Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Philomathean Club records
Dates: 1899-2002
Collection number: MSS 295
Creator:
Philomathean Club
Collection Size: 12 linear feet
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Dept. of
Special Collections
Stockton, California 95211
Abstract: The collection contains four principal elements:
yearbooks, scrapbooks, minute books, and financial records.
Physical location: For current information on the location
of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as
the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
Philomathean Club records. MSS 295. Holt-Atherton Department of Special
Collections, University of the Pacific Library.
Biography / Administrative History
The Philomathean Reading Club, a women's club of Stockton, California,
was organized November 17, 1893. Its object was "the cultivation of literary
taste and the promotion of study." When membership had grown to about 300, the
Club established a Philomathean Building Association for the purpose of raising
funds for a club building (1910). By the following year, the Club had raised
enough money to acquire a lot at Hunter and Acacia streets and to hire W.E.
Wood and Son to build a clubhouse on the site. The first meeting in the
completed clubhouse took place on February 9, 1912. The two-story building
contained an upstairs lecture hall/ballroom and downstairs kitchen and meeting
rooms.
In 1982 the club voted to be excluded from the Magnolia Historical
District so that the membership could continue to exercise control over their
building. Subsequently, as a result of several break-ins, expensive building
repairs, and a decline in membership, the Philomatheans relinquished their
historic clubhouse to the City of Stockton (2001).
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains four principal elements: yearbooks, scrapbooks,
minute books, and financial records. There are also a number of miscellaneous
items of interest, including: a list of gifts received by the club (1912-1982),
some records of the Girls' Auxiliary (1965-1971), records of the Annual Card
Party (1964-1996) and the Corresponding Secretary's lists of correspondents
(1955-1964).
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Women - Societies and clubs - San
Joaquin County (Calif.).