Finding aid to the Highland Park Ebell Club Records
Ebell.001
Finding aid prepared by Marc LaRocque
Occidental College Library
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, CA, 90041-3314
(323) 259-2852
2013
Title: Ebell Club of Highland Park Records
Identifier/Call Number: Ebell.001
Contributing Institution:
Occidental College Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
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
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1904-1999
Date (inclusive): 1870-2011
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.
creator:
Ebell Club of Highland Park.
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.
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.
Conditions Governing Access Note
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use note
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 note
[item], Ebell Club of Highland Park Records, Ebell Club of Highland Park
Related Archival Materials note
"Guide to the California Federation of Womens Clubs Records, 1900-", University of California Santa Cruz Special Collections
and Archives, box 27
Separated materials note
Separated materials note.
The following materials have been separated from the collection:
Duplicate yearbooks and event programs
2 photo scrapbooks labeled “LACE – Ladies Assisting Cops Enthusiastically”
Duplicate copies of donated books
Duplicate procedural and other material, CFWC, CFWC/Verdugo District
Historical note
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ebell Club of Long Beach.
California Federation of Womens Clubs
Highland Park -- California -- History
Women -- Societies and Clubs -- History
Womens Clubs
Box 1-15
Organizational records
Bulk, 1904-1999
1900-2011
Physical Description:
5.5 linear ft.
1 flat box, 15 x 19
3 legal-size cartons
11 letter-size cartons
Scope and content
Series 1, Organizational records, comprises meeting minutes, by-laws, committee reports, membership rosters and application
materials, treasurer's reports and other financial documents, Club histories, event programs, yearbooks, award certificates,
sheet music, clippings, and donated books.
Box 1-4, 25
Meeting minutes, by-laws, committee reports
1904-1998
Physical Description:
1.6 Linear feet
5 letter-size cartons
scope and content
Box 1: Minutes, 1904-'29; Box 2: minutes, 1933-'66; Box 3, minutes, 1966-'98 (note: minutes for 1967-1977, 1989-1996 are missing).
Box 4: Constitution, by-laws, 4:1-3; "Procedure Book", 1977-'79 (includes committee reports, programs), 4:4-9 ; History committee
reports, 1965-'83, 4:10,11; assorted committee reports, 1970-'82, 4:12, 13; aggregated [financial, minutes, etc.] records
by year, 1995-'98, 4:14; and Box 25, minutes, 1993-2001.
Box 5
Membership
1906-1997
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
1 letter-size carton
Scope and content
Box 5, Membership: the subseries consists of member lists, applications, sponsor letters, and dues statements. It also includes
records of the Correspondence Secretary, largely concerned with membership issues, 1957-'59 [5:1]; and miscellaneous Club
correspondence [5:2],1950-1999.
Box 6-8
Financial records
1906-1999
Physical Description:
2.0 Linear feet
2 legal size cartons
(1) 15 x 19 flat box
Scope and content
Treasurer's accounts and reports, 1906-1994, box 6; assorted financial records and tax documents, 1925-1995, box 7; oversize
account ledger records, 1940-1994, box 8.
Box 9
Club history
1903-2003
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
1 letter-sized carton
Scope and content
The Club history subseries consists primarily of handwritten drafts or typed copies of Club history organized as bi-annual
summaries of Club activities, along with lists of Club office holders. Also included are notes and materials from the Club's
75th and 100th aniversary celebrations. Bi-yearly Club history reports created by the History Committee may also be found
in Series 1, 4:10-11.
Boxes 10-13
Event programs, yearbooks, and other material
1906-2002
Physical Description:
1.8 Linear feet
4 letter-size cartons
Scope and content
The subseries includes Ebell Club event programs, yearbooks, and other material. Box 10, Event Programs, documents the Ebell
Club of HP's scheduled itineraries (lectures, social and cultural events, outings), 1906-'99. Boxes 11 and 12 contain Ebell
Club of HP Yearbooks, 1907-1989; these include summaries of Club activities, member and officer lists, illustrations, etc.,
1907-2002. Box 13 contains yearbooks for 1990-2002, 13:1,2 ; assorted yearbooks with enclosed materials (notes, clippings,
event programs), 13:3,4 ; the Ebell Club Song and other sheet music, circa 1912, 13:5 ; Award certificates, 1950-1995, 13:6
; newpaper clippings, 1930s-1980s, 13:7,8 ; and miscellaneous materials, 13:9,10.
Box 14
Books donated to Ebell of HP
1909-1975
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
1 letter-size carton
Scope and content
The subseries consists of books donated to the Highland Park Ebell Club. Authors and titles follow below.
14:1 - (1)Tubbs, Calla Dore. The Gnome of Niagra [poems], 1938; and (2) Ennis, Addie Lucas. A Way with Words [poems], 1975.
14:2 - (3) Strobridge, Idah Meacham. Land of the Purple Shadows [California travel] 1909; (4) Lummis, Charles F. The Gold
Fish of the Grand Chimu [fiction], 1911.
14:3 - (5) Myers, Harriet Williams. The Birds Convention [fiction], 1912; and (6) Burnished Hillsides [poetry], 1946. (7)
Williams, Edward Huntington. Pine Flats Campfire Tales [fiction], 1924.
14:4 - (8) Myers, Harriet Williams. We Three [memoir], 1945.
14:5 - (9) Shippy, Lee. Personal Glimpses [journalism], 1929; (10) Leigh, Randolph. The Citadel of Freedom [history], 1923.
Items 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 were donated by Club members. Items 4 and 9 were gifts to the Ebell Club from the authors. Item 3
was "awarded to the Highland Park Ebell Club . . as first prize in the Creative Booth." [unknown event, 1922]. Items 1 and
10 are of unknown significance.
Box 15
Confidential - Clarice Conley
1985-1995
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
1 letter-sized carton
Scope and content
Five files comprising material concerned with Club treasurer Clarice Conley, 1985-1995.
Box 16-17
Affiliated confederations
1967-2002
Physical Description:
0.8 linear ft.
2 letter-size cartons
Scope and contents
Series 2, Affiliated Confederations, comprises material directed to the Ebell Club of Highland Park by the General Federation
of Women's Clubs (GFWC); its California affiate, the California Federation of Women's Clubs (CFWC); and CFWC/Verdugo District,
the Northeast Los Angeles area division that included the Ebell Club of Highland Park among its members. Materials include
manuals and guides related to all organizational aspects of club operations, from parliamentary procedures to educational
program planning.
Box 17, Folder 1-8
General Confederation of Women's Clubs
1967-2002
Physical Description:
0.3 linear ft.
Scope and content
The General Confederation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) was a nationwide confederation founded in 1890. The subseries comprises
material sent by the GFWC to the Ebell Club of Highland Park, which became a member in 1912 (renewed membership in 1923).
Materials include a variety of GFWC publications, including guides and manuals on club procedure and program planning, the
bulk from 1965 to 1990.
Box 18, Folder 1-3, Box 17, Folder 9-14
California Federation of Women's Clubs
1942-2002
Physical Description:
0.3 linear ft.
Scope and content
Founded in 1900, the California Federation of Women's Clubs was a member of the GFWC. The subseries comprises material sent
by the California Federation of Women's Clubs (CFWC) to the Ebell Club of Highland Park, a member of the CFWC since 1905.
Materials include a variety of CFWC publications, including guides and manuals on club procedure and program planning, the
bulk from between 1965 and 1990.
Box 18, Folder 7-14
CFWC/Verdugo District and other material
1967-2002
Physical Description:
0.5 linear ft.
Scope and content
Los Angeles area women's clubs belonging to the California Federation of Women's Clubs were reorganized into two districts
and a number of subdistricts in 1956. The Ebell Club of Highland Park was included within the Verdugo District, consisting
of a number of towns or neighborhoods in the Northeast Los Angeles area. The subseries comprises material sent by the CFWC/Verdugo
District to the Ebell Club of Highland Park, circa 1960-1990, 18:4-13. Several programs and yearbooks from Los Angeles area
women's clubs found among the Ebell Club of HP materials may be found in 18:14.
Box 18-21
Photographs, scrapbooks, and other graphic material
1914-2002
Physical Description:
2.3 linear ft.
2 letter-size cartons
1 legal-size carton
1 Flat box, 15 x 19
1 map drawer [?]
Box 18, folders 1-5, oversize-folder 3
Photographs and photo-albums
1919-1994
Physical Description:
1.0 linear ft.
Scope and content
Subseries 1, Photographs and photo-albums, comprises photographs associated with the Highland Park Ebell Club.
18:1 is a small (5 x 3.75 inch) photograph album containing portraits of Ebell club namesake Adrian Ebell, his wife, and eight
others, five of them unmarried young women, possibly circa 1870 (1868 written in faint pencil on blank first page); the album
may be a memento of one of the educational tours for young ladies Adrian Ebell was known for arranging.
18:2 contains color photographs taken in 1984 of past Ebell Club members' houses in Highland Park; a portrait and obituary
of a deceased club member; and two images without a clear connection to the HP Ebell Club.
18:3 Group portraits, consists of 6 formal black and white photographic portraits of Ebell club members, circa 1950s.
18:4 Judson photographs album, 1914-1918, consists of over 200 black and white photographs primarily documenting outdoor excursions
of Louise Judson/Judson family at a wide variety of sites around Southern California. While the photographs have no clear
and definite connection to the Ebell Club, several surnames (and one complete name) of individuals identified (including the
Judsons) in photographs appear in Club rosters during the period; as well, a number of photographs depict Highland Park locations
such as the Arroyo Seco. The photographs have two notable emphases: outdoor recreation at scenic natural sites, and a focused
interest in engineered features of landscape including dams, aquaducts, mountain roads, bridges, and so on. In all, the photographs
offer a candid and wide-ranging window into auto-tourism and middle class family sociability in the period. Also included
are photographs dated January 1918 depicting soldiers marching down a main street of what may be Highland Park; also, photographs
of the Tournament of Roses Parade from 1915.
18:5 Member photographs album, 1908-1935, consists of 40 individual black and white portraits of Ebell Club officers, charter
members, and others.
Oversize folder 3 Photo of members at 25th Birthday Anniversay Breakfast, October 2, 1928.
Box 19-21
Scrapbooks
1919-1994
Physical Description:
1.3 linear ft.
2 letter-size cartons
1 legal size carton
Scope and content
The Scrapbooks subseries contains a variety of scrapbooks documenting Ebell Club activities, 1919-1994.
19:1-5 comprises "pressbooks" of sequentially arranged newspaper clippings, probably assembled by club members as part of
assigned committee tasks, 1919-1980;
20:1-8 consists of personal scrapbook pages of color photographs, Ebell Club event programs, clippings and other material,
1977-1985, donated by Club member Marie Stiebeling;
20:9 and 21:5 consist of unattributed color photographs of Ebell social events, circa 1990-1995;
21: 1-4 consists of scrapbooks of color photographs, clippings, and personal correspondence, 1961-1985, contributed to the
Ebell Club by member Ina McCormick.
oversize-folder 1,2
Oversize graphic materials
1966-2003
Physical Description:
1.0 linear ft.
Oversize graphic materials, 23 x 14; 30 x 11.
Scope and content
Oversize graphic materials consists of two sets of items:
1. Award certificates - honorary certificates presented to the Highland Park Ebell Club, 1966 to 2003; dimensions range from
14 x 11 to 23 x 14;
2. Highland Park Avenue circa 1981 - Three rectangular black cardboard panels framing trimmed, linear black and white photographs
of Highland Park storefronts, with some added content in white ink or paint. 23 x 10 inches (1) and 30 x 11 inches (2).
Ebell Clubhouse
1938-2009
Physical Description:
1.8 Linear feet
1 legal-size carton
1 5 x 30 x 5 rolled material container
1 13.5 x 11.5 flat box
Scope and content
Series 4, Highland Park Ebell Clubhouse, 1938-2009, consists of records pertaining to Clubhouse rentals (22:1-8); textual
records pertaining to the physical structure and maintenance of the Ebell Clubhouse, 22:9-19; Ebell Clubhouse guest registers,
23:1-3; and architectural diagrams pertaining to the Ebell Clubhouse, 24:1-4.
Box 22
Highland Park Ebell Clubhouse
1950-1998
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
1 legal-size carton
Scope and content
Subseries 1, Ebell of Highland Park Clubhouse, 1950-2009, has a two-part focus: first, records of Clubhouse rentals, 1959-2009,
22:1-8; and second, textual material pertaining to the physical structure and maintenance of the Ebell Clubhouse,1950-1998,
22:9-18.
Box 23
Ebell Clubhouse guest registers
1938-1994
Physical Description:
1.0 linear ft.
1 flat box, 11.5 x 13.5
Scope and content
Subseries 2 consists of 3 guest registers from the Ebell Clubhouse:
23:1 - 6.5 x 8.5, 1990-1994;
23:2 - 10.5 x 12, 1938 - 1950;
23:3 - 9.5 x 12, 1965-1968.
Box 24
Ebell Clubhouse architectural diagrams
1938-2005
Physical Description:
0.4 linear ft.
(1) 5 x 30 x 5 rolled material box.
Scope and content
Subseries 3, Clubhouse diagrams and blueprints, consists of 4 structural diagrams related to the Ebell Clubhouse.
24:1 Ebell Clubhouse addition, is a blueprint for the addition to the main Ebell Clubhouse built in 1938; Sydney Clifton,
architect.
24:2,3: two architectural diagrams, undated; labeled "Archivision - Robert E.Leach, architect"; one with title "Hunchback
Theatre" - they appear to involve additions to or adaptations of the Clubhouse addition;
24:4 Diagram for Highland Park Ebell Display Cabinet - designer unspecified, 2007.