Associated Women Students (AWS) Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS-0449

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Associated Women Students Collection documents the growth and development of AWS at San Diego State, as well as many of the activities and lectures it organized on campus. Also documented are some of the controversies involving women on campus in the early 1970s. The collection includes two scrapbooks, correspondence, meeting minutes, flyers, and budget information, as well as copies of the ever-changing AWS constitution.

The scrapbooks in the collection date from 1965-1967 and from 1937-1965. The 1965-67 scrapbook includes photographs of AWS Council representatives, documentation of the State AWS Convention, press clippings on annual elections, lectures, AWS's organization of All-Women's Week, its role in Freshman Orientation, the AWS Retreat, and issues of the AWS Newsletter. The 1937-65 scrapbook includes copies of the AWS Handbook, the AWS Forecast newsletter, photographs of officers, and press clippings on AWS-sponsored events across campus, including the Frosh Orientation Party, the Femme Fashion Show, the Best-Dressed Co-Ed competition, Catch-a-Man Week, the annual award for AWS Woman of Achievement, AWS Week, and John F. Kennedy's visit to campus in 1963. The majority of this book documents 1961-1965, with a few scattered materials at the back dating from 1937 to the 1960s.

Dates

Creation: 1936-1977
Creation: Majority of material found in 1961-1973

Creator

Associated Women Students (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright interests in some or all of these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creator(s) of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of archival collections is such that multiple creators are often applicable and copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. In any case, the user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, obtaining publication rights and copyright infringement. When requesting images from Special Collections & University Archives for publication, we require a signed agreement waiving San Diego State University of any liability in the event of a copyright violation.

Historical Note

San Diego State Teacher's College established the Associated Women Students (AWS) in May of 1922, after three students attended the Intercollegiate Association of Women Students by invitation the previous March. The organization's original goals included promoting education among women, organizing women on campus, and educating the public on women's suffrage rights. AWS's goals changed numerous times throughout its existence, to those aimed at promoting "friendship and cooperation among members" and participating "in matters of student interest," in the 1950s, to acting as a "coordinating force for the women students of San Diego State," providing leadership for all women on campus, and promoting growth in cultural, social, service, and educational areas by the early 1970s. AWS accomplished its goals through a series of special events, awards, lecture series, and other activities for campus women. Members included all registered women students at San Diego State.