The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Mount Holyoke College was established in October, 1893 to encourage the development of Christian character in its members and the prosecution of active Christian work both on and off campus. It was modeled after similar organizations in the United States and Great Britain and affiliated with the national YWCA of the United States. Students, faculty, and alumnae could belong to the organization and members engaged in a wide range of religious, educational, and social activities. On campus, members of the group met for regular Bible study and devotional classes, conducted prayer meetings and services of worship, and sponsored lectures and talks by ministers, missionaries, and social reformers. They collected funds to support the work of missionaries ((particularly alumnae) as well as teachers and social reformers and they worked closely with members of the Student Volunteer Band, another Mount Holyoke organization comprised of students interested in engaging in becoming missionaries. From 1897-1934, the YWCA published a handbook for new students and members organized a variety of student receptions and frolics . In 1917, YWCA members assisted maids who worked at the College by helping them find summer jobs and arranging various forms of entertainment for these women. The organization established a social and industrial issues committee in 1920 to study child labor, disarmament, and other topics and in 1925 set up a Commuter's Club for day students at Mount Holyoke.
Off campus, members participated in several kinds of extension work . They visited shut-ins in South Hadley, held religious programs and Sunday school services for town residents, and provided financial help and entertainment to individuals living at the town's poor farm. Students assisted women in Holyoke, Massachusetts (many of them factory employees) by conducting Bible study, English language, sewing, cooking, music, drama and gymnasium classes and providing wholesome forms of amusements at the YWCA facility and the Skinner Coffeehouse, both located in Holyoke. Classes and field trips were also provided for children. In addition, members participated in YWCA conferences held at Silver Bay, New York and elsewhere.
The YWCA was the largest and most active student organization at Mount Holyoke from its inception until World War I. Membership declined after the war because of the proliferation of other student organizations at the College and a waning of interest in missionary work and religion on the part of many students and alumnae. In 1934/1935, after conducting an extensive review of religious life at the College, Mount Holyoke's administration replaced the YWCA with a new organization called the Fellowship of Faiths.
From the guide to the Young Women's Christian Association (Mount Holyoke College) Records 25. 3. 6., 1893-1935, (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)
