Historical Note

During the late winter months of 1895, Mrs. Corrine S. Brown, inspired by the spirit of "get-together-ness" engendered by the World's Columbian Exposition 1893 - 1894, began planning for an organization for Woodlawn's women. A preliminary meeting was held February 4, 1895 in the parlor of Dr. Katherine Clapp's home on Woodlawn Avenue. Forty interested women attended this meeting and resolved that, "for the promotion of sympathetic unity of feeling and purpose, closer association, and the power of cooperating successfully, we favor the organization of a Women's Club in Woodlawn."Two weeks later, four hundred attended the Woodlawn's Woman's Club inaugural meeting held at the Colonial Hotel on February 18, 1895. By the end of its first year, The Woodlawn Woman's Club (WWC) had incorporated with the State of Illinois, associated with the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs, and recruited over two hundred and fifty members.

The WWC adopted as its objectives, "mutual counsel and sympathy, unity of action in case of need, and a promotion of higher social, moral, and educational conditions." Implementing these goals required the customary division of labor. The WWC formed seven sections to carry out its ambitious program. These were: the home, literature and science, art and music, education, reform, philanthropy and recreation. By 1954, the last year for which records exist for this collection, WWC membership had dropped to approximately fifty members. The reasons for this decline in WWC membership and the date of WWC's subsequent dissolution are not readily discernible from the available evidence.

Scope and Content

The Records of the WWC consist of administrative records, newsclippings, speeches, photographs and a nearly complete set of WCC directories from 1913 to 1954. While this is a small collection of papers, it nevertheless documents some of the activities and membership of the WCC.

Series Descriptions:

Series I: Administrative Records, 1927 - 1931
One bound volume containing WWC's minutes of meetings from January 1927to November 1931.

Series II: Newsclippings, n.d.
Several newsclippings exist that document WWC activities. One clipping, inthe Oversized Collection, contains photographs and a program from a WWCspecial event.

Series III: Speeches, n.d.
This small series consists of a one page address, probably delivered at either
a WWC annual meeting or special event.

Non-manuscript Materials
This group of records consists of photographs, Woodlawn Woman's ClubDirectories from 1913 to 1954 and a bound volume by Louise J. Pearsontitled, History of the Woodlawn Woman's Club. The photographs are locatedin the Audio-visual Collection and are listed at the end of the Box and FolderInventory. The directories and Ms. Pearson's monograph are arrangedchronologically.

Separation Record: Oversized Materials
The following item has been removed to the location given:

Program of the Women's Conference on Oversize 1
Current Problems. Newspaper clipping,
[1924?] Feb. 26-27.

Provenance

The WWC collection was processed by the Special Collections Division of the Chicago Public Library and transferred from the Woodlawn Branch Library to the Special Collections Division for archival storage. Funding this project was provided by a grant form the Scholl Foundation. Under the grant's guidelines, steps were taken to insure standard archival administration of this collection. Originally collected by the Historical Society of Woodlawn, the Papers of the WWC are now a separate collection and available for research at the Special Collections Division.

Access

The Woodlawn Woman's Club Records are available to the public for research in the Special Collections and Preservation Division Reading Room on the 9th floor of the Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60605. The collection does not circulate, although photocopy and photoreproduction services are available depending upon the condition of the original materials. First time patrons to Special Collections must present photo identification and complete a Reader Registration Form. Telephone inquiries on this collection and other Special Collections holdings can be directed to 312-747-4875.

Selected items from the WWC collection are also available at the Chicago Public Library's Woodlawn Branch.

Box and Folder Inventory

BOX 1

Series I: Administrative Records
1. Minute Book: Jan. 25, 1927 - Nov. 17, 1931. Bound volume.

Series II: Newsclippings
2. Newsclippings: n.d. See also: Oversized Collection.

Series III: Speeches
3. Manuscript of speech: n.d.

BOX 2

Non-manuscript Materials
1. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1913-1922. Bound compendium.
2. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1922-1933. Bound compendium.
3. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1933-1942. Bound compendium.
4. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1923-1924. Bound compendium.
5. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1926-1927. Bound compendium.
6. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1929-1930. Bound compendium.
7. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1930-1931. Bound compendium.
8. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1935-1936. Bound compendium.
9. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1938-1939. Bound compendium.
10. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1942-1943. Bound compendium.
11. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1943-1944. Bound compendium.
12. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1944-1945. Bound compendium.
13. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1945-1946. Bound compendium.
14. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1946-1947. Bound compendium.
15. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1947-1948. Bound compendium.
16. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1948-1950. Bound compendium.
17. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1949-1950. Bound compendium.
18. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1950-1951. Bound compendium.
19. Directory - Woodlawn Woman's Club: 1953-1954. Bound compendium.

20. History of the Woodlawn Woman's Club, by Louise J. Pearson: ca.
1917. 2 copies. [additional copy at Woodlawn Branch Library]

PHOTOGRAPHS

Portraits
1.1 Cornelius, Mrs. Charles S., c. 1915-1917

Clubs & Organizations
1.2 Woodlawn Woman's Club, group photo, 1909