Women's club

Women’s clubs first arose in the United States during the post-civil war period. As a result of increased leisure time due to modern household advances, middle class women had more time to engage in intellectual pursuits. This led to the establishment of women’s clubs with their primary function being "study clubs and reading circles". [Watson 1994, 234] These clubs were part of a cultural happening that occurred around the years 1870-1930 throughout the United States, and lead to the formation of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC). [Watson 1994, 234]

Contribution to library development

The focus on self discovery in most women’s clubs resulted in most clubs maintaining their own library collections for use by club members (Watson 1994, 235). As the clubs evolved the members began to focus on civic duty within their communities, and one of the first items on the club’s agendas were increasing use of libraries. Women’s clubs wanted to share their libraries with the community which led to the beginnings of travelling libraries.

Travelling libraries were collections women’s clubs would share with other towns and communities that did not have libraries in their own towns. Women’s clubs circulated collections of materials through travelling libraries to communities without the means and resources to promote literacy. After the establishment of travelling libraries many women’s clubs turned to establishing public libraries within their own communities.

Women’s clubs helped establish many public libraries by contributing collections, raising money, acting as librarians, cataloguing early collections, and other administrative activities. [Watson 1994, 236] After the public libraries were established women’s clubs lobbied on behalf of the public libraries in state legislatures and also for gifts from the Carnegie Library Endowment. [Watson 1994, 236] According to the American Library Association and GFWC women’s clubs are estimated to have started between 75 and 80 percent of public libraries in the United States. [Scheer 2002, 525]

Notes

References

*Scheer, Teva. “The “Praxis” Side of the Equation: Club Women and American Public Administration”, Administrative Theory & Praxis, Vol. 24, Issue 3, 2002.
*Watson, Paula D. “Founding Mothers: The Contribution of Women’s Organizations to Public Library Development in the United States”, Library Quarterly, Vol. 64, Issue 3, 1994.

External links

* [http://www.gfwc.org General Federation of Women's Clubs]
* [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/athenswomansclub "For Our Mutual Benefit: The Athens Woman's Club and Social Reform, 1899-1920"] in the [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu Digital Library of Georgia]
* [http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshs/research/finding_aids.htm] provides finding aid to article subject from the Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society (WSHS)