We are grateful to the Hoellen Family Foundation for their continued support of the University Libraries for the enhancement of our special collections. The Loyola University Archives and Special Collections and the Women and Leadership Archives have benefited from the Foundation’s generosity over the years. Below are WLA projects funded by the Foundation.

2024 Project

TBD

2022 Project

Audiovisual materials from the Helen Ramirez-Odell Papers and A College of Their Own Records were digitized and a laptop was purchased using the funds. The laptop will aid the WLA in making information about the collections available to the public and with other daily work. Audiovisual materials for digitization were chosen based on their age, condition, and research value. The digitization was primarily completed for preservation reformatting reasons, and to ensure future access to these items. Upon further review, items may also be included in Preservica for public access, thus increasing their availability to the public. Preservica is the platform the WLA uses to store digital collections and make them available online. Work was completed by Midwest Productions, the trusted vendor of the Women and Leadership Archives for audiovisual digitization.

[Image: Screenshot from documentary film, A College of Their Own Records]

AV items were chosen from two unique collections. The first collection was the A College of Their Own Records. In 1991, Mundelein College, the last women’s college in Illinois, affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. The following year, faculty from the Communications Departments of both schools decided to make a documentary about the affiliation and the issues surrounding women’s education. The film analyzes the history of women’s education, examines the issues surrounding the closing of numerous women’s colleges in the late 20th century, and specifically tells the story of Mundelein College. A College of Their Own was completed in 1998. Hours of interview footage was created for this documentary but was never included in the final cut. These unedited interview tapes are of great research value. They were recorded on now-outdated media formats and had not been preservation reformatted. Preservation reformatting (digitization) of these items will ensure that these items will be available for years to come.

The Helen Ramirez-Odell collection contains audio interviews of Chicago area school nurses for the book Working Without Uniforms: School Nursing in Chicago 1951-2001. Although the Helen Ramirez-Odell collection contains other materials, the interviews are the heart of the collection, and are of the greatest value to researchers. These fragile tapes were previously unavailable to researchers due to their condition. Now, researchers can have access to these firsthand accounts.

2020 Project

Items from the Polish Women's Alliance of America Records, Mollie West Papers, and Imogene and Ruby Martin Papers received conservation treatment and digitization. Below are examples from each of the collections. Items were added to the WLA digital collections in Preservica in December 2020.

[Image: Conusl General Tytus Zbyszewski Testimonial Dinner, 1934, Polish Women's Alliance of America Records]

Founded in 1898, the Polish Women’s Alliance of America (PWA) is a fraternal society that originally focused on the needs of women and their families, as well as the promotion of pride in Polish heritage. This bilingual collection contains correspondence, ledgers, ephemera, publications, and audiovisual materials that document the PWA’s national efforts and local impact. Eight oversized photographs depicting notable gatherings in PWA history were selected for digitization.

[Image: Photo on scrapbook page (West seated 5th from right), 1945, Mollie Lieber West Papers]

The collection of Mollie Lieber West, a Mundelein College alumna, documents the struggles and achievements of women workers in the twentieth century labor union movement. Her collection encompasses her personal and professional life, including scrapbooks. This scrapbook documents West’s activities in 1945, when she served as an American Delegate to the Youth Congress held in London and the World Student Congress in Czechoslovakia. This period of time is largely undocumented in her papers and correspondence; the digitized scrapbook provides insight into a period of her life that has not yet been closely studied.

[Image: 67th Evacuation Hospital, c. 1943, Imogene and Ruby Martin Papers]

Imogene and Ruby Martin were cousins who served overseas as nurses in the U.S. Army during WWII. This photograph was previously rolled and underwent conversation treatment; the newly treated photograph can now be stored and handled more safely. This treatment also allowed for the digitization above. Although this collection remains unprocessed, we hope the images provide a glimpse of what is yet to come.