Title: Administrative Records of the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario
Series: 528/1 Winnipeg Unit of the Fellowship of Professional Women
Dates: 1949 – 1980
Extent: 10 cm textual records
Finding Aid: The Finding Aid includes File Description and Box Lists.
Historic Note
The Fellowship of Professional Women in The United Church of Canada (also known as the Fellowship of Professional Women Workers) was formed between 1938 and 1939 to bring together women in full-time employment within the United Church. Women workers held a variety of positions, most common were missionaries (domestic and foreign), educators, nurses, doctors, religious education directors and institutional administrative staff such as executive secretaries. Parallel to the Fellowship was the Deaconess Association of the United Church of Canada, but some Deaconesses belonged to both Associations. It is uncertain when a Winnipeg Unit, which functioned as the Conference level of the Association, was formed. In 1963, the national Fellowship of Professional Women joined with the national Deaconess Association (formed in 1926 from the Presbyterian and Methodist Associations) to create the Fellowship of Deaconesses and Other Women Workers. This association was in turn dissolved in 1971 with the formation of The Association of Professional Church Workers (APCW), an association of men and women working in a professional capacity in the Anglican and United Churches. It does not appear, however, that the Winnipeg Unit conformed to this pattern as records show that the Winnipeg Fellowship of Professional Women continued to function at least until 1980. The APCW ceased operations in 1987, directing its members to Diakonia of the United Church, formed in 1984, and the Anglican Lay Ministry Group. The location of surviving records for a Manitoba Conference Deaconess Association has not yet been determined.
According to the Constitution of the Fellowship of Professional Women in The United Church of Canada officers of a local unit included the Past President, President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary and Corresponding Secretary. In areas where membership was small, two or more offices might be combined.
Scope and Content
Surviving records of the Manitoba Unit of the Fellowship of Professional Women date from 1949 and include Minutes, 1949-1975; Constitution, 1956-1965; Membership Lists, 1949-1980; Minutes of the National Executive, 1958-1959; Records of Proceedings of the joint National Conference of the Fellowship of Professional Women and the Deaconess Association, 1955-1967; and Deaconess Order Materials, 1961-1965.
Related Records
See Diakonia of the United Church Fonds in this repository. See Fellowship of Deaconesses and Other Women Workers Fonds in the holdings of the General Council Archives of The United Church of Canada for reports of the Conference Deaconess Association, 1926-1963, and reports of the Conference Fellowship of Professional Women, 1942-1963.