Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Friday Morning Club (Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Abstract:
- Records and papers belonging to the Friday Morning Club, a women's club in Los Angeles, California, from their beginning in 1891 to their dissolution in 2012.
- Extent:
- 45 Linear Feet (54 boxes and 108 volumes)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Friday Morning Club records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Friday Morning Club records consists of materials created by the Club and its members, dating from the year the club started in 1891 to is closure in 2012. These records document the activities of the club such as: philanthropy and charity work; finances; fundraising; ; the various work of the club's committees on science, art, and other topics; the construction of their clubhouses in Los Angeles; and the meeting minutes of both regular meetings and the board. The collection is comprised of subject files, financial and business records, membership applications and cards, manuscripts and essays, and clippings (1770-2012); publications printed by the Friday Morning Club, including their monthly newsletter, and publications printed by other clubs (1850-1993); photograph albums, scrapbooks, and meeting minutes (1891-2012); photographs, certificates, awards, and some objects that belonged to the club, including the bronze plaque that hung at the clubhouse (1890-2000). The collection contains material by and about several prominent members and suffragettes, including Susan B. Anthony, Sarah Bixby Smith, Jessie Benton Frémont, Margaret Collier Graham, Olive Percival, Idah Strobridge, Louise Watkins, Charlotte LeMoyne Wills, and the club's founder Caroline Severance. The collection also contains material about other clubs, including the California Federation of Women's Clubs and California Women of the Golden West.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Friday Morning Club was founded in 1891 by Caroline Severance, Los Angeles suffragist, reformer, and social activist. Caroline Severance and a group of women met at the Hollenbeck Hotel on April 16, 1891 to form a women's club and decided upon the name Friday Morning Club. Caroline Severance would become the club's first president, a position she held until 1894. After moving their meetings to various hotels for several years, the club broke ground on their own clubhouse in September 1899, on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles; it opened in 1900. The club had committees on art, science, literature, home economics, and many others. They also focused much of their work and efforts in philanthropy, volunteering, and the betterment and beautification of Los Angeles. By 1906, the club had over 1,000 members. In 1923 the club re-built a new, bigger clubhouse on the same site. In the 1970s, they sold the building but continued to meet. Due to a steadily declining membership, the club dissolved in 2012.
- Acquisition information:
- The collection is made up of several gifts: Burnham Estate in July 1937; Florence Kreider in the 1950s; The Friday Morning Club in September 1985; and Virginia T. DeZell, last president of the club, in January 2007, and December 2012.
- Appraisal information:
-
During processing in 2020, 4 linear feet of out of scope material, which included some modern financial records and duplicates of publications, were deaccessioned.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Brooke M. Black from December 2019 to March 2020.
- Arrangement:
-
Organized in the following series: I. Subjecy files; II. Publications; III. Albums and bound volumes; IV. Photographs, certificates, awards, and objects.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Feminists -- United States
Suffragists -- United States
Women -- Legal status, laws, etc.
Women -- Societies and clubs
Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Women in charitable work -- California -- Los Angeles (Calif.)
Women philanthropists -- California -- Los Angeles (Calif.)
Women volunteers in social service -- California -- Los Angeles (Calif.)
Womens' rights -- United States
Business records -- California -- 20th century
Clippings (information artifacts)
Financial records -- California -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century
Manuscripts -- California -- 19th century
Manuscripts -- California -- 20th century
Minute books -- California -- 19th century
Minute books -- California -- 20th century
Newsletters -- California -- 20th century
Photographs -- California -- 19th century
Photographs -- California -- 20th century
Scrapbooks -- California -- 20th century - Names:
- California Federation of Women's Clubs
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
Bixby Smith, Sarah, 1871-1935
Frémont, Jessie Benton, 1824-1902
Graham, Margaret Collier, 1850-1910
Percival, Olive, 1869-1945
Severance, Caroline M. Seymour (Caroline Maria Seymour), 1820-1914
Strobridge, Idah Meacham, 1855-1932
Watkins, Louise Ward, 1890-1974
Wills, Charlotte LeMoyne - Places:
- Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
- Terms of access:
-
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Friday Morning Club records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191