The fonds consists of the records of the Provincial Council of Women of British Columbia, which document the interests and activities of one of Canada’s oldest advocacy groups and largest women’s organizations. Records date back to the first local groups formed by women in British Columbia in the 1890s.
The records document the council’s core function: its development of policy through research and the creation of submissions and resolutions for advocacy at all levels of government.
The records were created by elected officers, including the president, vice president, corresponding secretary, recording secretary, treasurer and immediate past president. Records were also created by members of committees, including standing study committees dedicated to researching subject areas. The materials reflect the organization’s activities under this committee structure. For example, at one point (ca. 1950 to 1960) committees included: Arts and Letters, Economics, Laws, Extension, Education, Health, Home Economics, Immigration/Migration, and the Thrift campaign.
The fonds consists of meeting agendas and minutes; correspondence; issue files kept for reference; research reports; resolutions; briefs and submissions to government; annual reports; yearbooks; newsletters and journals; transactions of and reports from annual conferences; conference and other event programs; records related to the organization’s constitution and by-laws; ephemera such as leaflets and magazine and news clippings; scrapbooks; financial records; directories (regarding executives and members); photographs (primarily of participants at meetings and conferences); and published books, presumably held in an office library or personal libraries.
Due to the Provincial Council’s organization and structure, the fonds contains materials from associated organizations and “higher” (national and international) levels of the Council of Women. Records were created by or relate to affiliated groups, which include, for example: the Elizabeth Fry Society, the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, the Women's Auxiliary to the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada, the Progressive Conservative Women’s Association of British Columbia, Native Indian Service Council, and Business and Professional Women’s Clubs.
Some of the records were originally printed or published by the National Council of Women of Canada in Ottawa. This includes the National Council’s yearbooks (containing its annual reporting), in a nearly-complete set from 1939 through 1994.
Since members of the Provincial Council were often members of both that provincial body and their local group, records in the fonds include, for example, those of local groups such as the White Rock & District Council of Women and the University Women’s Club of White Rock.
The records were donated to BC Archives between 1974 and 2016 in five separate accessions. There was no consistency in the original order in which they came to BC Archives and the council did not have a classification system for its records. As a result, BC Archives created an arrangement structure, assigning records to the following series:
MS-3294 - General office files
MS-3295 - Minutes
MS-3296 - Scrapbooks
MS-3297 - Annual reports and directories
MS-3298 - National Council yearbooks and newsletters
MS-3299 - Publications and ephemera