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.
