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Today, January 17th, President Biden announced that the Equal Rights Amendment is now the 28th Amendment and is "the law of the land." Though this is not the end of the fight for this 102-year-old proposal, many are celebrating this announcement!

The amendment was first proposed in 1923 by suffrage leaders Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. Ten years later, GFWC members agreed to begin studying the proposition, suggesting we allow a decade of research before we would take an official stand. True to our word, GFWC ran educational articles and programs on the topic for many years; finally, from October 1943 to June 1944, we polled our members on their thoughts. At the 1944 GFWC Convention, we reported that out of 16,500 clubs, only 88 voted against approval of the ERA.

That 1944 resolution in favor has stayed on our books, in various forms, ever since. Today it is part of 140-140, "Enhanced Opportunities for Women," in which it is resolved that GFWC "reaffirms its support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and urges its member clubs to work for its immediate ratification." Are we almost there?

📃Cover of one of the many educational booklets on the ERA that GFWC has produced over the decades, circa 1980. …

It`s WHRC Wednesday! Did you know that January is National Blood Donor Month? The American Red Cross Blood Services program began in March 1941, seeking blood donors in the United States to aid England in their fight during World War II. When the US itself joined the war effort, naturally GFWC was one of the organizations urging its members not only to help get the word out about the need for blood donors, but also to donate themselves.

"Clubwoman" magazine during the war years included many references to this effort: In May 1942, the New Jersey Juniors reported their activities as "donating blood, buying bonds and stamps, and holding dances for service men." In May 1943, the War Service chairman noted that "the clubs in one district [sadly unnamed] raised over $2,300 to purchase equipment for blood plasma," and the Illinois First District reported in the same issue that they "have regular blood donors from about 12 clubs." Although blood donation doesn`t appear to have been one of our major, nation-wide programs during the war, it was a constant underlying theme – all the more impressive, perhaps, since the notion of regular blood donations was something of a new concept at the time.

Has your club or federation ever hosted a blood drive (during WWII, or in the many decades afterward)? Let us know in the comments!

📷Photo of GFWC President Sara Whitehurst (1941-1944) along with an excerpt from her "Bulletin for Club Presidents" regarding blood donations "needed for wounded soldiers and sailors." Both from the September 1942 issue of "General Federation Clubwoman," Magazine collection, MAG 1942.09

#NBDM #clubwomeninhistory …

The WHRC, and all of us at GFWC Headquarters, are thinking of our members, friends, and family in southern California today. We`ve learned of at least one clubhouse that is now gone, in Pacific Palisades, and we know thousands of people have lost their homes, schools, places of worship, and hangouts, not to mention precious heirlooms, archives, photographs, and keepsakes. Our thoughts are with you, California. ❤️

🧵Embroidered square by the California Federation, maker unknown, 1976. Part of the Bicentennial Quilt on display at GFWC Headquarters. 1976.4.1 …

One of the recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal at yesterday`s White House ceremony was Diane Carlson Evans, Army Nurse Corps 1966-1972 and founder of the Vietnam Women`s Memorial Foundation. It took many years of work – including financial support from GFWC members – for the Foundation to achieve the goal of achieving the nation`s first (and, as of now, only) memorial to military women on the National Mall.

The path the Vietnam Women`s Memorial took to fruition is not dissimilar to the path the Women`s Suffrage National Monument is currently treading – again, with support of GFWC members! We`re glad to see the recognition of Evans` work, and look forward to more successes in honoring women`s history in the official, monumental record.

📷 Article excerpt from the August-September 1989 "Clubwoman," overlaid with a photo of Vietnam Women`s Memorial, a sculpture by Glenna Goodacre, on display in West Potomac Park, Washington, DC; photo by Carol M. Highsmith; image available from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID highsm.13253

#womenshistoryisamericanhistory …

History on the go! You might not be surprised to learn that the WHRC Librarian (me!) loves to read outdoor historical signage. Today’s example is one of three signs in Lafayette Park, in Washington DC, which I walked past today. The text and photos highlight the park’s long legacy of protests and demonstrations through the example of the fight for women’s suffrage. What good stories have you learned lately from historical interpretive signs? …

Got plans for your Friday night? How about spending a few hours doing a little volunteer labor (in 1959)? Bring your own tools!

From our Community Improvement Project collection, this handwritten sign asks for help finishing "clearing the park," one of the many components of the comprehensive community work performed by the Manvel Woman`s Club (North Dakota) during the 1958-1960 GFWC administration.

📗"Volunteers needed Thursday and Friday at 7:00 P.M. — To finish clearing the Park. Bring an axe, spade, scythe or hoe." Pasted into the club`s Community Improvement Contest submission, with caption "August 27-28-1959. Four of these signs were posted in Devines` Bar, Hoverson`s Grocery, Peterson`s Grocery, and the American Legion Club." CIP 1960-62.03

#northdakotahistory #clubwomeninaction …

On December 10th, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted the Declaration, and the news of its passage was conveyed to the women of America by six General Federation of Women`s Clubs members who, though not part of the official American Delegation to the UN, were allowed to observe many discussions and debates. Catherine Amberg Sporborg, one of the GFWC attendees, sent her reports to Frances White Diehl, Chairman of the GFWC International Relations Department (1947-1950), to be shared with GFWC members through the departmental Bulletin.

Decades later, human rights came again to the forefront of GFWC reporting during the administration of Mary Elizabeth Sowards Quint (1978-1980), who created a Human Rights Committee chaired by Mrs. Charles G. Wood Jr. In a special human rights-focused issue of "Clubwoman," Quint assured her readers that "YES–both joined in Federation and individually as clubwomen–we can do our share for the cause of human rights."

📙Cover of the Human Rights issue of "Clubwoman" magazine, October 1979.

#HumanRightsDay #ClubwomenInAction #ClubwomenInHistory …

Since 1992, the United Nations has declared December 3rd as International Day of Persons with Disabilities. For the 2024 celebration, the theme is “Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future” – so let’s take a look at a leader from GFWC history!

Blanche Guggenheimer Eddy (1887-1964) of California is believed to have been the first American women to partner with a guide dog. She received training at Nashville’s “The Seeing Eye” school in 1929, and with her dog, Bada (or Beta), she helped pioneer the use of guide dogs for the blind in the western United States. She was also the first President of the East Bay Club of Blind Women, organized in late 1929, whose officers (with the exception of the Recording Secretary) were all sight-impaired. The club was an active member of the Alameda County Federation of Women’s Clubs, and existed at least until the late 1930s.

Some sources say this was the first club for blind women in the United States, but after we featured it the December 1929 issue of the GFWC magazine, another club was quick to point out that it had been in existence for over a decade: The Monday Guild, a “section” of the Women’s Department of Indianapolis, was organized in 1919 for the blind women of that city. If you know of similar clubs in your state’s history, please let us know!

📷 Black and white photo of Blanche Eddy and Beta at work, 1933: a smiling woman in a fur-collared coat, holding a cane and the harness of a German Shepherd dog, descending an outdoor staircase. From the “San Francisco Examiner,” February 12, 1933. Superimposed in the top corner is the headline from the December 1929 “General Federation News” story about the East Bay Club: “Club For Blind Women Officered By Blind Women”

#DisabilityDay #IDPD #EveryoneIncluded #clubwomeninhistory …

The 15th coin in the American Women Quarters Program (issued 2024) honors Zitkala-Ša, a Yankton Dakota author, musician, and activist who also went by her Americanized name, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. Although not necessarily a GFWC clubwoman herself (though she belonged to many like-minded groups), Zitkala-Ša had a major impact on the work of the Federation!

In 1921, she was invited to speak on citizenship rights for Native Americans at the General Federation of Women`s Clubs` Council meeting in Salt Lake City. Her presentation led directly – at that meeting, in fact – to the formation of the GFWC "Indian Welfare" committee, which worked for many decades – often under the leadership, at both state and national levels, of Native American women – to advocate for Native American communities across the United States.

📷 Author photo from "American Indian Stories" by Zitkala-Ša, 1921, overlaid with quotation from the 1946 GFWC brochure "Twenty-Five Years: Indian Welfare": "If any one person can be credited with the creation of Indian Welfare in the General Federation of Women`s Clubs, that person is Gertrude Bonnin, a Sioux Indian. Her plea, her cause, aroused two million women."

#nativeamericanheritagemonth #clubwomeninhistory …

Enjoying the General Federation of Women`s Clubs history you can find here, but wish you could read more (and see even more photos)? Me too! Happily, the GFWC Women`s History and Resource Center has a new monthly blog, where yours truly can expand on the many stories that can be found amongst our resources. Head to the link in our bio (and scroll down to "Latest News") to read "WHRC: From the Archives," published on the first Thursday of every month.

Just in time for your Thanksgiving menu planning, the November post focuses on our cookbook collection, including this gem – submitted by future GFWC President Roberta Campbell Lawson – from the 1928 "Club Woman`s Cook Book." Get out your double boilers!

#clubwomeninhistory #blogsareback …