The collection came to Archives from the Center in the order preserved here. The CWR office kept their records chronologically by academic year then alphabetical within each year. The records were kept by a succession of staff persons, therefore the completeness and organization of each years' records vary. Records for CWR Board of Directors and Steering Committee may not be complete. There was a series of three-ring binders that held the minutes from 1970-80 as well as file folders of minutes within each academic year's records. It is not clear whether the binders or the file folders held complete minutes. Since there were no binders after 1980, and not necessarily file folders of minutes in each year, the minutes from 1980 - 87 are spotty at best. Likewise, records for CWR publications are incomplete. There is a complete run of the OWA Newsletter (1975-77), and the Journal of Women and Religion (1981-88), but the CWR Newsletter (1983-87) is incomplete.

The Center for Women and Religion, the oldest center for women in theological education, was founded in 1970 as the Office of Women's Affairs by Bay Area women in religion, including some GTU women, who recognized "that seminary women at the GTU schools needed a channel, an advocate, an office through which to express their needs and concerns." (CWR Newsletter, Summer 1978, pg. 10) It operated originally out of Unitas, the campus ministry program at the University of California, Berkeley. Soon, OWA became affiliated with the GTU, though the process, complicated by discussions about and differing expectations of funding, sponsorship, and support, was not smooth or simple. By 1977 or 1978, the name was changed to the Center for Women and Religion. For a short period, both names were used for various events and functions. After affiliation with GTU, OWA/CWR had an office at the 2465 LeConte Building (then the administration building for the GTU), expanding later to an office in the GTU Annex at 2452 Virginia and the CWR House at 1730 Scenic.

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection is open for research.