St. Margaret’s House. Records

AO-00-R0289

The Archives of the Episcopal Church

Fonds

St. Margaret’s House. Records

• 1908-1969 (Creation)

4.5 cu.ft. (12 boxes)

Founded in 1907 as a deaconess training program, St. Margaret’s House in Berkeley, California, expanded over its sixty-year history to include among its many programs a School for Christian Service, which educated women for church work in the United States and abroad, and a two-year graduate program in Christian Education offered in conjunction with the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. By the 1960s, the movement towards full equality for women in the Church diminished the need for a separate women’s training school, prompting the Board of Trustees to end the St. Margaret’s House education programs in 1966. What remained of the institution transitioned to a non-profit organization unaffiliated with The Episcopal Church–the Berkeley Center for Human Interaction and Organizational Renewal, later renamed first the Strong Center and then The Strong Foundation for Environmental Values.

This collection comprises printed materials, minutes, reports, correspondence, class lectures, photographs, literary works, and guest books created and collected by St. Margaret’s House to document its work educating women as deaconesses, missionaries, and educators. The majority of the records date from 1920 to 1950 with the largest number belonging to the Board of Trustees and the Dean’s Office.

Although most of the records pertaining to academics are from the institution’s final years of operation, there are some files relating to special academic programs, projects, and divisions pre-1945. Also included are a variety of material published by St. Margaret’s House, as well as other material collected by staff in scrapbooks, such as leaflets, articles, and photographs, spanning the organization’s history from its beginning in 1908. A small amount of material from the 1990s, related to the Strong Center, is also present.

Board of Trustees, 1910-1976, 1991
Dean’s Office, 1908-1969
Faculty, 1950-1966
Student Life, 1956-1965
Alumnae, 1913-1966, 1980
Academic Programs, Projects, and Divisions, 1925-1966
Guest books, 1908-1935
Printed material, 1908-1963
Scrapbooks and Newsclippings, 1908-1967, 1980, 1993-1997
Photographs, 1909-1959
Manuscripts, 1917-1966
Artifacts, 1924

Access to Episcopal Church records is governed by the Archives Public Access Policy. Research requests must be submitted in writing.

The Archives is able to respond to limited requests for reproductions subject to copyright restrictions, internal policy, and the condition of the source documents.

• English

• Church Divinity School of the Pacific
• Deaconesses
• Women
• Women in ministry
• Religious organizations

• Grammar, Katharine (Subject)
• Hodgkin, Anita (Subject)
• Mott, Mary (Subject)
• Newell, Anna (Subject)
• Sherman, Lucia (Subject)
• Springer, Ethel (Subject)