AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN:
A Historical Summary

(This article was condensed mainly from a l979 publication of AAUW Membership Services entitled "The AAUW Story" and adapted for the AAUW Columbus Branch Yearbook by Nemia M. Chai, College/University Representative (formerly titled Corporate Representative) of then Columbus College to AAUW 1973-1999.

On chilly January l4, l882, a total of 65 women attended a meeting held at Chauncy Hall in Boston to organize "an association of women college graduates with headquarters in Boston." Miss Marion Talbot, one of the first to enroll at Boston University when it opened a liberal arts college and admitted women, spoke to the women assembled and outlined the types of work she believed the proposed organization could perform.  Alice E. Freeman, acting president of Wellesley College, presented several ideas to the group--the new association could promote higher education for women; it could assist college-educated women with a "helpful influence" as they pursued various occupations; it could help them utilize the privilege of higher learning for the good of society and for the individuals themselves. A constitution was drawn up and adopted: membership in the association would be determined on an institutional, rather than a personal basis. And so the nation's (and the world's) first organization of university women, the Association of Collegiate Alumnae (ACA), was initiated at this meeting.

In December l883, the Western Association of Collegiate Alumnae (WACA) was organized in Chicago. One of the first actions of the newly formed group was to provide a Bureau of Correspondence to encourage communication between college women in the U.S., Great Britain, and continental Europe. It was "the first printed indication" that American university women were seeking an international alliance. Another notable accomplishment of the Western Association was the establishment of a fellowship fund especially for women scholars.

In l889, the Western Association merged with the older ACA when members of the two groups met that October in Buffalo, New York.

It was in 1903 when the Southern Association of College Women (SACW) was formed with l7 charter members. Angie Warren Perkins, the first woman graduate of Wesleyan College in Connecticut, invited several women to meet in her Knoxville, Tennessee, home on one July afternoon that year to form an organization for women graduates in the South. This organization determined to "devote their energy to the Southern educational problems at close range."

Although more than 140 institutions designated as "colleges for women" existed in the South, only two of these offered four years of academic work. The new SACW went quickly to its tasks: encouraging the colleges for women to upgrade their standards by offering the four-year academic curriculum, campaigning actively for compulsory school attendance, and working for social welfare legislation, including child protection laws.

In l9l7, the first steps toward the merger of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, already merged with the Western Association, and the SACW were undertaken. The Southern Association appointed a committee to work with the ACA on a general affiliation of the two groups, this step being inevitable since their work and ideals were nearly identical and there were overlapping memberships.

Meanwhile, in l9l9, Dean Virginia Gildersleeve of the ACA, together with Dr. Caroline Spurgeon and Professor Rose Sidgewick of Great Britain, helped to initiate the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) with eight constituent associations--Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.S.

In April l921, the union of the SACW with the ACA became complete at a meeting in Washington, D.C. A new name was adopted at this meeting, since the term "collegiate" had little meaning abroad--and the ACA, now including the former Southern Association, became the American Association of University Women. The present national AAUW headquarters, located in Washington, D.C., houses offices of the association for its 100,000 members.

Today, AAUW acknowledges its responsibility to modern society, and that responsibility is fulfilled by individual members working through the branches. At national biennial meetings, delegates from each branch, division, and college/university representatives determine policies to guide the Association. More recently, AAUW objectives have included helping women to gain parity in educational, economic, social, and public life of our nation; these are symbolically represented in the new logo with the three-triangle design which interfaces:

AAUW--promoting equity for women, education and self-development over the life span, and positive societal change.

AAUW Educational Foundation--providing funds to advance education, research, and self-development for women and to foster equity and positive societal change.

AAUW's Legal Advocacy Fund--providing funding and a support system for women seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination.

International connections have astoundingly expanded. AAUW members are also members of the International Federation of University Women which the Association helped to found in l9l9. IFUW links federations/associations in 54 lands, uniting women around the world in working toward common goals and international understanding. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.