About this collection:

➤ In 1921, members of the Wheeling Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and other active community members created the Blue Triangle Branch to serve and protect Black women and girls in Wheeling. Some of the founding members included Mrs. Sarah Robinson, Mrs. Mindel, Mrs. Mary Banks, and Miss Mary L. McMechen. Miss Escobeda Sarreals was the first executive director from April 1921 to October 1922. The Blue Triangle Branch officially opened on June 21, 1921 at 1041 Chapline Street. In 1926, the Blue Triangle Branch moved to 1035 Chapline Street, and finally in 1943, moved to 108 12th Street. Blue Triangle committees included Management, Religious Education, Inter-racial, Education, Hospitality & Room Registry, Finance, World Fellowship, Girl Reserve/Y-Teen, and other temporary committees. One of the Blue Triangle’s most prolific committees was its Inter-racial Committee that worked to encourage interracial cooperation in Wheeling and advocated for racial equality and civil rights across the country.

After the 1954 US Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, mandated public school desegregation, the Blue Triangle Branch decided to reintegrate into the central Wheeling Young Women’s Christian Association chapter in June 1956.

The collection consists of the records of the Blue Triangle Branch of the Wheeling Young Women’s Christian Association from 1921-1956, with the exception of sheet music from 1910-1949. The bulk of the collection is from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. The records include committee records and reports, annual and monthly reports, statistical reports, and financial information. The collection also includes correspondence, meeting information, surveys and questionnaires, election material, newspaper clippings, personnel information, by-laws and constitutions, and histories of the Blue Triangle and the Black Wheeling community. There is also sheet music and a small number of photographs, stationary, a 1922 yearbook, and miscellaneous ephemera, flyers, and programs.

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