Kate Hillis Boyd's certificate of identification issued by
the War Work Council of the YWCA, September 18, 1919
Kate Hillis Boyd was born May 14, 1885 to Kate (Gordon) and Joseph Fulton Boyd.
After receiving a B.A. from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in 1905, Boyd attended the YWCA National Training School, 1914-15, earning a certificate in the one year course.
Boyd worked as YWCA Student Secretary at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina from 1915 to 1918, then joined the YWCA's war and reconstruction efforts, serving as an Overseas Secretary in Dijon, Tours, and Paris, France from February 1918 to July 1919; and in Brussels, Belgium from October 1919 to October 1921.
On her return to the U.S., Boyd became Secretary for the YWCA Student Foyer for foreign college students in New York City, October 1921 to October 1922. She returned to her native Pennsylvania, taking the position of General Secretary of the Germantown (Pennsylvania) YWCA in September of 1923. In April 1930 she again went overseas, this time to be General Secretary of the YWCA of Manila, Philippine Islands.
From 1934 until her retirement in 1950, Boyd was Assistant Social Dean at the Penn Hall School in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
In addition to her work for the YWCA and Penn Hall School, Boyd was active in the American Association of University Women, Wilson College Alumnae Association, Red Cross, Children's Aid Society, and local women's clubs and Presbyterian churches.
Kate Hillis Boyd died February 26, 1976 in Chambersburg.
The Kate Hillis Boyd Papers consist of .25 linear ft. and are primarily related to her work as an Overseas Secretary for the YWCA of the U.S.A in France and Belgium, 1918-21. There is also a small amount of general biographical material and some materials from her time as General Secretary of the YWCA of Manila, Philippines, 1930-33. Types of materials include typescript correspondence; travel papers and certificates; newspaper articles; memorabilia; and a scrapbook from Boyd's work in Belgium containing printed materials, newspaper clippings, postcards, many photographs, and memorabilia.
The bulk of the papers date from 1918 to 1922 and focus on Boyd's work in France and Belgium during and immediately after World War I. A large portion of this material is a typescript of excerpts from Boyd's letters home to her mother. The first part of the typescript was made by Boyd, circa 1942. Her niece, Cornelia Cree, made the rest of the typescript in 1978, following the style of her aunt's typescript. Cree's correspondence with the YWCA Archivist indicates that the excerpts exclude "personal matters."
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
Copyright ownership of Kate Hillis Boyd's writings is unknown. Copyright to materials authored by persons other than Kate Hillis Boyd 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 to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Kate Hillis Boyd Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
The Kate Hillis Boyd Papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection with the Records of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in 2002. The YWCA received them from Boyd's niece, Cornelia Cree between 1978 and 1982.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, May 2008.
Related materials are in the YWCA of the U.S.A. Records.