Art Center Wives Club, 1956-1977

Collection context

Summary

Title:
Art Center Wives Club
Dates:
1956-1977
Creators:
Art Center Wives Club
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.
Extent:
.5 linear foot 1 box
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

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

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Physical location:
Art Center Archives
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Annastasia Wolfe
Date Prepared:
© 2007
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Robert Dirig. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: November 15, 2007.

Access and use

Restrictions:

No restrictions. Collection is open for research by appointment.

Terms of access:

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.

Location of this collection:
950 S. Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105, US
Contact:
(626) 396-2208