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The collection includes: correspondence, meeting minutes, committee reports, scrapbooks, photographs and negatives, and printed materials of the organization, and items relating to the Michigan State Federation of Women's Clubs. The collection is ongoing.

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, 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.

The 2024 addition to the Mount Pleasant Women’s Club collection, mostly found in Boxes 13-14, is mostly composed of materials organized by year. Within these folders are newsletters, members’ volunteer hours, ESO (Epsilon Sigma Omicron) reports, yearbooks, awards, certificates, photographs, correspondence, handbooks, executive board meeting minutes, treasurer’s reports, budgets, dues reports, End of the Year reports and narratives, bylaws, new member’s handbook, Northeastern District newsletters, and GFWC Michigan statistical report forms. This addition also contains photographs of general gatherings, a club centennial event, the arts group, bird housebuilding, and nature walks; a trifold, handbook, programs, materials related to the ESO book reading club including yearly and cumulative statistics, scrapbook materials, photocopies of newspaper clippings, and correspondence with the Embers restaurant from whom the club rented out space for their meetings. Materials related to finances include audit reports, a general ledger, the treasurer’s book and reports. Included with the treasurer’s book are three Exchange Saving Bank account books and materials related to the leasing of a meeting place from St. John’s Episcopal Church. Box 10 contains membership cards that are sorted into active and inactive members as of 2024. They are arranged alphabetically. Some cards have notes about due payments or why the member is no longer active because they are deceased, moved away, or left the group. Behind some cards is correspondence from that member about why they are rescinding their membership. The cards date from approximately 1950 and 2010. Ten items were interfiled into Box 1-12.

Boxes 1-3, 6, 13-14 are cubic foot boxes. Boxes 4, 7, 9-12 are .5 cubic foot boxes. Box 5 is a flat scrapbook box, Box 8 is a .25 cubic foot box. The Oversized scrapbooks are unboxed, stored flat with flags in them. 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.

This collection, 1965-2018, and undated, includes bylaws, meeting minutes, annual reports, newsletters, program booklets, correspondence, thank you cards, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbook pages, and other materials related to the operations of the NED and the clubs in its jurisdiction.

This collection, 1965-2018, and undated, includes bylaws, meeting minutes, annual reports, newsletters, program booklets, correspondence, thank you cards, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbook pages, and other materials related to the operations of the NED and the clubs in its authority. Materials related to the operations of the NED include their bylaws, budgets, minutes of the NED’s executive board, workshops, several conventions, official calls to NED workshops and Great Lakes conferences, a guide for new officers, lists of officers, awards and certificates earned by the district, the NED’s presidents’ annual reports to the GFWC Michigan board of directors, NED newsletters, thank you cards written to NED officers, and GFWC brochures. There are pages of several binders that contain materials about the NED’s annual convention and officer meetings and the papers of the secretary. Also, there are photographs of various NED members at events such as the annual convention and Great Lakes conference, photographs in folder 39 include identification of persons, some photographs included in the scrapbook pages have an event and year labeled, others do not. This collection also includes photocopies of newspaper clippings along with awards that highlight the accomplishments of both the NED and its member clubs, including a key to the city of Clare presented to the Clare Study Club. Additionally, photocopies of three obituaries of three prominent NED officers are included. Materials pertaining to the defederated clubs from Gladwin County, Alma, and Pinconning that include correspondence between the clubs and the NED about defederation, Gladwin County Woman’s Club yearbooks, club histories, program booklets, and a photocopy of a newspaper article about the Pinconning Woman’s Club’s 75th anniversary. There are materials relating to the GFWC Michigan Education Foundation that include minutes from a 2017 meeting, correspondence from the Foundation to the NED, and an informational brochure. The general correspondence folder includes correspondence between club presidents, members of the NED Past Presidents Club, NED officers, GFWC Michigan officers, the GFWC International President Rose Ditto, and Bay Cliff Health Camp. The collection is organized by size, alphabetically and chronologically. Box 1 is a cubic foot box. The collection is in good physical condition.

The three main series in the collection include: Annual Meetings, Club materials, GFWC MI.

Annual Meetings: This series includes materials that relate to the NED’s annual convention/meeting hosted by one of the member clubs with assistance from NED’s executive board. Materials in this series include annual reports given by the clubs that describe challenges and accomplishments of their club over the last year, program booklets that provide information about the convention and the NED, and the minutes of the convention.

Club materials: This series contains materials that relate directly to member clubs of the district rather than the NED itself. Materials include program booklets, member lists, constitutions and bylaws, event flyers, and photocopies of newspaper clippings. Clubs represented in this series include the Clare Study Club, Farwell Women’s Club, Gaylord Study Club, Harrison’s Women’s Club, Ladies Literacy Club of East Tawas, and Rogers City Women’s Civic League. Researchers interested in the Mount Pleasant Woman’s Club can find their materials in the Mount Pleasant Woman’s Club Organizational Records collection at the Clarke.

GFWC Michigan (GFWC MI): This series contains materials that relate to GFWC Michigan operations. These include board of directors meeting minutes, the board of directors’ annual reports that describe their accomplishments, and materials related to the state convention including press releases, registration information, and program booklets.

Researchers interested in the GFWC may be interested in the Mount Pleasant Woman’s and Junior Woman’s clubs Organizational Records in the Clarke Historical Library. Both clubs were members of the GFWC within the NED.

Processing Note: Approximately a quarter of a foot of material was withdrawn during processing. Withdrawn materials included duplicate items, original newspaper clippings after being photocopied, miscellaneous and out of scope materials, blank forms, and unidentified photographs.