Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Ebell Club of Highland Park.
- Abstract:
- These records document the activities of the Ebell Club of Highland Park from its founding in 1903 to the present. Included are constitution(s) and by-laws, meeting minutes, event programs, yearbooks, club histories, financial records, scrapbooks, rental agreements, material from affiliated confederations of women’s clubs, photographs, and other records documenting the club’s social and community service functions.
- Extent:
- 15.0 Linear feet 21 cartons (2) 15 x 19 flat boxes (1) 11.5 X 13.5 flat box (1) 5 x 30 x 5 rolled material box 1 rolled material box - 5 x30x5 2 oversize folders
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
[item], Ebell Club of Highland Park Records, Ebell Club of Highland Park
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of organizational records, publications, and photographs generated by, as well as material donated to, the Ebell Club of Highland Park, 1904-2002.
The collection is divided into 4 series:
1. Organizational records;
2. Affiliated Confederations;
3. Scrapbooks, Photographs, and Graphic material;
4. Ebell Club of Highland Park Clubhouse.
The records include meeting minutes, committee reports, procedural manuals, accounting ledgers, tax reports, event programs, yearbooks, architectural blueprints, scrapbooks, clippings, books, serial publications, award certificates, by-laws, member applications, correspondence, rental agreements, guest registers, photographic prints, memorabilia and other material.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Ebell Club of Highland Park was founded in December of 1903 at the Highland Park home of Ella G. Lunt, a co-founder in 1896 of the Ebell Club of Long Beach. Women’s clubs that adopted the name “Ebell” were modeled on a prototype established in Oakland, California (1876) following a visit by Dr. Adrian Ebell, a scholar whose plan to improve women’s education and active role in society involved organizing “circles or chapters for the study of arts and science.” The Ebell Club of Highland Park (HP) reflected this serious orientation in its stated object, “advancement in all lines of general culture, and promotion of the well-being of the community in which we live.”
Consistent with general practice among turn-of-the-century women’s clubs, the Ebell Club of Highland Park drew up a constitution and by-laws, elected officers yearly and followed parliamentary procedure at general and executive board meetings. Standing committees such as membership, philanthropy, and child welfare oversaw administrative or ongoing charitable commitments; study sections reflecting facets of the Club’s interest in general culture and community wellbeing were designated on a yearly basis. Sections discussed and sponsored presentations in areas such as literature, drama, travel, conservation, current events, history and landmarks, art, music, American citizenship, and gardens. Club activities, officer lists, programs, by-laws, membership rolls and so on were recorded in an annual yearbook, beginning in 1907.
During its first years the HP Ebell Club met in member’s homes and in rented space before acquiring a lot and financing the construction of a clubhouse on Avenue 57, completed in 1912. The majority of shares in this undertaking (the club incorporated for the purpose in 1909) were held by club members; additional money was raised through public events (sales, dinners, entertainments) and a portion of membership dues. The Clubhouse, featuring a large hall with stage, provided a home for club activities as well as rental revenues that have financed the club’s philanthropic activities to the present day. By the late 1920s expanding membership (over 300 at the time) necessitated the construction of an adjacent clubhouse addition with dining room and full kitchen, completed in 1938.
The Ebell Club of HP joined the California Federation of Women’s Clubs (CFWC) in 1905 and the (national) General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1912 (renewed in 1923 after a lapse). Federation related activities included attending conventions and arranging social events (“reciprocity days”) that brought representatives of local and regional women’s clubs to Highland Park. An organizational re-arrangement in 1956 made the Ebell Club of HP a part of the CFWC Verdugo District representing northeast Los Angeles.
Sources: Symonds, Maude. A History of the Ebell Club of Highland Park, 1903-1945. Ebell Club of Highland Park Records, box 19:2.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is aranged into the following series:
Series 1. Organizational records, 1904-2002, documents the meetings, finances, scheduled events, membership, and history of the Highland Park Ebell Club.
Series 2. Affiliated confederations, 1967-2002, documents aspects of the Highland Park Ebell Club’s relations with confederated women’s clubs at three levels: national (General Confederation of Women’s Clubs); state (California Confederation of Women’s Clubs); and district (Verdugo/Northeast Los Angeles).
Series 3. Scrapbooks, photographs, and graphic materials, 1914-1994. The series consists primarily of scrapbooks documenting activities of the HP Ebell Club through chronologically organized newspaper clippings, photographs, and other enclosed material ; it also includes un-aggregated/loose photographs of club officers and events; 3 oversize cardboard panels framing a photographic depiction of Highland Park Ave. storefronts, circa 1981; oversize award certificates presented to the Ebell Club of HP, 1960-2003; and a black and white photograph of a Club luncheon, 1928.
Series 4. Highland Park Ebell Clubhouse, 1938-2009, has four elements: first, records of clubhouse rentals; second, textual material pertaining to the physical structure and maintenance of the Ebell Clubhouse; three, guest registers; and four, architectural drawings pertaining to The Ebell Clubhouse.
Loose materials have been sorted by category (meeting minutes, correspondence, etc.) and arranged chronologically. Where a range of organizational materials were found grouped together under a given rubric and date range (i.e., Procedure Book, 1977-'79), the groupings were maintained and files titled as found.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish or quote from holdings must be submitted in writing to the Ebell Club of Highland Park. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Ebell Club as the owners of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained.
- Preferred citation:
-
[item], Ebell Club of Highland Park Records, Ebell Club of Highland Park
- Location of this collection:
-
1600 Campus RoadLos Angeles, CA 90041-3314, US
- Contact:
- 323-259-2852