The Mount Pleasant Woman’s Club organizational records consist of materials from 1894 forward which document the activities of this community organization. The collection was originally subdivided into three series, Minutes, General Administration, and Scrapbooks.
The Minutes series contains Club meeting minutes from 1894 to 1996, and 1999-2003, which are part of the Recording Secretary’s Files. Both sets of minutes are arranged chronologically. These provide the richest source of information on club activities throughout the years. They are nearly complete with only two gaps, 1902-1905 and 1916-1917. Information from these time periods can be found in Scrapbook 1. Some of the bound volumes of minutes contain membership lists, attendance records, bills and receipts.
The General Administration series consists of materials from 1896 to 1998 which primarily document activities of club committees and divisions. Types of materials found here include: reports, committee minutes, histories of the Club, Mount Pleasant Community Calendars, the constitution and bylaws, correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, annual programs, certificates, awards, and a photograph. Major topics of this subgroup include; Club House Committee, Health Division, Home and Garden Division, and the Michigan State Federation of Women’s Clubs. A wide variety of information is present in the subgroup, but tends to be quite scattered and not comprehensive.
The Scrapbooks series includes Scrapbooks which primarily contain newspaper clippings, and may include annual and specific meeting programs, reports, bylaws, photographs and recipes. It appears that the books were created by several different sources and seem to form a couple of different roughly chronological series: Volumes 1-5 cover the years 1895 to 1960 and Volumes 6-8 span the years 1939 to 1960. Volumes 9 and 10 are special cases; 9 contains only annual programs, while 10 is primarily made up of photographs which document a wide variety of Mount Pleasant area topics. Subjects covered in volume 10 include: schools, farming, barns, sports, agricultural extension service, oil and gas, girl scouts, Central Michigan College, churches, and recipes.
Several printed works pertaining specifically to the Michigan State Federation of Women’s Clubs were transferred from this collection to the Clarke book collection.
Portions of this collection were microfilmed by the Clarke Historical Library in 1994. The master negatives are on file in the microfilming department of CHL.
Additions to the collection since 1994 include various administrative materials, meeting minutes, guest books, photographic materials, and more oversized Scrapbooks, 1984-1990, 1993-1994, 1994-2007 (4 Oversized volumes) and 1997-2006.
Most of the collection is in very good condition. The exceptions to this are a few scrapbooks and the guest book with wooden covers, the pages of which are quite acidic.
Organizational History:
On January 8, 1894 forty women met in Mrs. John Ryan’s parlor and established the Mount Pleasant Woman’s Club in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, for the purposes of intellectual and social interaction. Lydia Kniss, principal at the Normal School, was elected the first president and served in that capacity for nearly three years. The women met every Monday afternoon and their annual dues were one dollar.
During its formative years, the Club was primarily concerned with study and intellectual enlightenment. Such topics as ancient history, United States territorial possessions, and the telephone were assigned and discussed. Following this period, the Club became increasingly focused on civic activities. Pushing for a city public rest room, helping the county detention home, assisting in war efforts, and supporting community health have all been important activities for the Club.
None of the Club’s activities has generated more activity than Veterans’ Memorial Public Library in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The Club’s first gift to the library in 1909 consisted of: all books owned by the club, the $135 reserve fund, and financial support for one of the members to attend summer library school in Ann Arbor in order to become the public librarian. Challenged in late 1920 to raise $1,000 for equipment for the new library, the ladies responded by raising $2,643.12 in three months.
In 1895 the club was one of forty-seven founding members of the Michigan State Federation of Women’s Clubs. One of the highlights of the club’s history was a surprise visit by Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan in 1902, who gave a short address regarding education and women. (This information is from the collection.) The Club continues to exist.
