AAUW State College celebrates a century of advancing equity for women

Four years before women were able to vote in the United States, and decades before the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, a small group met in State College and formed what would become the local branch of the American Association of University Women.

Their mission — equity for women and girls — remains the same for today’s members of AAUW State College.

“The priorities changed through time but the goal of improving the lives of women and children has always been the same,” said Jackie Esposito, a longtime branch member and past president.

This year, AAUW State College marks 100 years since the first branch meeting of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, which merged with the national AAUW organization in 1921. To celebrate, a centennial celebration committee has planned a year’s worth of events.

“It has been really enlightening to serve as centennial co-chair,” Connie Schroeder said. “The members who came before us paved the way for where we are today, and I feel inspired by their example.”

The big kickoff is Feb. 14 with a Centennial Archives Roadshow program at the Nittany Lion Inn.

“As we looked to the 100th anniversary, we knew we wanted to use this time to celebrate all of the kinds of activities that have gone on, and also to use this as an opportunity to help people in this day and age find out what the AAUW is doing to support women and girls,” AAUW State College co-president Billie Willits said.

A story told in archives

Through a century of AAUW State College advocacy, education, philanthropy and research, 88-year-old Louise Tukey has seen more than half of it. She remembers why she became a member in 1951 — she was new in town and wanted to find a way to volunteer, she said — but she doesn’t quite recall how she became branch historian. In any case, her State College home has acquired the lion’s share of the branch’s archives — 26 file drawers that keep safe everything from meeting minutes to book sale records, newspaper clippings, handbooks, letters and photos.

“Everything is in my basement, along with three fire extinguishers,” Tukey said.

Many items from Tukey’s collection will be on display at the Feb. 14 Archives Roadshow event, and others have been and will continue to be exhibited in the coming months at rotating locations across the county. The material, which was also used to craft an extensive centennial celebration history booklet compiled by Tukey and Esposito, tells a story so layered that even longtime members have learned new things about their history.

For example, Willits was surprised to see a note in the archives from Marie Curie in 1921. In it, the French scientist thanks the branch for a donation to her research on radioactivity. In those early days, members supported international, national and local issues. They lobbied then-Pennsylvania State College to improve facilities such as restrooms for women students, established a program of high school awards, and supported troops engaged in World War I by knitting socks for sailors, procuring supplies for the Boalsburg military camp and more.

“It’s an organization that has many tentacles,” former President Sally Kalin said.

During the Great Depression, the branch helped provide a community safety net, including child care. During World War II, members bought war bonds and later formed an Ex-GI Nursery School.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the branch established an International Fellowship Grant for women university graduates of foreign countries to study in the U.S., supported the new Schlow Centre Region Library, established a monthly radio program and more.

“For me, going through the history mostly makes me proud that women locally have been involved in so many endeavors over the years, and that it continues,” Willits said.

In their own words

As part of the centennial, Esposito conducted a series of oral history interviews with 10 former AAUW State College presidents. Some of them, Esposito said, were the “rabble-rousers,” the women who worked tirelessly to make a difference in the community. E-tu Zen Sun, AAUW State College president from 1959-61, recalled walking out of a local bank after the teller discouraged her from opening a personal account.

“I think women have come a long, long way since I came to State College in the 1950s,” she said.

“In the old days, we had some who really didn’t know whether equity was going to be good for them or not,” said Marjorie Dunaway, president from 1969-71. “Or maybe their husbands told them it wasn’t the thing to do.”

The interviews have been posted on the branch’s centennial website and excerpts are sprinkled in the pages of the history book.

“The narratives are really important to me as an archivist, as a historian,” said Esposito, who is the university archivist at Penn State. “It’s important that people remember that there was a time when these things didn’t exist and people had to stand up.”

A lasting effect and continued work

The AAUW is probably best known in the community not for more than $270,000 in scholarships the branch has given to returning adult women students, or for its recent science, technology, engineering and math initiatives in schools, but for its Used Book Sale. Now held at the Snider Agricultural Arena after outgrowing several earlier venues, it’s a sale of epic proportions, attracting thousands of visitors who browse more than 150 tables of books each spring.

The branch held its first book sale in 1962 as a way to make money, said Tukey, who has been involved in every sale and its now almost year-round preparations.

“We made $159 (the first year) and we thought, ‘this really beats selling steak knives and having flea markets and all that,’ ” she said. “Each year from then on we got bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Other AAUW branches run book sales, but State College’s is particularly successful, having literally written the book on the sales. That was in 1983, when it put out a resource that other branches have used.　

In recent years, the sale has made upward of $100,000 — money that goes back to the community by way of scholarships or grants to local organizations that apply. Since 1965, the branch has awarded more than $1 million to local groups that in some way reflect their mission.

“We sometimes feel like a mini-United Way because we give away so much money,” Tukey said.

One of the organizations that has received grants from the AAUW State College over the years is the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, and Executive Director Anne Ard said the support has been critical to the center’s work.

“AAUW’s focus on the education of girls and women dovetails beautifully with the work the CCWRC does in schools and the community,” Ard said. “With AAUW financial support, we’ve been able to strengthen our work with middle and high school students to help those students build the skills and awareness they need to develop healthy dating and adult relationships, and hopefully prevent sexual and domestic/dating violence.”

Today, Willits said there are 152 AAUW State College members, with new members always welcome. While the branch has put much time and effort into the events surrounding its milestone year, work continues on the book sale — held May 14-17 — as well as the scholarship program, STEM programming and other activities. Into the next year, the branch will also focus heavily on voter awareness, Willits said.

But first, members are looking forward to the Feb. 14 Archives Roadshow celebration of the branch’s history and a trip down memory lane.

“I’ve been a member a long time, and I’m proud to be a member,” Kalin said. “When people ask me what I’m involved with, it’s the first thing I say because (AAUW State College) has left tracks in the community.”

For more information on State College AAUW visit, www.aauwstatecollege.org or www.aauwsc100years.com.　　

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 12:28 PM with the headline "AAUW State College celebrates a century of advancing equity for women."