Lilian Sharpley was born on March 22, 1901 to Arthur Croft and Thomas "Tommie" Stone Sharpley. After attending the Alabama Girls Technical Institute and College for Women (now the University of Montevallo) for two years, Sharpley transferred to Auburn University in Birmingham, Alabama, as a junior in 1921. Sharpley first joined the Young Women's Christian Association at Auburn, serving as the University YWCA's president in her senior year (1922-23).
Sharpley took a job as Business and Professional program Secretary at the Baltimore, Maryland, YWCA from January 1933 through fall 1936, then moved to the national YWCA Business and Professional program staff. Between 1936 and 1944, Sharpley worked on a masters degree at Columbia while continuing her job, often part time, for the YWCA. She completed her M.A. in political science in 1944, writing her thesis on "Married Women at Work."
After World War II, the YWCA reduced and eventually eliminated its "constitutent group" work, including the Business and Professional program. Sharpley stayed with the YWCA, working as Executive Director of the Uptown Branch of the New York City YWCA (1947-49), then returning to the national staff in the Young Adult Program (1949-51). After a four-month stint as a women's affairs specialist in Germany in the summer of 1951, Sharpley returned to the national YWCA staff in Leadership Services (1952-54). She was Executive Director of the Baltimore YWCA from 1951-58.
Lilian Sharpley died in October of 1983. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Jefferson, Alabama.
The Lilian Sharpley Papers consist of .5 linear ft. and are primarily related to her research on the history of the YWCA's work with business and professional women. Types of materials include research notes, an oral history, photographs, and writings.
Sharpley's research on the history of the business and professional work includes an unfinished typescript history, correspondence, notes on conversations with Business and Professional program participants, copies of pertinent documents from the YWCA records, and an audiotaped oral history with Elsie West of the Business and Professional Council.
The Papers also contain a microfilm copy of Sharpley's 1944 thesis "Married Women at Work" and research notes on the unionization of national YWCA staff.
The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection without any additional restrictions.
Copyright ownership of Lilian Sharpley's writings is unknown. Copyright to materials authored by persons other than Lilian Sharpley 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:
Lilian Sharpley Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass
The Lilian Sharpley Papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection with the Records of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in 2002. They were donated to the YWCA by Sharpley's friend Norma Sims in 1985.
Processed by Maida Goodwin, 2009
Related materials in the Sophia Smith Collection are in the