Fonds GB 106 5WFM - Women's Forum and its predecessors

45 A boxes and 19 OS parcels (28 boxes catalogued c.17 boxes uncatalogued)

GB 106 5WFM 1939-1980 fonds 45 A boxes and 19 OS parcels (28 boxes catalogued c.17 boxes uncatalogued) Women's Group on Problems Arising from Evacuation

Women's Group on Public Welfare

Women's Forum

The Women's Forum grew out of organisations that came into existence during the Second World War. In 1939, the refugee situation prompted the National Council of Social Service to call a conference of concerned organisations. The group which emerged from this event was the Women's Group on Problems Arising from Evacuation, with Margaret Bondfield as Chairperson. The National Council of Social Service would continue to provide the new organisation with secretariat and accommodation throughout its existence. The following year the group changed its name to the Women's Group on Public Welfare in order to reflect its widened scope of interest into all aspects of the welfare of women and children. It was constituted solely by representatives all the major women's and female-voluntary organisations including the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds and the National Federation of Women's Institutes and action could only be undertaken by the constituent groups themselves. Strong links were formed with foreign, especially Eastern-European, organisations while the main work of the group was undertaken by subcommittees. During the war, these included those on education and leisure, the under-fives, hygiene, working class credit, the organisation of women's clubs, women's work in the regions, conditions on air-raid shelters, planning, welfare in the Women's services, fuel economy (later superseded by the Women's advisory Council on Solid Fuel), food education, and a sub-committee to examine the Beveridge Report. After the war, the focus of the work changed as other sub-committees were formed: one related to social insurance, another on the shortage of craft and cookery teachers, a committee on home making, clean food, and in the Sixties, a committee on public questions. Working groups were also set up to deal with the social aspects of loneliness, advertisements, education for girls as well as the situation of homeless families.

During the war, this work at the national level was complimented by the activities of purely local groups and the local branches of organisations. At the time, these were co-ordinated by regional Group Action Councils established by the Federation of Soroptimist Clubs in 1942. These local forums had to be linked to the national efforts, however, and the Women's Group on Public Welfare provided the gateway between individual Group Action Councils as well as between local groups and national organisations. When the Group Action Councils became Standing Conferences of Women's Organisations, the WGPW both held joint biannual conferences with them and sent representatives to sit with them on the SCWO advisory committee.

In the post-war period, the home making committee set up a sub-committee of scientific home management; in 1951 the committee and sub-committee merged to become the Council of Scientific Management in the Home (COSMITH). However, the major achievement of the group in the post-war period, however, was the publication of the report 'The Neglected Child and His Family' in 1946, which led to the establishment of a new child welfare service through the Children Act of 1948. By 1960, 850 clubs totalling 27,500 members had been set up through its efforts. These activities continued until 1975 when the National Council of Social Service was restructured in the wake of 1970's Social Services Act which had resulted in increasing confusion between the welfare activities of statutory and voluntary bodies. At this point the Women's Group on Public Welfare changed its name to The Women's Forum. When the NCSS became the National Council of Voluntary Organisations in 1980, it decided to end its secretarial and financial support of the Women's Forum. It was decided that the organisation could not continue to function and the group was wound up at the Annual General Meeting that took place in December of that year.

The archive was received in two accessions dated c. 1981 and 1988. (The 1988 deposit of 17 A boxes is uncatalogued and contains Minutes, correspondence, conference papers and working parties).

Records of the Women's Forum and its predecessors including of minutes and minute books of the Executive Committee (1939-1980) and correspondence (1943-1973), meetings agendas, papers and minutes including those for annual general meetings (1963-1974), annual reports (1946-1979), administrative papers (1941-1973), file lists (1965, 1980) various newsletters and magazines (1948-74), Council of Scientific Management in the Home (COSMITH) minutes, correspondence and papers (1945-1977), publications, papers and reports by international organisations (1943-1977), papers of committees and subcommittees on education and leisure, the under-fives, hygiene, working class credit, the organisation of women's clubs, women's work in the regions, air-raid shelters, planning, welfare in the Women's services, fuel, food education, the Beveridge Report, social insurance, shortages of craft and cookery teachers, home making, clean food, public questions, the social aspects of loneliness, advertisements and the situation of homeless families (1940-1973), files on other organisations (1945-1963), papers of the Standing Conferences Advisory Committee (1942-1975) and joint conferences between the Women's Group on Public Welfare (WGPW) and Standing Conferences of Women's Organisations (SCWO) (1944-1976) as well as individual standing conferences.

Files closed during or before the early 1960s were weeded at the NCSS (in some cases heavily) on at least one occasion. No special note of this is made in the catalogue. Weeding of later files was apparently much more haphazard. For these, where the original files indicated weeding had taken place, it has been noted in the catalogue. For all files which had an NCSS registry reference, this reference has been noted in brackets.

The Women's Forum files and volumes catalogued here were given to the Fawcett Library in 1981. With them came two lists of files (see WF/A60). The list of earlier files corresponds almost exactly with the files received here, that of the later files hardly at all. Whilst the contents of the files matched close by their titles on the whole, the files themselves were in no discernible order.

This collection is partially available for research. The catalogued portion of the collection is available for research, uncatalogued material remains unavailable. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

English

Handlist

The Women's Library Printed Collections holds publications by the Women's Forum and its Predecessors, including their newsletters.

This document was generated by Javascript from an HTML form which structured the input according to the elements of ISAD(G) Version 2. Collection description by the Archives Hub, amended by Genesis Project Manager, Apr 2002. Fawcett Library Catalogue by Margaret Sweet, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, dated Jul 1986. Edited for AIM25 by Sarah Drewery.

In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Dec 2008 National Federation of Women's Institutes National Council of Voluntary Organisations National Council of Social Service Bondfield , Margaret Grace , 1873-1953 , trade unionist, campaigner for women and politician Social welfare Child welfare Health Hygiene Sex distribution Sex Women Homemakers National Union of Townswomens Guilds Standing Conference of Womens Organisations Women's Forum Women's Group on Problems Arising from Evacuation Women's Group on Public Welfare

The archive was received in two accessions dated c. 1981 and 1988. (The 1988 deposit of 17 A boxes is uncatalogued and contains Minutes, correspondence, conference papers and working parties).

Records of the Women's Forum and its predecessors including of minutes and minute books of the Executive Committee (1939-1980) and correspondence (1943-1973), meetings agendas, papers and minutes including those for annual general meetings (1963-1974), annual reports (1946-1979), administrative papers (1941-1973), file lists (1965, 1980) various newsletters and magazines (1948-74), Council of Scientific Management in the Home (COSMITH) minutes, correspondence and papers (1945-1977), publications, papers and reports by international organisations (1943-1977), papers of committees and subcommittees on education and leisure, the under-fives, hygiene, working class credit, the organisation of women's clubs, women's work in the regions, air-raid shelters, planning, welfare in the Women's services, fuel, food education, the Beveridge Report, social insurance, shortages of craft and cookery teachers, home making, clean food, public questions, the social aspects of loneliness, advertisements and the situation of homeless families (1940-1973), files on other organisations (1945-1963), papers of the Standing Conferences Advisory Committee (1942-1975) and joint conferences between the Women's Group on Public Welfare (WGPW) and Standing Conferences of Women's Organisations (SCWO) (1944-1976) as well as individual standing conferences.

Files closed during or before the early 1960s were weeded at the NCSS (in some cases heavily) on at least one occasion. No special note of this is made in the catalogue. Weeding of later files was apparently much more haphazard. For these, where the original files indicated weeding had taken place, it has been noted in the catalogue. For all files which had an NCSS registry reference, this reference has been noted in brackets.

The Women's Forum files and volumes catalogued here were given to the Fawcett Library in 1981. With them came two lists of files (see WF/A60). The list of earlier files corresponds almost exactly with the files received here, that of the later files hardly at all. Whilst the contents of the files matched close by their titles on the whole, the files themselves were in no discernible order.

This collection is partially available for research. The catalogued portion of the collection is available for research, uncatalogued material remains unavailable. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

• English

• Latin

English

The Women's Library Printed Collections holds publications by the Women's Forum and its Predecessors, including their newsletters.

Handlist

In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• English