Finding aid of the Art Center Wives Club

Annastasia Wolfe
Art Center College of Design Archives
1700 Lida Street
Pasadena, California 91103
Phone: (626) 396-2208
Email: robert.dirig@artcenter.edu
URL: http://www.artcenter.edu
© 2007
Art Center College of Design. All rights reserved.

Finding aid of the Art Center Wives Club

Collection number: RG 18

Art Center College of Design Archives

Pasadena, California
Processed by:
Annastasia Wolfe
Date Completed:
2005
Encoded by:
Robert Dirig
© 2007 Art Center College of Design. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Art Center Wives Club
Dates: 1956-1977
Collection number: RG 18
Creator: Art Center Wives Club
Collection Size: .5 linear foot 1 box
Repository: Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.)
Pasadena, California 91103
Abstract: Founded in 1956, the Art Center Wives Club was sponsored by Art Center to serve as a social and support group for the wives of the college’s male students. This collection consists of newsletters, minutes, correspondence, photographs, and other materials which document the planning activities, events and meetings of the Art Center Wives Club.
Physical location: Art Center Archives
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

No restrictions. Collection is open for research by appointment.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to Art Center College of Design Archives.

Preferred Citation

Art Center Wives club. RG 18. Art Center College of Design Archives. Pasadena, California.

History

Founded in 1956, the Art Center Wives Club was sponsored by Art Center to serve as a social and support group for the wives of the college's male students. With monthly meetings, the group had guest speakers, played bridge, and shared news of jobs and available apartments. After it had become well established, the Art Center Wives Club sponsored dances, picnics, and talent shows, and volunteered time to a variety of community organizations. The group tried to make new students' wives welcome and often had a part in student orientation. In the mid 1960s the club organized and printed a cookbook, as well as put on a skit parodying the trials of new students and their wives. The group printed another cookbook in 1974. For most of the organization's approximate twenty-year history, it printed a monthly newsletter, The Breadwinners Review. The group's liaison with the school was Mildred Heredeen. It is not clear when the club ceased to exist.

Scope and Content of Collection

Newsletters, minutes, correspondence, photographs, and other materials document the planning activities, events and meetings of the Art Center Wives Club. More than one half of the records is the club newsletters (1956-1971, 1977), which provide rich information regarding the club and its members. Often the newsletter included annual schedules, membership lists, and synopsis of meeting minutes. The second largest group of material is minutes (1963-1967, 1971, 1977), but it is not as complete a series as the newsletters, and mostly mirrors what can be found in the newsletters. Correspondence includes letters to the general membership, thank you notes, and invitations to Art Center Wives Club events such as the new student reception and an Annual Student Faculty party. Guidelines and suggestions for how to run meetings, program schedules, and questionnaires sent to the members, all provide additional insight into the club's activities and concerns. A play script (ca. 1966) written by a club member and performed for new students, is a humorous look at the wives' view of their husbands' experiences at Art Center. Two photographs also document the women working on the play. All photographs have been removed to the photograph collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Art Center School (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.)
Art Center School (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Societies and clubs
Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.)--Societies and clubs
Cookery
Women--Societies and clubs

Separated Material

29 photographs removed to photograph archives.

Box/Folder 1:1

Newsletters 1956-1962

Box/Folder 1:2

Newsletters 1963-1965

Box/Folder 1:3

Newsletters 1966-1969

Box/Folder 1:4

Newsletters 1970-1971 1974 1977

Box/Folder 1:5

Minutes: Officers Meetings 1967-1963

Box/Folder 1:6

Minutes: General Meetings 1963-1967 1971 1977

Box/Folder 1:7

Minutes: Cookbook Committee 1964

Box/Folder 1:8

Correspondence 1956-1977

Box/Folder 1:9

Annual Program Schedules circa 1956, undated

Box/Folder 1:10

Guidelines and Suggestions 1969, undated

Box/Folder 1:11

Officer, Membership, and Mailing Lists 1965-1977

Box/Folder 1:12

Questionnaires 1958-1974, undated

Box/Folder 1:13

Play Script circa 1966

Box/Folder 1:14

Cookbook 1974

Box/Folder 1:15

Assorted 1956-1966, undated

 

Photographs 1963 1966

Physical Description: 26 images.
 

Garden Buffet dinner, Home of Miss Franklin (7 images) 1963

 

Art Center Wives Club Fashion Show, Sponsored by Nancy's Casuals North Hollywood (8 images) 1963

 

Unidentified meeting (3 images) circa 1963

 

Setting up play in Art Center Auditorium (2 images) circa 1966

 

Unidentified meeting in an Art Center classroom (2 images) circa 1966

 

Unidentified meeting in a home (4 images) circa 1966