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COLLECTION Identifier: 79-M90

Papers of Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham, 1904-ca.1970

Overview

Photographs, clippings, correspondence, etc., of Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham, educator and civic leader.

Dates

  • Creation: 1904-1970

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

1.83 linear feet (l carton, 2 file boxes)

This collection consists of photographs, clippings, diaries, personal correspondence, and papers relating to Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham's work with the YWCA of Brooklyn, the National YWCA, the National Social Welfare Assembly, the Board of Higher Education of New York City, and Powell House; and clippings re: Mary (Ingraham) Bunting's appointments as dean of Douglass College and president of Radcliffe College.

BIOGRAPHY

Mary (Shotwell) Ingraham, educator and civic leader, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1887, the daughter of Henry Titus and Alice Wyman (Gardner) Shotwell. In 1908 she received her A.B. from Vassar and married Henry Andrews Ingraham; they had four children: Mary Alice, Henry Gardner, Winifred Andrews, and David.

Ingraham was active with the Young Women's Christian Association of Brooklyn, New York, from 1908 on, and was its chair, 1915-1922. She became vice-president of the National Board of the YWCA in 1922 and was president, 1940-1946. Ingraham was vice-president and director of the New York Council on Adult Education, 1933-1937, vice-chairman of the Brooklyn Council for Social Planning, 1933-1938, and vice-president and director of the Central Volunteer Bureau, 1938-1943. During World War II, she was vice-president of the United Service Organization, and advisor to Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, on the recruitment of women officers to the WAAC. After the war she continued her work for the YWCA in fundraising and projects for interracial harmony. She served on the National Social Welfare Assembly,which coordinated the programs of various charitable youth organizations. In 1938 she had begun service on the Board of Higher Education of New York City and in 1959 became chairman of its Committee to Look to the Future, which recommended the re-organization of the city colleges (CCNY, Hunter, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx and Queensborough community colleges) into the City University of New York. This plan was adopted by the state legislature in 1961.

Born a Quaker, Ingraham attended meeting throughout her life and was active in the establishment of Powell House, a Friends' meeting center in Old Chatham, New York. She was awarded the President's Medal for Merit in 1946, and honorary degrees from Wesleyan (1952) and Columbia (1961). Ingraham was a member of the Civitas and Twentieth Century clubs.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 79-M90

This collection was given to the Schlesinger Library by Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham's daughter, Mary Ingraham Bunting Smith, in April 1979.

CONTAINER LIST

  1. Carton 1: 2-34
  2. Box 2: 35v-45
  3. Box 3: 46-55

Processing Information

Preliminary inventory: July 1986

By: Helen H. Gilbert

Title
Ingraham, Mary T. Shotwell, 1887-1981. Papers of Mary T. Shotwell Ingraham, 1904-ca.1970: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00645

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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