. Thanks to Andrea Grenadier who cataloged the collection,
and Alexandrea Galitzine and Fran Maclean who created a comprehensive
library inventory.
One
of the nation's oldest press clubs, The American News Women's Club is
a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) offering educational and professional development
programs in support of women in the journalism and communications professions.
The annual ANWC "Helen Thomas Award" benefit gala awards annual scholarships
to journalism schools. In 2003, the organization was named an historic
site in journalism by the National Society of Professional Journalists
(SPJ).
