Defiance Business and Professional Women records

The Defiance Business and Professional Women's collection contains records form 1931 to 1982. The records include minutes, bylaws, district and committee reports, history of the organization, financial documents, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and newsletters.

The regular meeting and board minutes (1966-1977) contain the most specific information about the club's activities, projects, and policies. This source is limited by its incompleteness, the earlier minutes not being available. Another valuable source of information is the Fort Defiance News-Bee, the monthly newsletter, which includes a calendar of events, a review of the preceding meeting, a look at the upcoming meeting, and news items concerning members. Issues are fairly complete from 1956 when it was first published to 1978. Clippings from various local newspapers from 1954 to 1979 reflect the organization's active role in community affairs as do the scrapbooks and printed materials.

The Defiance BPW has been involved in many community activities and one in particular, Women Responsible for Accident Prevention (1968-1969) is well documented in this collection with organizational plans, news clippings, correspondence, and pamphlets. The committee reports (1955-1981) have many gaps, but still give an indication of the function and general activities of each committee.

General information on the local, state, and national BPW can be found in the directories (1939-1944, 1970s, 1981-1982), yearbooks (1937-1982), programs (1931-1942, 1957), and miscellaneous printed materials (1940-1981). This group of documents, although incomplete, includes club objectives, rules, organization of leadership, programs, lists of officers, and local members' occupations.

Also included in the collection are bylaws of the organization, which are amended annually, and financial records dating from 1959 to 1982 with some gaps. The budgets offer an indication of the assistance the club has given to the community.

The Defiance Business and Professional Women's collection contains information on the careers and interests of its members, the social benefits of the organization to the members, and the club's impact on the community.