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WHRC: From the Archives

Pioneer Workers of the General Federation

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

Generally speaking, the Women’s History and Resource Center does not collect records from our member clubs — minutes, treasurer reports, programs, the day-to-day files and the like (although we’ll help you find the right home for them). There are a few exceptions to this rule, however; one of my favorites is the Pioneer Workers collection.

Invitation to the Pioneer Workers’ luncheon, held during the GFWC Biennial meeting in Chautauqua, New York,1922. From the Pioneer Workers collection

The Pioneer Workers were a “national club,” aka a club made up of members from across the country united by a shared history or experience — in this case, “those who helped to organize the General Federation [in 1889-1890] and who had contributed to its success in the early days of its existence.” This organization was founded at the 1908 GFWC Biennial (what we now call convention), held in Boston, and was the brainchild of Sarah S. Barnes of Kentucky, who had “the happy thought” to convene GFWC members from the 19th century. The group of anywhere between 40 and 160 members held “reunions” at each Biennial until at least 1926.

Though not an active club in the usual sense, these ladies were well-trained in the procedures and rules of women’s clubs. Thus, the Pioneer Workers had officers (including two successive “Presidents for Life”), committees, a constitution, an emblem, a motto (“Auld Lang Syne”), and annual dues (one dollar). Over the next two decades the treasurers and secretaries made faithful reports, and the historians had the unhappy task of recording which of their elderly members had passed on since the last reunion.  The club’s goal was “the closer union of the early workers in this great movement,” and much was made of the “reminiscences” of the century before.

Pioneer Worker membership “application blank,” 1912. In 1914, club president Fannie Pritchard Helmuth noted that membership was restricted to women involved in GFWC prior to December 31, 1900. By the 1920s some members suggested moving that to 1905, but that proposal seems to have been voted down. From the Pioneer Workers collection

The idea of honoring the early members of GFWC was a popular one. The club’s luncheons were featured in news coverage of each Biennial; membership grew each year, despite the strict limitation on admission; and some state federations started their own version of a Pioneer club. As noted by a journalist covering the 1926 reunion, these women made up “a distinguished conclave [from] a century when to be a clubwoman was unusual, sometimes even courageous.” Many of the members held their dignity close, and made sure to remind the younger clubwomen that it was their work and dedication that were foundational to the organization as a whole.

Excerpt from the “Journal and Tribune” of Knoxville, Tennessee, April 12, 1914, calling the biennial Pioneer Worker event “a charming feature” and a sought-after invitation.

And indeed, what seems inevitable today from our modern vantage point – of course GFWC survived and prospered! – was far from settled at the time; how many national groups from the turn of the last century made it to their ten year anniversary, let alone 28, 50, 75, or 135? It was only by powering through early debates about how and why the organization would operate that the disparate clubs and state federations were able to hold together in a single Federation. No wonder the Pioneer Workers were so cognizant of their legacy, and wore their “Follow the Light” badges with pride.

According to the 1912 Pioneer Workers yearbook, the club badge, bearing the “Follow the Light” emblem on a light blue ribbon, was available to members for $2.75 (around $90 today). From the Pioneer Workers collection

The WHRC Pioneer Workers collection consists of several club yearbooks, a small file of correspondence, a binder of “reunion” reports, and miscellaneous invitations and programs. It’s likely that these were all contributed to the GFWC Archives at one time, perhaps as early as the 1930s. In the files, we have a 1934 letter to GFWC Headquarters Research and Club Services Director Josephine Junkin Doggett from Lucretia L. Blankenburg, one of the last surviving Pioneer Workers, who – concerned with the Pioneers’ legacy – was visiting past Pioneer treasurers and “going through” their papers; my guess is that the bulk of the Pioneer Workers collection arrived around this point. Though mostly archival, the collection does include several artifacts, namely thirteen club badges along with a metal document box, pasted with now-illegible shipping labels, emblazoned “Pioneer Workers of G.F.W.C.” The Pioneers can also be found in our magazine and convention records, and in newspaper reports from around the country.

The Pioneer Workers document box, which held their reports and correspondence and was shipped between the officers as their terms expired. From the Pioneer Workers collection

The club reports cease after the 1926 reunion, which may mean it was the final meeting; yet that year there were 160 living members, the membership application was still in distribution, and they had decided not to broaden the requirements for admission. Despite ever-more apologetic letters from elderly members no longer able to travel, and the ever-lengthening “In Memoriam” list for each reunion, the club evidently hoped it would continue on into the future. We’ll need to do a little more research to identify when the group officially discontinued their service. But in the meantime, we remember them and their service through the collection here at the WHRC. I hope Lucretia Blankenburg would be pleased.

Three of the Pioneer Workers who shaped both that club and GFWC: from left, Fannie Pritchard Helmuth (1839-1918) of New York, the first Pioneer “President for Life”; Lucretia L. Blankenburg (1845-1937) of Pennsylvania, who donated at least some of the club’s materials to GFWC Headquarters; and Sarah S. Barnes (1846-1919) of Kentucky, who started the club in 1908. From various sources in the WHRC archives.

“It is the privilege of the Recording Secretary in her report to tell you of the great joy which the Pioneers find in the meeting of old friends and the renewing of old ties of fellowship in the General Federation work of long ago.”

–Alice Bradford Wiles, Pioneer Workers Recording Secretary, 1922-1924

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow fans of women’s history.

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WHRC: From the Archives

“Where we meet at present”: The GFWC Clubhouse Photo Collection

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

Although most of the GFWC Women’s History and Resource Center collections focus on the work of the national organization, we do have materials that represent individual federated clubs. Often this is a result of deliberate collecting efforts, in which Headquarters staff (even before there was a WHRC) set out to gather specific information from our members. A prime example of this is the Clubhouse Photograph collection, over 400 images strong, which owes its existence to a repeated request in the 1920s-1930s for images of clubhouses, libraries, and meeting places. We used these photographs and postcards to illustrate the progress of the Federation, as clubs settled into their communities and made tangible, lasting contributions. Long before the days of digital technology for easy distribution, researchers and publishers could reach out to “Research Services” at GFWC Headquarters and request a physical photograph for up to two weeks.

The back of this postcard (don’t worry, the front can be seen later in this post) shows that both the card itself and an 8×10 copy were sent out at various times to folks who wanted a photo of the Calistoga Civic Club’s efforts. The “Loaned for Two Weeks – Please return PROMPTLY” stamp is a common sight in our early “Research Services”-created collections.

Image: WHRC Clubhouse Photo collection, CP CA 011

Thankfully, many of these once-loaned images remain on hand today to provide us with a snapshot (pun intended) of women’s club history, showing what our clubhouses — some still in use by the same club, some repurposed, some gone — looked like around a hundred years ago. Like many historic photographs, these images may strike us as a bit quaint and old-fashioned today, even if the scene is familiar. It’s important to remember, though, that at the time they were collected these were vital, timely images, representative of our active membership and of buildings in which they, and their communities, took pride.

Many of the early photograph submissions came to us as postcards, a format that made it easy to share and submit multiple copies. As postcards became a popular form of communication in the early 20th century, images of streetscapes and important buildings were reproduced for sale, allowing residents and tourists alike to share a bit of the local environment with friends and family across the country. The fact that those clubhouse postcards were chosen for commemoration tells us how integral these buildings were to the community. Let’s take a look at just a few examples from the collection:

Here is the Norwood Federation of Women’s Clubs, Norwood, Ohio. Built around 1927, the house can be found listed in a mid-1930s city directory as the meeting place of numerous women’s organizations (members, presumably, of this city federation), at 4336 Ashland Avenue; the Federation itself met there on Wednesdays. A recent search of the address on Google Maps shows that the building was at some point torn down and replaced with a small church; more research is needed to learn about the club and its house.

Image: WHRC Clubhouse Photo collection, CP OH 001

This hand colored view of the “Music Hall and Front Street, Marion, Massachusetts” has an X by the music hall itself (on the right), plus an ink notation along the bottom: “where we hold our meetings at present.” This tells us that GFWC asked its members for images of where they gathered, whether it was a dedicated clubhouse or not. In this case, “we” refers to the members of the Sippican Woman’s Club; the club was founded in 1904 and met at the Music Hall (still standing in Marion today) for a time, until they purchased an historic tavern for clubhouse use in 1923.

Image: WHRC Clubhouse Photo collection, CP MA 008

Like many of the clubhouses represented in our collection, this building’s architecture speaks to the region in which it was constructed. This offering is a real photo postcard showing the Casa Grande Woman’s Club, Casa Grande, Arizona, circa 1930. Built in 1924, it was designed by Arizona architect Henry Jaasted using “stones donated by club members, obtained from the nearby desert.” Though the club disbanded in 2006, their Pueblo Revival-style building still stands today; it was added to the National Register in 1979, and was sold by the club to the town in 1997. In recent years, it has been occupied by a theater company.

Image: WHRC Clubhouse Photo collection, CP AZ 001

Here’s another real photo postcard of a 1924 building, this time the public library in Calistoga, California, submitted by the Calistoga Civic Club.  (The back of the card is shown at the top of this post.) A 1922 article in the Weekly Calistogan noted of a recent club meeting: “all were ready to build the long delayed library, furnish it and hold the next meeting therein,” though two more years were to pass before that dream became a reality. This little building still serves as the local public library for the community.

Image: WHRC Clubhouse Photo collection, CP CA 011

For this post I chose a measly four postcards from this collection, but there’s a lot more to discover. Curious if your club, or the clubhouse in your community, is represented? Check the database here with a pre-loaded Clubhouse Photo search. Have more information about one of the photos, or want to inquire about submitting a photo? Let us know by emailing whrc@gfwc.org.

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow fans of women’s history.

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WHRC: From the Archives

Family Connections (Part 2)

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

As we saw in last month’s post, the theme of FAMILY runs through the materials held in the WHRC collections. Family also features strongly in the ways our collections are accessed. Some researchers seek us out because they have discovered evidence of club membership amongst a relative’s belongings, and they want to learn more about that woman’s life. For others, the memory of “Great-Aunt Somebody who I think maybe belonged to a woman’s club…?” serves as a point of connection to those who might otherwise be unfamiliar with the work of GFWC. No matter the context, we’re happy to do our best to help find those relatives and their stories—though I always caution researchers that we can’t guarantee that we’ll find who they’re looking for. For almost the entirety of our history, GFWC has left the tracking of individual membership rosters up to the clubs themselves; most Federated club members’ names and stories have not been recorded in our files.

That being said, the fact that even a small percentage of members are recorded in our archives is a large part of what makes the WHRC collections unique. The accomplishments of countless women throughout history have been lost, erased, discounted, or forgotten – which is why the practice of women’s history is so restorative! – and those who have been remembered tend to be big names. But the stories of “ordinary” women are no less important, especially on a local scale. That’s where our collections shine. The on-the-ground, everyday community work of GFWC clubwomen is remembered here at the Women’s History and Resource Center.

A research request from a relative of GFWC International Past President Louise Graham Brown (1970-1972) helped us confirm the identity of the woman with her in this photograph: Ann Blodgett Brown, Louise’s daughter-in-law, who also served as her aide during her term. Louise is shown at left, with Ann at right; taken at the 1971 GFWC Convention.

Image: from WHRC collection, PRES 1970-72.19

The Crossroads Club of Capleville, Tennessee submitted this document – written for the GFWC Centennial celebration in 1990 – to the WHRC Club History collection. It came in handy recently, when a woman who grew up in Capleville asked us to look for whatever we might have on her family. We discovered that at least two of her relatives belonged to this club, and were named in the history. The stories told here, about the club’s members and the town they worked to improve, helped our researcher connect a little more fully to her family’s life in Tennessee.

Image: WHRC Club History collection, CH TN 012

I can’t resist ending this month’s post on a personal note, even though this accidental-success story might inspire some false hope. One of the first research requests I received, after starting my job here at the WHRC, was about early clubs in the Oklahoma Federation. The best source for that info is the History of Oklahoma State Federation of Women’s Clubs (Luretta Rainey, 1939), a published volume in which the author, somewhat unusually, provided brief histories of individual clubs. While I was reading through the book, my eye was caught by a familiar name: that of my great-great-grandmother Mollie Williams (Mrs. George B.) Mahaffie, the “only surviving charter member” of the Yamprika Club, founded in 1901. Mollie rated not only a personal description, but also a photograph. This was indeed a rare find, but one that made my extended family very happy.

Image: WHRC State History collection.

I really can’t promise you that your own family search will be as successful as any of the ones described here, but we are willing to give it a try! If you have questions about former club members in your family, please reach out and we’ll see what we can come up with for you.

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow fans of women’s history.

Learn More about the WHRC

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WHRC: From the Archives

Family Connections (Part 1)

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

The theme of FAMILY runs strongly through the General Federation of Women’s Clubs collections. Our members often call each other “sisters in Federation,” but sometimes they are sisters in literal truth. Mothers and daughters (and granddaughters), sisters, cousins, in-laws… whether together in one club or members of clubs across the world, they are united by Federation, if not necessarily by geography.

GFWC has always loved to discover* and share those stories so, as the winter holidays approach and many of our members gather with their loved ones, let’s take a look at just a few of the family connections that can be made in the WHRC collections.

*Read to the end to learn about how to share your own GFWC family story with us now!

In 1928, no less than three publications were delighted to share the power of club membership as personified by the Van Riper family: four generations, from 78 year old Sarah Van Riper to her 12 year old great-granddaughter Martha Hickey, who all belonged to the Oneira Club of San Diego County. The San Francisco Examiner published the brief article shown at left in February that year, and the photograph at right appeared in both the California Clubwoman magazine and General Federation News later that spring. 

Image: from WHRC collection, MAG 1928.04

Over fifty years later, Clubwoman magazine celebrated another multi-generational club tradition, this time in South Dakota. “A family heritage of GFWC South Dakota service is represented as Amy Keezer – age 5 ½ years – proudly views a picture of her great-grandmother Helen Bates, who was a charter member of the Onida, SD Study Club in 1924 and active in other South Dakota clubs for many years after. Amy’s grandmother, Betty Larrington (seated), has been a member of the Gettysburg Women’s Literary Club of South Dakota since 1947, and in 1979 was named ‘Outstanding Clubwoman of South Dakota.’ Amy’s mother, Helen Larrington Keezer (standing), is president of the GFWC Hecla Federated Study Club. No doubt Amy will carry on her foremothers’ illustrious history of volunteer service in the GFWC.”

Image: WHRC collection, MAG 1980.12

The rosters of many clubs in rural communities were (and are) filled with close-knit families. This photo from the September 1931 issue of The Clubwoman shows members of the newly-formed Chippewa Woman’s Club of Cass Lake, Minnesota, many of whom lived in or had ties to the White Earth Reservation. The meeting shown here was held at the home of Jane Whitefisher Manypenny (1856-1933), a leader in the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) community, who translated the English portions of the meeting for those members who needed it. This photo showcases an array of family connections including: Jane Manypenny, her daughter Angeline Burnett, and her daughter Anna Command; Maggie Thompson and two of her daughters, Irene Tippetts and Elizabeth Broker; and sisters Jane Broker and Nellie Fairbanks, plus Jane’s daughter Madeline Kamppi. (As a bonus, the guests from the Minnesota Federation, Mrs. and Miss Bayliss, were themselves a mother-daughter team.)

Image: WHRC collection, MAG 1931.09

Mother-daughter duos are a long tradition in GFWC, starting as early as the 1890s when both Julia Ward Howe (President of Massachusetts State Federation) and her daughter Florence Howe Hall (Vice President of the New Jersey Federation) served as Federation leaders. Examples from more recent years include Helen Ryan and her daughter Mary Ellen Brock, who both served terms as President of the Bloomfield Junior Club (NJ). In 1997, Mary Ellen – who went on to serve as GFWC International President (2018-2020) – spoke with her mother for the WHRC oral history collection, and their close relationship led to an entertaining (and informative) interview.

Image: WHRC collection, excerpt from OH 0143

We could go on and on – and in fact in 2012, many more stories of GFWC family traditions were shared in Clubwoman magazine (you can read the article here). Help us grow that collection! Do you have a story to tell? We’d love to hear it. Share it in the comments, or reach out to us at whrc@gfwc.org! And tune back in to this blog next month for Part 2, where we’ll take a look at finding family history in the WHRC collections.

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow lovers of women’s history.

Learn More about the WHRC

The Women’s History and Resource Center

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