The fonds consists of records related to Vancouver Status of Women’s (VSW’s) administrative activities, projects and lobbying endeavours, production, marketing, and distribution of Kinesis, their activities related to their advocacy function, and research and reference resources. Although the nature of VSW’s activities has changed over time, the organization has consistently maintained a commitment to addressing social issues related to women, including gender discrimination, pay equity, familial violence, racism, and many more topics. VSW has addressed these issues through a variety of avenues, including publications, press releases, lobbying of governments, a television program, workshops, and services for individuals in Vancouver. The fonds reflects these diverse organizational interests and activities in six series: 1. Administrative and executive; 2. Projects and lobbying activities; 3. Research and reference resources; 4. Advocacy; 5. Kinesis; and 6. Kinesis photobank and production room materials. Additionally, the fonds contains alphabetized subject files dating predominantly 1971-1978. The initial accession and first accrual are grouped into sets and described in the attached PDF finding aid.

The Administrative and executive series contains records pertaining to operational and executive activities including finance, committee and volunteer administration, employee management, correspondence, and strategic planning for the organization. Record types include grant applications, correspondence, invoices and receipts, meeting minutes, training materials, and correspondence.

The Projects and lobbying activities series features the records of VSW’s numerous and diverse projects and lobbying activities. Record types include VSW briefs, press releases, submissions to government, research reports, publications, correspondence, indexes for back issues of Kinesis, and volunteer applications.

The Research and reference resources series comprises materials from third parties that VSW collected to support its research projects and the needs of its visitors. The series also contains VSW briefs, press releases, and reports inter-filed with research materials. Record types include briefs and reports from other organizations, newspaper and magazine clippings, VSW correspondence, grey literature, copies of academic journals, and cassette tapes in honour of International Women’s Day.

The Advocacy series features records related to VSW lobbying and advocacy activities. These activities primarily included organizing and participating in committees and task forces set up by all levels of government, lobbying, and preparing briefs on legislative documents and materials. Record types include: correspondence with the Ministry of Justice and different coalitions such as BC Coalition of Women Centres and the 52% Coalition; meeting agendas and minutes; information sheets and brochures; event invitations; and other materials arising from VSW’s lobbying and advocacy work.

The Kinesis series includes records related to production, publication, marketing, and distribution of Kinesis, Vancouver Status of Women’ most significant publication in BC. Record types include design sketches and proofs, advertising, readers’ correspondences and surveys, volunteer training manuals, staff self-evaluations, and monthly activity reports.

The Kinesis photobank and production room materials series contains materials from the production room of Kinesis. These materials predominantly reflect the production cycle of the magazine and its records organization system for photographic and graphic materials that were used in or collected for future use in the magazine. Records include photographs, negatives, contact sheets, ephemera, and administrative records.

The fonds reflects the process of creating the documentary film Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing (entitled “Taking Health to the Streets” during production). Bevel Up is a co-production between the Street Nurse Program of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), with financial support from Health Canada and the BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU), and was created in collaboration with Canada Wild Productions Ltd. (Nettie Wild and Betsy Carson).

Filmed over six months in 2006, and over two years in production, Bevel Up was created in collaboration with the street nurses and a crew which included director Nettie Wild, cinematographer Kirk Tougas, producer Betsy Carson, and editor Mike Brockington.

Bevel Up is a 45-minute film, shot in the style of cinema verite (showing people in everyday situations), at the heart of a four-and-a-half-hour interactive DVD that features separate menus on a range of professional, ethical, and legal issues related to the delivery of health care to drug users. There is also an accompanying teaching guide.

The documentary was the brainchild of Caroline Brunt, a street nurse with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and is designed to help student nurses and seasoned professionals working with drug using populations. Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing follows a team of street nurses as they reach out to youth, sex workers and street entrenched men and women in the alleys and hotels of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Most importantly, the nurses reflect on attitudes that can make or break the relationship needed to successfully provide practical and nonjudgmental health care.

Materials include master tapes of raw footage, edited video and audio tapes, final copies of the interactive DVD and teaching manual, CDs containing the French translation of the teaching manual, a promotion trailer, a publicity clip reel, printed annotated transcripts, press kits, publicity posters, magazine reviews, a distribution chart and a publicity report.

Fonds reflects YWCA Metro Vancouver’s social and community services, programming, advocacy for women’s and gender issues, organizational administration, fundraising, publicity and communications management, and collaboration with affiliated service- and advocacy-based organizations.
Records consist of meeting minutes, correspondence, annual reports, occasional reports, financial records, programs, publications, media clippings, collected reference material, photographs, videocassettes, and other material arising from the organization carrying out its functional activities over the decades.

The 1981 accession is arranged into series according to material type and subject: 1. Minutes; 2. Financial Records; 3. Reports; 4. General Correspondence; 5. Buildings; 6. Annual Reports; 7. Printed Material; 8. Lists; 9. Clippings; 10. Photograph Albums; 11. Scrap Books; 12. Miscellaneous; and 13. Subject Files. This accession also includes a subgroup, National YWCA, arranged into six series: 1. Minutes; 2. Annual Reports; 3. Annual Meetings; 4. Reports; 5. Conventions; and 6. Directories. Arranged separately from these series is an addendum composed of photographs and scrapbooks.

The 2023 accrual is arranged into eight series: 1. Social and community services; 2. Advocacy; 3. Programming; 4. Administration; 5. Fundraising and donor relations; 6. Outreach and promotion 7. Affiliated organizations; and 8. Photographs.

The fonds consists of a manuscript, black-and-white and colour prints, and slide images relating to life in the Szechuan province of China (1920-1950). A manuscript entitled A Trip to Tibet (Summer 1930) with photographs chronicles a trip taken by the Crooks with fellow medics and missionaries. The considerable slide and print collection reveals aspects of Chinese people, life and topography as well as Asian-Christian subjects.