Founded in 1984, the GFWC Women’s History and Resource Center (WHRC) collects, preserves, interprets, and promotes the history of GFWC. The WHRC documents the social and political contributions of GFWC clubwomen from 1890 to the present through the GFWC archives and related special collections. Our holdings are available for research by clubwomen, academics, and the general public.
The WHRC collections encompass GFWC’s institutional archives, including convention records, files related to our programs and leadership, and “Clubwoman” magazine (and its predecessors). We hold a robust photograph and audio-visual collection, as well as GFWC ephemera, memorabilia, and the art and artifacts that furnish our historic Headquarters building. We also maintain a reference library collection focused on women’s history, the woman’s club movement, and the history of volunteerism.
Please note: While we do have many state- and club-level archival and photographic materials, we do not maintain official records for State Federations or local clubs, or for outside organizations.
WHRC: From the Archives
Freddie Hilp and the GFWC Overseas Unit Welcome back to our new monthly blog series, direct from the…
WHRC: From the Archives
Welcome! Welcome, readers, to our new monthly blog series, direct from the GFWC Women’s History and …
Research at the WHRC
Learn more about the collections, request research assistance, or make an appointment to visit in person. To inquire about a potential donation, please email us with details: whrc@gfwc.org
LEARN MORE Today, the WHRC is thinking of the many, many people affected in ways both large and small by Hurricane Helene. We know that club members are busy working on relief efforts, just as we have done during past disasters. I did a little searching in the archives for prior instances; here, for example, is some information related to GFWC and the deadly Galveston, Texas hurricane in 1900.
In a 1999 history of the Wednesday Club of Galveston, member Marilla W. Peters recounted that her great-grandmother Annie Dallam Masterson, also a member of the club, died in the 1900 storm; despite losses such as this, the Wednesday Club worked hard to help their community. As word got out about the disaster, Texas Federation clubs quickly came to the aid of their fellow Texans, demonstrating "the strength and value of this organization." Dimies T.S. Denison of New York, First Vice President of GFWC, encouraged clubs across the country to contribute 25 cents per member to help with recovery. And national fundraising efforts were reported in the General Federation of Women`s Clubs journal "The Club Woman," where our editor noted with pride that "American generosity is something for which to be glad."
💌From "The Wednesday Club – Beginning our 109th Year," 1999 (CH TX 070): "The club engaged exclusively in literary study except for a period of a few months following the disaster of the 1900 Hurricane that almost destroyed the city and killed 6000 of its citizens. It is now listed as the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. However, it did not destroy the determination of the women of the club who began to sew clothing for the victims within a few months of the storm."
💌From "The Club Woman," January 1901 (MAG 1901.01): "Everyone will be glad to know that up to December tenth, the relief fund for Galveston had reached $1,174,508.53. The disaster was awful, but American generosity is something for which to be glad."
#clubwomeninaction
Today, the WHRC is thinking of the many, many people affected in ways both large and small by Hurricane Helene. We know that club members are busy working on relief efforts, just as we have done during past disasters. I did a little searching in the archives for prior instances; here, for example, is some information related to GFWC and the deadly Galveston, Texas hurricane in 1900.
In a 1999 history of the Wednesday Club of Galveston, member Marilla W. Peters recounted that her great-grandmother Annie Dallam Masterson, also a member of the club, died in the 1900 storm; despite losses such as this, the Wednesday Club worked hard to help their community. As word got out about the disaster, Texas Federation clubs quickly came to the aid of their fellow Texans, demonstrating "the strength and value of this organization." Dimies T.S. Denison of New York, First Vice President of GFWC, encouraged clubs across the country to contribute 25 cents per member to help with recovery. And national fundraising efforts were reported in the General Federation of Women`s Clubs journal "The Club Woman," where our editor noted with pride that "American generosity is something for which to be glad."
💌From "The Wednesday Club – Beginning our 109th Year," 1999 (CH TX 070): "The club engaged exclusively in literary study except for a period of a few months following the disaster of the 1900 Hurricane that almost destroyed the city and killed 6000 of its citizens. It is now listed as the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. However, it did not destroy the determination of the women of the club who began to sew clothing for the victims within a few months of the storm."
💌From "The Club Woman," January 1901 (MAG 1901.01): "Everyone will be glad to know that up to December tenth, the relief fund for Galveston had reached $1,174,508.53. The disaster was awful, but American generosity is something for which to be glad."
#clubwomeninaction
This week, it seems like all of social media is celebrating the arrival of autumn. It`s not my favorite season, but I can appreciate a crisp fall day, an apple cider donut, and some colorful scenery… such as the views that the GFWC Board of Directors were treated to (on paper, anyway) fifty years ago. Ten years before that, select club members enjoyed a "Fall Foliage and Conservation Tour" of New England, with visits to historical sites, national parks and forests, and energy infrastructure. The inimitable Mildred Ahlgren, a former GFWC President (1952-1954) who went on to serve over thirty years as Publicity Director, wrote up the experience in her usual exuberant style, including notes on the fall colors:
"All of this [traveling by motor coach] was going on with our eyes glued to fairyland – we were two weeks early for the height of the color of the trees. But the trees knew we were coming and they baked a cake of myriad indescribable colors – two weeks early!"
📷 Cover of the Board of Directors Meeting program, September 15-18, 1974. The meeting was held in Washington DC, but the programs featured glued-on color postcards featuring Harper`s Ferry, West Virginia.
📷 Cover of Mildred Carlson Ahlgren`s "Report of GFWC Fall Foliage and Conservation Tour, September 18-27, 1964." This image of club members at Gettysburg is the only photo I`ve found so far of this trip; no color photos of the "myriad indescribable colors," alas.
#clubwomeninhistory #fallfoliage
This week, it seems like all of social media is celebrating the arrival of autumn. It`s not my favorite season, but I can appreciate a crisp fall day, an apple cider donut, and some colorful scenery… such as the views that the GFWC Board of Directors were treated to (on paper, anyway) fifty years ago. Ten years before that, select club members enjoyed a "Fall Foliage and Conservation Tour" of New England, with visits to historical sites, national parks and forests, and energy infrastructure. The inimitable Mildred Ahlgren, a former GFWC President (1952-1954) who went on to serve over thirty years as Publicity Director, wrote up the experience in her usual exuberant style, including notes on the fall colors:
"All of this [traveling by motor coach] was going on with our eyes glued to fairyland – we were two weeks early for the height of the color of the trees. But the trees knew we were coming and they baked a cake of myriad indescribable colors – two weeks early!"
📷 Cover of the Board of Directors Meeting program, September 15-18, 1974. The meeting was held in Washington DC, but the programs featured glued-on color postcards featuring Harper`s Ferry, West Virginia.
📷 Cover of Mildred Carlson Ahlgren`s "Report of GFWC Fall Foliage and Conservation Tour, September 18-27, 1964." This image of club members at Gettysburg is the only photo I`ve found so far of this trip; no color photos of the "myriad indescribable colors," alas.
#clubwomeninhistory #fallfoliage
Today is National Voter Registration Day! This "nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to celebrating our democracy"* has been held each September since 2012. Did GFWC anticipate that by a few years (decades)? Absolutely we did!
Check out this delightful 1950 voter registration brochure, for example. "The responsibility is ours," we said, because "we fought for suffrage; now we should exercise our right to vote." We urged our members to "vote in every election…. See that others also vote, and vote with awareness of the importance of what they are doing." (Please note that all of that was in ALL CAPS in the original. We meant business.)
Check your voter registration today at vote.gov!
📃"Women Should Register and Vote," 1947-1950 administration of GFWC President Dorothea Dutcher Buck; Mrs. T.C. Carroll, Chairman, Citizenship Department.
*Quotation from nationalvoterregistrationday.org/about
Today is National Voter Registration Day! This "nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to celebrating our democracy"* has been held each September since 2012. Did GFWC anticipate that by a few years (decades)? Absolutely we did!
Check out this delightful 1950 voter registration brochure, for example. "The responsibility is ours," we said, because "we fought for suffrage; now we should exercise our right to vote." We urged our members to "vote in every election…. See that others also vote, and vote with awareness of the importance of what they are doing." (Please note that all of that was in ALL CAPS in the original. We meant business.)
Check your voter registration today at vote.gov!
📃"Women Should Register and Vote," 1947-1950 administration of GFWC President Dorothea Dutcher Buck; Mrs. T.C. Carroll, Chairman, Citizenship Department.
*Quotation from nationalvoterregistrationday.org/about
WHRC field trip! Yours truly is on vacation in Delaware, so I took the opportunity to visit @gfwc_odessa. Today’s club meeting included an open hearth cooking demo (and tasting!) thanks to @historic_odessa – and I got to tour the museum’s historic houses afterward, to boot. Thank you Carla, Carol, and all the other club members who welcomed me!
WHRC field trip! Yours truly is on vacation in Delaware, so I took the opportunity to visit @gfwc_odessa. Today’s club meeting included an open hearth cooking demo (and tasting!) thanks to @historic_odessa – and I got to tour the museum’s historic houses afterward, to boot. Thank you Carla, Carol, and all the other club members who welcomed me!
Journalist, author, and clubwoman Helen M. Winslow (1851-1938) was editor of the GFWC magazine for many years at the turn of the last century. She also published the "Official Register and Directory of Women`s Clubs in America", an annual volume chock-full of resources for clubwomen: listings of fellow clubs, speakers and presenters, and helpful advertisements…
…including advertisements for Winslow`s own novels (very convenient!) such as "The President of Quex," "Peggy at Spinster Farm," and "A Woman for Mayor." We have a copy of "Quex" here at the WHRC Library, but not her other titles as yet. Scroll to the third slide to see why I`m curious to read "A Woman for Mayor," which somehow manages – according to the blurbs, anyway – to appeal to both suffragettes and to the Mayor of Omaha, who believed that elected office is just for men. (I`ll pop some of these tributes to the book into the comments below.)
What do you think, folks – should I seek out some or all of Winslow`s books, and report back? Any GFWC ESO members want to join me in some historical-novel explorations? And do my IG followers have other woman`s-club-themed fiction I should add to the Library collection and/or my TBR pile?
📄 ad for "The President of Quex" from the 1907 volume of Winslow`s "Official Register"
📘the Register and our copy of the book, reunited
📄 ad for "A Woman for Mayor" from the 1910 "Official Register"
#clubwomeninhistory #arethereanyclubscalledQuexinreallife
Journalist, author, and clubwoman Helen M. Winslow (1851-1938) was editor of the GFWC magazine for many years at the turn of the last century. She also published the "Official Register and Directory of Women`s Clubs in America", an annual volume chock-full of resources for clubwomen: listings of fellow clubs, speakers and presenters, and helpful advertisements…
…including advertisements for Winslow`s own novels (very convenient!) such as "The President of Quex," "Peggy at Spinster Farm," and "A Woman for Mayor." We have a copy of "Quex" here at the WHRC Library, but not her other titles as yet. Scroll to the third slide to see why I`m curious to read "A Woman for Mayor," which somehow manages – according to the blurbs, anyway – to appeal to both suffragettes and to the Mayor of Omaha, who believed that elected office is just for men. (I`ll pop some of these tributes to the book into the comments below.)
What do you think, folks – should I seek out some or all of Winslow`s books, and report back? Any GFWC ESO members want to join me in some historical-novel explorations? And do my IG followers have other woman`s-club-themed fiction I should add to the Library collection and/or my TBR pile?
📄 ad for "The President of Quex" from the 1907 volume of Winslow`s "Official Register"
📘the Register and our copy of the book, reunited
📄 ad for "A Woman for Mayor" from the 1910 "Official Register"
#clubwomeninhistory #arethereanyclubscalledQuexinreallife
This Labor Day weekend, don`t forget the holiday`s history! Labor Day is older than you might think; it was recognized by several states by the 1880s, and named a national holiday by Congress in 1894. Countless women and men contributed to labor reform during that era, including – no surprise! – many General Federation of Women`s Clubs leaders such as the woman shown here, Ellen Martin Henrotin of Chicago.
Labor issues, particularly those facing women, were a major concern for Henrotin throughout her life. She was GFWC`s second President, serving from 1894 to 1898, but that was only one of her many leadership roles, and she went on to serve as President of the Women`s Trade Union League 1903-1907. In 1907 she worked with Jane Addams – another GFWC clubwoman – on the Chicago Industrial Exhibit, intended to showcase the progress of women`s labor (which, thanks to a strike by women working in the exhibit itself who objected to the way their work was portrayed, became its own artifact of labor history).
#Clubwomeninhistory #laborday
This Labor Day weekend, don`t forget the holiday`s history! Labor Day is older than you might think; it was recognized by several states by the 1880s, and named a national holiday by Congress in 1894. Countless women and men contributed to labor reform during that era, including – no surprise! – many General Federation of Women`s Clubs leaders such as the woman shown here, Ellen Martin Henrotin of Chicago.
Labor issues, particularly those facing women, were a major concern for Henrotin throughout her life. She was GFWC`s second President, serving from 1894 to 1898, but that was only one of her many leadership roles, and she went on to serve as President of the Women`s Trade Union League 1903-1907. In 1907 she worked with Jane Addams – another GFWC clubwoman – on the Chicago Industrial Exhibit, intended to showcase the progress of women`s labor (which, thanks to a strike by women working in the exhibit itself who objected to the way their work was portrayed, became its own artifact of labor history).
#Clubwomeninhistory #laborday
Happy #womensequalityday! In the early 1970s, August 26th was designated in the United States as Women`s Equality Day, commemorating both the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment and the Women`s Strike for Equality, which took place on this day in 1970. It`s a great day to learn more about the history of American women and their fight for equal rights.
We`ll get you started with this fun (?) fact: the General Federation of Women`s Clubs did not officially endorse women`s suffrage until 1914, after decades of often heated debate and discussion. Still, many members were actively working in favor of suffrage long before GFWC made it official, as this news item from our "General Federation Bulletin" of October 1911 makes clear.
For our readers in historic clubs, did your members largely work in favor of suffrage, or did it take time to come around to the idea? Did you or any of your foremothers participate in the 1970 protest? Let us know in the comments, or drop a line to us at whrc@gfwc.org!
📖 "A Suffrage Convention" held in Valley Falls, New York, September 1911. Many New York State Federation members participated, including State President Mary Garrett Hay.
#clubwomeninhistory
Happy #womensequalityday! In the early 1970s, August 26th was designated in the United States as Women`s Equality Day, commemorating both the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment and the Women`s Strike for Equality, which took place on this day in 1970. It`s a great day to learn more about the history of American women and their fight for equal rights.
We`ll get you started with this fun (?) fact: the General Federation of Women`s Clubs did not officially endorse women`s suffrage until 1914, after decades of often heated debate and discussion. Still, many members were actively working in favor of suffrage long before GFWC made it official, as this news item from our "General Federation Bulletin" of October 1911 makes clear.
For our readers in historic clubs, did your members largely work in favor of suffrage, or did it take time to come around to the idea? Did you or any of your foremothers participate in the 1970 protest? Let us know in the comments, or drop a line to us at whrc@gfwc.org!
📖 "A Suffrage Convention" held in Valley Falls, New York, September 1911. Many New York State Federation members participated, including State President Mary Garrett Hay.
#clubwomeninhistory
The GFWC Board of Directors is holding the August meeting here in DC, and unsurprisingly I spotted a few familiar faces as I walked from the Metro to the conference hotel… more surprisingly, one of them was Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)!
Howe`s portrait is sculpted into one of eight vintage callboxes that now serve as a Women in History walking tour, curated by the DowntownDC Business Improvement District and historian Mara Cherkasky, with works by sculptor Charles Bergen and Marion Barry Summer Jobs Program interns.
This image of a young Julia Ward Howe commemorates her time in DC during the Civil War, when – inspired by Union troops singing a popular tune of the day – she wrote her most famous work, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Swipe to see a photo from our collection showing her some thirty years later, in the early days of GFWC. Howe co-founded the New England Woman`s Club in 1868, and was an honorary member of Sorosis of New York, founded that same year. Active in the first decades of GFWC, she was a treasured leader; when, aged 89, she attended the 1908 GFWC convention, she was greeted with a standing ovation.
📷 Photo of the Julia Ward Howe callbox at 14th and F Streets, NW, Washington DC, taken this morning by yours truly.
📷 Photograph of Julia Ward Howe of Boston, Massachusetts, from a book featuring original prints of many early GFWC leaders, circa 1894. WHRC 1894.001.1
Thanks to https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/1036 for the easy research this morning when I wanted to know why Julia was part of my walk!
@downtowndcbid
@dcpresleague
#clubwomeninhistory #womenshistoryisamericanhistory
The GFWC Board of Directors is holding the August meeting here in DC, and unsurprisingly I spotted a few familiar faces as I walked from the Metro to the conference hotel… more surprisingly, one of them was Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)!
Howe`s portrait is sculpted into one of eight vintage callboxes that now serve as a Women in History walking tour, curated by the DowntownDC Business Improvement District and historian Mara Cherkasky, with works by sculptor Charles Bergen and Marion Barry Summer Jobs Program interns.
This image of a young Julia Ward Howe commemorates her time in DC during the Civil War, when – inspired by Union troops singing a popular tune of the day – she wrote her most famous work, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Swipe to see a photo from our collection showing her some thirty years later, in the early days of GFWC. Howe co-founded the New England Woman`s Club in 1868, and was an honorary member of Sorosis of New York, founded that same year. Active in the first decades of GFWC, she was a treasured leader; when, aged 89, she attended the 1908 GFWC convention, she was greeted with a standing ovation.
📷 Photo of the Julia Ward Howe callbox at 14th and F Streets, NW, Washington DC, taken this morning by yours truly.
📷 Photograph of Julia Ward Howe of Boston, Massachusetts, from a book featuring original prints of many early GFWC leaders, circa 1894. WHRC 1894.001.1
Thanks to https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/1036 for the easy research this morning when I wanted to know why Julia was part of my walk!
@downtowndcbid
@dcpresleague
#clubwomeninhistory #womenshistoryisamericanhistory
Yesterday, August 18th, marked 104 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified. In the September 1920 issue of the "General Federation Bulletin" (equivalent to our modern "Clubwoman" magazine) GFWC President Alice Ames Winter wrote a front-page article urging members to make use of their enfranchisement wisely, thoughtfully, and without neglecting down-ballot contests. "American Citizenship is ours," she wrote, but "we must know its meaning."
#Clubwomeninhistory #suffragehistory
Yesterday, August 18th, marked 104 years since the 19th Amendment was ratified. In the September 1920 issue of the "General Federation Bulletin" (equivalent to our modern "Clubwoman" magazine) GFWC President Alice Ames Winter wrote a front-page article urging members to make use of their enfranchisement wisely, thoughtfully, and without neglecting down-ballot contests. "American Citizenship is ours," she wrote, but "we must know its meaning."
#Clubwomeninhistory #suffragehistory
Our reference library contains many guidebooks from the early days of club work – delightful historic artifacts to us today, but of course these were originally up-to-date books filled with helpful info from the days before "just google it" was possible. We have several volumes dedicated specifically to program topics, designed for the women who might find themselves out of ideas for next month`s meeting and Gladys said she`ll quit the club if we have to talk about Ethel`s favorite Shakespeare play again, so come up with something new, Belinda! Better write to GFWC HQ for suggestions!
📙"Woman`s Club Work and Programs, or, First Aid to Club Women," Caroline French Benton, 1913. Program ideas here include everything from studies of history and other nations to "Forestry," "Ten American Women Writers," "The Employment of Women," and "Important Movements of Our Times."
#clubwomeninhistory #havegavelwillpreside
Our reference library contains many guidebooks from the early days of club work – delightful historic artifacts to us today, but of course these were originally up-to-date books filled with helpful info from the days before "just google it" was possible. We have several volumes dedicated specifically to program topics, designed for the women who might find themselves out of ideas for next month`s meeting and Gladys said she`ll quit the club if we have to talk about Ethel`s favorite Shakespeare play again, so come up with something new, Belinda! Better write to GFWC HQ for suggestions!
📙"Woman`s Club Work and Programs, or, First Aid to Club Women," Caroline French Benton, 1913. Program ideas here include everything from studies of history and other nations to "Forestry," "Ten American Women Writers," "The Employment of Women," and "Important Movements of Our Times."
#clubwomeninhistory #havegavelwillpreside
Did you know that the iconic cat-eye glasses frame was designed by an American woman in the 1930s, and its popularity is sometimes credited with revitalizing the eyewear industry? It helped turned a utilitarian (and often denigrated) tool into a desirable accessory, especially for women; fashionable specs like these helped glasses-needing women function, stylishly, at the top of their game.
Our photo collection shows that many clubwomen chose a cat-eye look in the mid 20th century, as fashion dictated: getting their work done while sporting bright colors, fanciful shapes, and even rhinestones.
👓Katie Ozbirn, GFWC President 1960-1962. Statement glasses – often in a cat-eye shape – were Ozbirn’s signature accessory.
👓Virginia M. Dougherty, GFWC New York President 1962-1964.
👓Jessie June Flanagan Magee (left), GFWC President 1968-1970, with two unidentified women, 1967.
👓Katie Ozbirn again.
👓Mary Edel Denman, clubwoman from Calipatria, California.
👓Pearl Colbaugh Crossett, GFWC New Mexico President 1958-1960.
👓Jean M. Evans, clubwoman from Colorado.
👓You guessed it: Katie Ozbirn again! She’s with Madame Edith von Donat Platzer, wife of the Austrian Ambassador, at an event in 1960.
#clubwomeninaction #clubwomeninfashion
#internationalcatday but taken in a slightly different direction
Did you know that the iconic cat-eye glasses frame was designed by an American woman in the 1930s, and its popularity is sometimes credited with revitalizing the eyewear industry? It helped turned a utilitarian (and often denigrated) tool into a desirable accessory, especially for women; fashionable specs like these helped glasses-needing women function, stylishly, at the top of their game.
Our photo collection shows that many clubwomen chose a cat-eye look in the mid 20th century, as fashion dictated: getting their work done while sporting bright colors, fanciful shapes, and even rhinestones.
👓Katie Ozbirn, GFWC President 1960-1962. Statement glasses – often in a cat-eye shape – were Ozbirn’s signature accessory.
👓Virginia M. Dougherty, GFWC New York President 1962-1964.
👓Jessie June Flanagan Magee (left), GFWC President 1968-1970, with two unidentified women, 1967.
👓Katie Ozbirn again.
👓Mary Edel Denman, clubwoman from Calipatria, California.
👓Pearl Colbaugh Crossett, GFWC New Mexico President 1958-1960.
👓Jean M. Evans, clubwoman from Colorado.
👓You guessed it: Katie Ozbirn again! She’s with Madame Edith von Donat Platzer, wife of the Austrian Ambassador, at an event in 1960.
#clubwomeninaction #clubwomeninfashion
#internationalcatday but taken in a slightly different direction
Just a late-summer vibe from the GFWC art collection.
🎨 "In Summer Hills," by William Forsyth (1854-1935). Forsyth belonged to the "Hoosier Group," a group of five Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for their Indiana landscapes. He was a founding member of the Society of Western Artists in 1895 that strived to recognize art produced in the region.
The clubwomen of Indiana raised funds to purchase this work, and the Indiana Federation donated it to GFWC Headquarters in 1928.
Just a late-summer vibe from the GFWC art collection.
🎨 "In Summer Hills," by William Forsyth (1854-1935). Forsyth belonged to the "Hoosier Group," a group of five Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for their Indiana landscapes. He was a founding member of the Society of Western Artists in 1895 that strived to recognize art produced in the region.
The clubwomen of Indiana raised funds to purchase this work, and the Indiana Federation donated it to GFWC Headquarters in 1928.