mnsss38 Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey Papers, 1909-1988 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Brooke Trent. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College

Northampton, MA

2003

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-06-05 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mnsss38 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey Papers, 1909-1988 Finding Aid MS 292 Brooke Trent 1995 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Lackey, Ina Ruth Hillis, 1909-1999 Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey Papers1909-1988 1909-1988 MS 292 1 box (.5 linear ft.) Sophia Smith Collection

Smith College Northampton, MA

YWCA overseas secretary, YWCA official, USO regional director. Papers document some of her YWCA work, primarily in Brazil, and include circular letters sent annually to friends and relatives plus photographs of YWCA activities. English. Biographical Note 1909 Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma 1928 A.B. cum laude Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, major in Spanish, minor in education 1936-1942 Director of Social Work, Peoples' Central Institute, Methodist Board of Missions, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1936 M.A. Scarritt College, Nashville, Tennessee, religious education and social work 1942-1943 Postgraduate studies, Union Seminary and Teachers' College, Columbia University 1943-1945 Regional Supervisor, USO, Recife and environs, Brazil 1946-1958 Advisory Secretary, YWCA, Recife, Brazil 1958 Associate Executive Director, YWCA, Akron, Ohio 1959-1964 Executive Director, YWCA, Corpus Christi, Texas 1964-1968 Consultant, YWCA, Recife, Brazil, developing a social center; consultant, Governor of Pernambuco State, Brazil, opening day nurseries; assistant to the Director, Catholic Relief Services, northeast Brazil 1968-1972 Executive Director, YWCA, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1972-1975 Executive Director, YWCA, Racine, Wisconsin 1975- Various retirement activities, Niagara Falls, New York, Maceio, Brazil, and Albuquerque, including chairman, Task Force on Aging, New Mexico Conference of Churches (1984-85) 1999 Died March 1st Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey papers consist of 5 linear inches of correspondence and biographical material, including clippings and photographs. The inclusive dates are 1909 to 1988, the major part spanning from the last year (1957) of her twelve year tenure as YWCA secretary in Racife, Brazil, to 1988, when she donated the papers.

Ina Ruth Lackey at "ACF Social Center Festo," Y.W.C.A. center (most likely in Reclife, Brazil), 1971

The papers are divided into two series, CORRESPONDENCE and BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL. The CORRESPONDENCE section contains 5 letters, 1958-1969, to and from Hillis Lackey related to her work in Recife; a letter describing her life and philosophy of service (1987); a letter to the Collection after donating the papers (1988); and, primarily, circular letters sent by her once or twice a year between 1975 and 1988 to friends and family members (200 of them, she estimates in one of the letters) to update them on her personal life, travel and retirement plans, and post-retirement activities, voluntary and paid. There are 33 of these letters, since most had both an English and a Portuguese version. The letters portray a vigorous woman in her 60s and 70s for whom retirement is an extension of her YWCA career in the service of those in need--in her family, her church, and the communities in which she has lived.

The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL contains 17 clippings (4 in Portuguese) spanning from 1959, when Ruth Hillis became executive director of the Corpus Christi YWCA, to 1984, when she was retired and living in Albuquerque. The clippings are primarily about her appointment to and tenure in YWCA directorships in Corpus Christi, Albuquerque, and Racine, and about a stint in Brazil in 1964, when she developed and opened a community center in a particularly impoverished section of Recife.

Also in the BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL are the photograph album, well annotated by Mrs. Lackey, mainly with pictures from the Racife community center but with a few of other YWCA personnel in Corpus Christi and South America; a 1967 Peace Corps application with references; and a dossier she prepared in 1986.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into two series:

I. Correspondence II. Biographical Material Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to unpublished works of Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA

Additions to the Collection

Periodic additions to collection are expected

History of the Collection

The Ina Ruth Hillis Lackey papers were a gift of Ms. Lackey in 1988.

Processed by Brooke Trent, 1992.

Search Terms Brazil--Description and Travel--Sources Lackey, Ina Ruth Hillis, 1909- Young Women's Christian Association--South America Young Women's Christian Association National Board Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A. SERIES I. CORRESPONDENCE 1 1 Incoming and Outgoing, 1958, 1968-69 1 2 Circular letters (English and Portuguese), 1975-88 1 3 Outgoing, 1987-88 SERIES II. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL 1 4 Dossier, 1909-86 1 5 Peace Corps application and references, 1967 1 6 Clippings (English and Portuguese), 1959-84 1 7 History of YWCA, Recife, Brazil, by Ruth Hillis, 1958 1 8 Photograph album (bulk is Brazil, 1957-71)