Lycoming College - Lycoming County Women's History

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About This Collection

Williamsport Women: Voices, Images, Actions-Source material related to the history of women in Lycoming County from Lycoming College, the Lycoming County Historical Society, and the J.V. Brown Library. Documents selected highlight the history of local women in volunteer and reform organizations, education, the arts, the workplace, and private lives. The first part of the collection will cover the time period 1875-1925. "This material will have national, perhaps international, significance as it relates to women's history and studies during a time period when there is a scarcity of materials about women's contributions to local communities. All three cooperating facilities are very limited in staffing and available hours, so the materials will reach users who either cannot physically come to the collections or did not previously know of their existence. This collaborative project is funded through an LSTA grant.

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"Mother" (Mrs. J. L.) Mussina

Mussina, Jerusha Bailey, Woman's Christian Temperance Union (Williamsport, Pa.), Social reform, Work

Jerusha Mussina was the first president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Williamsport, PA Chapter. Mrs. Mussina was born in 1813 and died in 1886.

1897 WCTU Convention

Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Social reform

Extensive newspaper coverage of the 1897 State Convention of the Pennsylvania Woman's Christian Temperance Union, held in Williamsport.

Administration Building at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy (Pa.)

State Correctional Institution at Muncy (Pa.), Private lives, Social reform

Administration Building at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy (Pa.)

African American inmates working the the laundry of the State Industrial Home for Women at Muncy, PA

State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy,Pa.), Private lives, Social reform

African American inmates working the the laundry of the State Industrial Home for Women at Muncy, PA. Prison facilities were segregated in the early years of the prison.

Annual report. June 1924

Social reform, Williamsport (Pa.) Training home for girls

Training Home for Girls 1924 annual report

Anti-Suffrage Organization is Effected in City

Women - Suffrage, Social reform

Newspaper article concerning the formation of an anti women's suffrage organization in Williamsport

Application for charter is filed [Woman's Club]

Woman's Club (Williamsport, Pa.), Arts, Private lives, Social reform

Newspaper story on the application of local women to form a Woman's Club.

Aunt Jane Ross

Blacks in Williamsport, Pa., Ross, Jane, Slaves - Biography, Private lives, Social reform, Work

Newspaper article on an elderly Williamsport woman who was once a slave and was over 100 years old.

Brief history of Y.W.C.A..

Social reform, Williamsport YWCA (Williamsport, Pa.)

History, including a discussion of various aspects of the Williamsport Y.W.C.A.; addresses first home, early classes, fundraising, and progress.

Camp Tri-merri Day

Williamsport YWCA (Williamsport, Pa.), Social reform

Photograph of group of young women and girls on the steps of the Williamsport YWCA. No further information is available about the event known as "Camp Tri-Merri Day".

Cannery at the State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy, Pa.)

State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy, Pa.), Private lives, Social reform

Cannery at the State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy, Pa.)

State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy, Pa.), Private lives, Social reform

Cannery at the State Industrial Home for Women (Muncy, Pa.)

Cast of "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter" (1938)

Social reform, Williamsport YWCA (Williamsport, Pa.)

Photograph of the cast of "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter" (1938). Handwritten note on reverse: "Left to right (1938) Louise Niemeyer; Mrs. Bannen; [Mrs.] Jackson; [Mrs.] Gillett; [Mrs.] Manson; [Mrs.] Williamson." The 1940 census gives further information about some of the women: Louise Niemeyer was 63, a college graduate, and a lodger with a physician's family; Janet Bannen, 52 and widowed, resided with her sister and brother-in-law; and Doris Gillett, 29, was the wife of Harold, an aircraft machinist, probably at what is now the Lycoming Engines division of Avco Corporation. An article in the Feb. 1, 1938, Gazette & Bulletin, also reported that the play was to take place the next day at the Women's Club, starring "Mrs. Phil Gillette, as the heroine, in the title role; Miss Louise Niemeyer the lighthouse keeper and Mrs. R.G. Bannen his wife; Mrs. Frederic E. Manson the villain and Mrs. R.W. Jackson the hero."

Cast of YWCA Williamsport 1938 play

Social reform, Williamsport YWCA (Williamsport, Pa.)

Photograph of the cast of YWCA Williamsport 1938 play. Handwritten on reverse: "Left to right, Louise Niemeyer, Mrs. Taggert, Mrs. Van Antwerp, Mrs. Peaslee, Mrs. Laird, Mrs. Walton, Mrs. Walton, Mrs. Rhodes, Mrs. Hicks." More information is available, however, from the February 1, 1938, Gazette & Bulletin, which actually describes the event as part of the next day's Clio Club annual business meeting at the Women's Club, as follows: "A Floradora chorus, directed by Mrs. J. Frank Budd, will appear on the program in gowns they themselves wore at the turn of the century. The chorus includes Mrs. Clarence L. Peaslee, Mrs. H.W. Taggert, Mrs. H.W. Whitehead, Miss Louise Niemeyer, Mrs. H.R. Laird, Mrs. T.M.B. Hicks, Mrs. L.L. Walton, Mrs. J.G. Rhoads, and Mrs. G.F. Welliver." The handwritten notes above indicate that apparently some cast changes were made following the article's publication.