Collection

Scanzoni, Letha Dawson Papers

Span Dates: 1963-2019
Bulk Dates:
Volume: 7.25 linear feet (7.25 linear feet; 16 boxes and 2 oversized boxes)

Description

The collection contains Scanzoni's research, publications, correspondence, and EWC/EEWC administrative and conference materials from the 1960s-2010s. Series 1: Writings, 1963 -- 2006 This series contains Scanzoni's research, drafts, publications, and writing-related correspondence from 1963-2009. Materials cover a variety of writing formats, including newspaper articles, gospel tracts, bible study workbooks, sociology textbook entries, journal articles, and full-length manuscripts. Series 2: Evangelical Women's Caucus (EWC/EEWC), 1974 -- 2017 This series contains materials related to Scanzoni's involvement in the activities of the Evangelical Women's Caucus (EWC), renamed the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus (EEWC), since its inception. The bulk of the series is material related to EWC/EEWC conference planning and attendance, including many materials for the years in which Scanzoni served as planning committee chair, 1980 and 1996. Personal correspondence with other EWC/EEWC members is contained in this collection. Series 3: EEWC Update and Website Administration, 1984 -- 2019 The collection contains Scanzoni's research, publications, correspondence, and EWC/EEWC administrative and conference materials from the 1960s-2010s. This collection is arranged in 3 series: Series 1: Writings, 1963-2009; Series 2: Evangelical Women's Caucus, 1974-2017; Series 3: EEWC Update and EEWC Website Administration, 1984-2017 Series I contains correspondence and administrative records relating to Scanzoni's editing and management of EWC/EEWC's periodical Update beginning in [date] and the EEWC website (www.eewc.com) from its launch in 1996 to 2013. This collection also provides access to webcrawls of Scanzoni's personal website, Letha's Calling, and several Chrsitian feminist blogs she co-wrote with other EEWC members.

Hist/Bio Note

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an evangelical feminist activist and writer specializing in topics of gender, marriage, sex education, theology, women's subordination, and lesbian and gay rights. She was a founding member of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus (EWC/EEWC) and editor of EEWC Update and the EEWC-CFT website from their inception to her retirement in 2013. The collection contains her research materials, publications, correspondence, and EWC/EEWC administrative and conference materials. Letha Dawson Scanzoni was born in Pittsburgh in 1935 to a mainline Protestant family. She grew in her faith throughout her childhood, experiencing a religious awakening in high school with an evangelical group that led her to a decision to dedicate her life to Christian ministry. She originally attended Eastman School of Music at University of Rochester (1952-1954) before transferring to the Sacred Music program at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (1954-1956). From 1956-1983 she was married to sociologist John Scanzoni, with whom she co-wrote many academic, popular, and Christian articles and books on the sociology of gender, sexuality, and marriage. During this time she also wrote gospel tracts, bible study workbooks, and parenting articles for presses like Union Gospel Press, the Moody Bible Institute, and the American Sunday-School Union. She received her BA in Religious Studies from Indiana University (1972). In 1974, Dawson Scanzoni became one of the founding members of the Evangelical Women's Caucus, a feminist group that grew out of Evangelicals for Social Action. This coincided with the publication of a controversial book authored by Dawson Scanzoni and Nancy Hardesty, All We're Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women's Liberation. At EWC national conferences from 1975-1986, she and other members pushed for lesbian inclusion in the organization and a gay rights platform, leading to a factionalization of the Caucus and the creation of the more socially conservative Christians for Biblical Equality in 1986. According to EWC/EEWC members, this conflict was precipitated by the publication of Scanzoni's Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? with Virginia Ramey Mollenkott in 1978. She remained a dedicated member of EWC (later EEWC and EEWC-CFT) for forty years, organizing conferences, editing the periodical publication Update, and managing the website until her retirement in 2013. As of 2023, Scanzoni continues to occasionally write and speak about feminism, Christianity, and LGBTQ+ issues

Finding Aid

An online finding aid is available.
https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-ut/ldpd_15490646

Location

This collection is part of the Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship (AWTS) at the Burke Library of Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University, New York.
https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/burke.html

Tags

Author/editor | Evangelical & Ecumenical Women's Caucus | Evangelical | Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey | Women and Religion | Feminism