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Canoga Park Women's Club Collection
URB.CPWC
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Canoga Park Women's Club Collection
Creator:
Canoga Park Women's Club (Canoga Park, Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Identifier/Call Number: URB.CPWC
Extent:
3.75 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1914-1980
Abstract: The Canoga Park Women's Club works "to
promote interest in intellectual pursuits; to become a center for broader social life and to
work unitedly for the general advancement of both club and community." The collection
consists of notebooks and scrapbooks which contain photographs, invitations, correspondence,
newsletters and ephemera related to the organization's history and activities.
Language of Material: English
The first meeting of the Owensmouth Women's Club was held on October 30, 1914 at the home
of Mrs. Fred Balster. Officers were elected and a committee was established to draw up the
new organization's Constitution and By-Laws. In 1915, the Owensmouth Women's Club became the
youngest organization to be admitted to the California Federation of Women's Clubs and later
became incorporated in 1916. The 1916 Constitution and By-laws of the Owensmouth Women's
Club states, "The purpose of this club is to promote interest in intellectual pursuits; to
become a center for broader social life and to work unitedly for the general advancement of
both club and community." When the town of Owensmouth adopted "Canoga Park" as its new name,
the club followed suit, and became the Canoga Park Women's Club.
One of the first issues to come before the Canoga Park Women's Club was the establishment
of the Owensmouth Free Public Library. Women's clubs participated in the establishment and
the hourly work for these libraries. Canoga Park Women's Club volunteers manned the library
on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2 – 5:00 PM. The 150 original books at the new library
were soon augmented by donations made by club members. Beautification of Canoga Park also
became a theme for the clubwomen who planted trees and held horticulture-related events at
Orcutt Rancho on Roscoe Boulevard. Canoga Park clubwomen also participated in Pennies for
Pines, and worked tirelessly to reforest national areas, in and around San Francisco.
Canoga park Women's Club meetings were a combination of business and a variety of
educational programs, such police talks, gardening in the Valley, 'women's work,' Los
Angeles Philharmonic music speakers, fashion style films, Los Angeles relief, wildflowers
and native plants, holiday fetes, as well as arts and crafts demonstrations. The Canoga Park
Women's Club supported a variety of philanthropic endeavors and during WWII, they "did their
bit" for the troops overseas by hosting tables of ten at numerous bridge parties, the
proceeds going to the war effort. A watermelon party was held in July of 1942 at the United
Services Organization (USO) where a pool table was presented to the Soldiers with money that
had been raised by clubwomen. The annual White Breakfast signified the beginning of each
holiday season where toys, gifts, food and donations were collected for local Canoga Park
charities. A charitable component at each event helped support the community libraries,
health organizations, and the Guadalupe Youth Center, which was a favorite of the Canoga
Park clubwomen.
In the 1970's the Canoga Park Women's Club affiliated with women's clubs nationwide to
"declare war on rape. As the numbers rapes continued to increase in every major city in the
United States, each state federation of women's clubs set about to change their own state
laws. The Canoga Park Women's Club worked to increase awareness and trained their club
members in rape counseling so they could attend local court sessions to be a comfort to
victims.
The
Canoga Park Women's Club Collection consists of notebooks
and scrapbooks which document the Club's activities. Photographs, invitations,
correspondence, newsletters and ephemera are contained within each scrapbook. The material
contained in notebooks and scrapbooks has been left in original order. The collection has
been organized in three series:
Minute Books of the Executive
Board
(1916-1979),
Minute Books of the Club Secretary
(1914-1980), and
Records of the Club Historian (1914-1980).
Series I,
Minute Books of the Executive Board, contains
correspondence, bound and loose minutes, financial statements, committee reports and related
items compiled at the monthly meetings of the Club's executive board. Bound minute books
cover the period 1916-1965. Beginning in 1966, the minutes were originally filed in
three-ring binders. The files are arranged in chronological order.
Series II,
Minute Books of the Club Secretary, contains
biographical information of club leadership, correspondence, bound and loose minutes,
committee reports, financial statements and related items compiled by the Club Secretary
during the regular monthly meetings of the Canoga Park Women's Club. The files are arranged
in chronological order.
Series III,
Records of the Club Historian, includes annual
yearbooks, awards, certificates of achievement, some correspondence, newspaper clippings
from the local paper, newsletters, photographs and related memorabilia. The records were
originally filed in three-ring notebooks. The original chronological order of the files has
been maintained.
Series I: Minute Books of the Executive Board, 1916-1979
Series II: Minute Books of the Club Secretary, 1914-1980
Series III: Records of the Club Historian, 1914-1975
Digital reproductions of selected items in this collection are available electronically as
a part of the
San Fernando Valley History Digital Library
.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Beth Shirley. 06/19/1989.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Robert G. Marshall, Jim Azevedo, Robert Pflug; September 1989
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Photographs
Scrapbooks