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2023 No. 1 (February)
WHRC COMMITTEE & STAFF
Chairman: Celene Post
Committee Members: Mary Kaye Ernest, Carla Pyle
International President: Deb Strahanoski
WHRC Librarian: Joanna Church
New Online Access to WHRC Collections
The Women’s History and Resource Center collections have migrated to two new public platforms, allowing you to access photos, archival material, artifacts, ephemera, and reference books from the comfort of your own home!
The majority of our materials are on the familiar, but newly upgraded, PastPerfect database. (If you’ve ever clicked the “Search the Collections” button from the WHRC page, you’ve used this great resource.) The improved version allows for faster updates when new materials come in or more thorough cataloging has been done. Each record includes a “Feedback” option in the top right corner, and the thumbnail images include an “Image Request” form in the bottom right of the pop-out window; use these to contact us for more information.
Our reference library collection – which includes the State and Local Club Histories – is now on a platform designed for small libraries like ours: TinyCat. (Book collectors out there may be familiar with its underlying database, LibraryThing.) Please note: This is an early version of the catalog, and we know that there’s room for improvement! You might even notice the “QC needed” tags on many entries. Importing our old library catalog into the new database led to some information gaps, but there’s enough here to aid researchers even while we work on the necessary quality control. If you have questions or comments about a particular work (remember, we’re a non-circulating library), please click “Ask About This Item” to let us know, or reach out to us at whrc@gfwc.org.
Both databases can be found on the WHRC homepage (and are linked above), but here are the URLs if you want to bookmark them:
https://www.librarycat.org/lib/GFWC
https://gfwc.catalogaccess.com/
Women’s History Month 2023 – In-Person and Virtual Celebrations
This year’s GFWC Women’s History Month theme is “Portraying Women’s Strength,” playing off our newly refreshed International Presidential Portrait Gallery spaces here at Headquarters. GFWC is delighted to announce Dr. Mindy Farmer, historian, of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (NPG) as guest speaker. As a member of the NPG history department, Dr. Farmer conducts research, proposes exhibitions, writes biographies of subjects in the museum collection, and develops programming for PORTAL, the gallery’s scholarly center. Registration for the event is now open. Please note that the event is in-person at GFWC Headquarters and limited to the first 100 attendees. For those who can’t make it, look for coverage in the Summer issue of Clubwoman magazine.
But that’s not all! For our virtual celebration, we’ll rely on social media. Starting next Monday and running through the end of March, WHRC will “take over” the GFWC Facebook and Instagram with Women’s History posts. We’ll share highlights from the collections, staff picks, and other links and resources. We hope you’ll enjoy these posts, whether you’re recognizing old favorites and heroines, or learning about an amazing woman you’ve never heard of before.
GFWC State Federation Anniversary Celebration: National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the Philippines
Submitted by Kathryn Sowers, International Liaisons Committee, Chairman
Congratulations to the National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the Philippines (founded 1921) on their 100th Anniversary (+ 2 years) Celebration!
President Linda Gonzalez of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the Philippines (NFWC) reports, “We, the Officers and Members of the club, celebrated our Centennial Anniversary on September 15, 2021. Since we could not celebrate it on the day itself last year, February 5, 2021 and neither earlier this year because of COVID, we decided to celebrate ‘PERFECT SCORE AND MORE’ on September 15 of this year, the 85th year since President Manuel L. Quezon signed the Law on Women Suffrage, witnessed by our Honorary National President, Mrs. Aurora Aragon Quezon, NFWC President Pilar Hidalgo Lim and the other officers and members who worked for its approval during the plebiscite. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines approved a marker to be installed at the Quezon Heritage House in Quezon City, on the above date.
“At the unveiling of the Centennial Marker, the club awarded mementos to the heirs of Past National Presidents and Suffragettes. After the ceremony, members proceeded to the headquarters in Manila, to join the women of affiliated clubs from different regions for a brief Blessing and Ribbon Cutting ceremony on the upgrades completed in the headquarters — the new NFWC (mini) Library, Board Lounge and our newly refurbished Office — at the second floor of the building.
“The Club then held its 45th Biennial Convention at the Pandango Hall of The Manila Hotel, with the theme “NFWC 101 Anniversary – PERFECT SCORE AND MORE!”
Photo Credit: Andre Ryan Maceda. The marker reads: In this place, 5 February 1921, about 300 women’s clubs in the country gathered for a national meeting and established the National Federation of Women’s Clubs of the Philippines to lead civic, charitable, and social activities for the benefit of women and children. Incorporated on 21 September 1921.
GFWC Club Collection Highlight
By Joanna Church, WHRC Librarian
The year 1923 saw the opening of many clubhouses, as the woman’s club movement enjoyed a decade of prosperity and expansion. Some, like the Woman’s Club of Upper Montclair (NJ), continue to be enjoyed by their members and are enjoying their centennial; others are still standing but have been repurposed. A few are no longer in existence, but thankfully we have records here that help tell their story. One such is the clubhouse of the Tuesday Afternoon Club of Glendale (not to be confused with the Thursday Afternoon Club of the same city), who took up residence in their new clubhouse in 1923.
The Tuesday Afternoon Club of Glendale, CA, shown circa 1923. From CH CA 006
In their 1920s Yearbook (which can be found in our Club History collection), the club touted their swanky new digs, proclaiming “The year 1922-23 has been a red letter year in the history of the Tuesday Afternoon Club. After eighteen years, our dream of owning a Club home has been realized. We now have a magnificent, well equipped, artistically and richly furnished Club home.” The Spanish-style building, designed by architect Alfred F. Priest, included parlors, a library, a tea room, a lounge, service areas (complete with caretaker’s apartment), and an auditorium – with stage and orchestra pit – that seated over 750 people. Many other local groups were able to use the building, and they showed movies nightly. My favorite detail from the yearbook comes from the description of the grounds: “We bought and saved fifteen large palms which were being dug out in front of Brand Boulevard business property.” They were also very proud of the fact that, by 1925, the building and all the furnishings were not only paid for in full, but were also insured.
As best I can tell, the club – though fondly remembered by the community, thanks in large part to its efforts to create and support the Glendale Public Library – is no longer operational, and their beautiful 1923 clubhouse at Lexington and Central in downtown Glendale is no longer standing. (If it is in fact now the Armenian Consulate, I will be glad to be corrected!)
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