Records of Boston Young Women's Christian Association (Massachusetts), 1858-2005 (inclusive), 1858-1988 (bulk)

The Boston Young Women's Christian Association (BYWCA) was founded in 1866; it was one of the first, and the prototype, for all subsequent YWCAs in the United States. It is also one of the oldest extant voluntary agencies in Boston.

In 1858, Mrs. Lucretia Boyd, a city missionary, first voiced concern for the moral and physical welfare of young women and girls coming from the country to work in Boston. In 1866 a group of women led by the civic reformer Pauline Durant, wife of philanthropist Henry Durant, founded the BYWCA modeled on the English YWCA to "serve the temporal, moral, and religious welfare of young women who are dependent upon their own exertions for support." Young women faced with the choice of "starving or sinning" were to be housed in well-regulated boarding houses and given moral and religious training. Accommodations and a reading room were rented on Chauncy Street in 1866 and shortly thereafter two houses on Beach Street were purchased to offer lodgings to Protestant women under the age of 25. Classes - - including Astronomy, Botany, Penmanship, and Bookkeeping - - were offered and a restaurant opened to serve residents and non-residents.

Finding that many young women had no jobs, the BYWCA in 1868 opened an employment agency for domestic servants and an experimental industrial class to teach sewing, dressmaking, and the use of the sewing machine. Such was the success of the early years that new buildings were constructed on Warrenton Street (1875) and Berkeley Street (1884). The first executive secretary, Charlotte Drinkwater (1875-1908), introduced many pioneering programs and established the early goals, to which over the years the BYWCA has consistently adhered: affordable housing, enrichment courses, vocational training, physical education, and career counseling and placement. The BYWCA's initial concern for the religious health of its clients has shifted away from Protestant denominational loyalty to a broad Christian focus. The responsiveness of the BYWCA to social change has depended partly on the differing agendas of the Executive Secretaries and partly on the policies of the volunteer Board of Managers. The settlement and training of immigrants as domestic workers was an early goal under Mary E. Blodgett, who established Travelers' Aid to welcome immigrants at the docks. Assimilation classes were offered by the International Institute in the 1920s. Under Executive Secretary Harriet Broad (1914-21), who trained at the National Board of the YWCA in New York, there was an effort to reach "industrial girls" and the membership was expanded to include clients as well as upper-class managers. Although (unlike the National Board) not a pioneer in race relations, the BYWCA wholeheartedly embraced the multicultural goals of the YWCA movement in the 1970s and introduced innovative programs whose purpose was to strengthen diversity and eliminate racism. The BYWCA has also been outspoken on public policy issues such as apartheid in South Africa. From the 1970s, especially under the direction of Executive Director Juliet Brudney, the BYWCA concentrated on services to youth and teenagers and child care services for working mothers.

The shortfall in funding from private charity, United Way, and state and federal agencies was closed by periodic fundraising campaigns and by the sale of securities. In 1986, in the interests of long range financial stability, the Board decided to rebuild the BYWCA at 140 Clarendon Street in partnership with a commercial developer. At the time when this collection was processed these plans had been postponed.