March is Women's History Month and we are going to look at some specialized resources for researching our female ancestors, starting with Women's Clubs.
Women had been meeting in groups in churches from the earliest moments
our country’s history. But it wasn’t
until after the Civil War that the women’s club movement as a non-secular
entity really expanded.
The Civil War forced women to become involved outside the home. Women had to take care of the home front, manage the farms, run the shops, roll bandages, care
for the wounded, raise money for uniforms and supplies, and other patriotic
activities. Indeed, it was a woman’s duty to participate in these
activities. Once the war was over, women
wanted to continue meeting and improving their communities and their minds, as they
had during the war.
But men were not so accommodating.
Women interested in pursuing literary or educational opportunities often
were discouraged.
Women were not welcomed in most colleges and universities.
When Jennie June, editor of Demorest’s
Illustrated Monthly (a women’s
fashion magazine that carried household hints) attempted to attend a Press Club
dinner in honor of Charles Dickens, she was discouraged by the men of the
club. Even after Horace Greeley refused
to preside over the dinner unless the ladies were allowed in, the best the club
would offer is to let some of the women attend if they sat behind a curtain!
Perhaps the first women’s group, the Sorosis Club, was formed in New York City in 1868 as
a direct result of this snubbing. The
club’s purpose was “to teach women to think for themselves and get their
opinions first hand, not so much because it is their right as because it is
their duty.” The club objective was “to promote agreeable and useful relations
among women of literary and artistic tastes…entirely independent of sectionalism
or partisanship.”
The women’s club movement gained momentum as word spread through family
contacts and visits. As the movement
became more popular, newspaper editorials vilified the women as self-indulgent
and neglectful of their domestic responsibilities for meeting for an hour once
a month outside the home.
Because men’s club rooms and public meeting places were not available
to the women, they met in each other’s homes.
This necessitated that the groups remained small, 10-12 women at the
most. While the groups were known by many different names, what they had in
common was the kinds of activities they participated in: self improvement
through educational programs, service to the community, and activities related
to women’s work. Often these goals were
couched in the notion that better educated mothers made for better educated and
more responsible future citizens.
Not to be overlooked was the social component in these clubs. They afforded women who often worked in
isolation in the home or on the family farms an opportunity to meet and
socialize with other women with similar interests.
Some groups used guest speakers to fill their programs. But most clubs insisted that the members
research and present their own programs.
This practice improved their members’ skills as speakers and educators. For many women, their participation in a
women’s club was their only experience in public speaking. Occasionally, a group would designate a teacher
or librarian to critique each speaker’s performance. This was not a popular
practice!
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| Eva Johnson |
Miss Johnson was the librarian at the Medina Library
from 1887 to 1927. This made her a
natural choice to be the club’s “critic.”
It was the critic’s job to point out any errors in facts or
pronunciation in a member’s presentation of a topic. It was often an unpopular position to
hold. Miss Johnson died after a car
accident in 1940 at the age of 86. She was a member of the Medina Sorosis as well as the Medina Co-Workers Club. Mrs. Lila Thayer, also of the Club, was her
sister.
The clubs took their missions very seriously. Women could not bring their sewing or
knitting to club meetings. The time was
to be exclusively devoted to listening, learning and talking. Members were not allowed to miss their turn
as speaker without a doctor’s note! But
the domestic home front was not to be neglected. Many clubs only met from September through
June, so the women could be home during the summer school recess. One local
club fined their members $2 if they served dinner late on club meeting days!
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| Afternoon Club from 2 May 1969 Medina Gazette |
In 1898, the Afternoon Club of Medina
was formed. It is believed to be the
oldest woman’s club in the county. Just
a year later, 1899, the Medina
Coterie was formed. Both of these clubs
are still active and thriving.
The Montville
Co-Workers Women’s Club was one of thousands of such clubs across the
country. Formed in 1922, it started with
24 members. The Montville Club paid dues to County and State
organizations. Although the records do not name these regional groups the state
group was likely the Ohio
Federation of Women’s Clubs and the county group was called the County Federation
of Farm Women’s Clubs. In 1965, the Montville Club ceased to
exist due to “lack of interest.”
Montville Co-Workers Club, a Farm-women's Club of Medina County, Ohio lists all the members of the club throughout its existence, in whose home they met and what the monthly programs were about.
http://mcdl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/5980919048_montville_co-workers_club
