The fonds consists of records related to Vancouver Status of Women’s (VSW’s) administrative activities, projects and lobbying endeavours, 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, 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 three series: Administration, Research and Reference Resources, and Projects and Lobbying Activities. Additionally, the fonds contains alphabetized subject files dating from 1971-1978. These files are grouped into sets and described in the attached PDF finding aid.
The Administration series contains records related to VSW’s administrative 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 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 that were 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. Subject files are arranged alphabetically.
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.
Finally, the fonds consists of alphabetized VSW subject files from the earliest years of VSW’s operation. These subject files are grouped into three categories in the attached PDF finding aid: Office Files, Periodicals, and Reports and Miscellaneous Files.