ABSTRACT
The legacy of Sophia Smith, a Hatfield, Massachusetts spinster of abundant means, founded Smith College in 1875 to insure that intellectually able young women could secure an education fully comparable to that available, then, to men. More than a century later, Smith College is the largest privately endowed college for women in the world. It is not surprising therefore, that one of its major scholarly commitments has long been to collect and to preserve carefully the records of many thousands of women’s lives. Given this objective, two distinguished archives of women’s history have gradually evolved. While their mission was identical, their composition clearly differed.
