Collection Guide
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Guide to the Writers' Club of San Diego Records
MS 85
MS 85
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Table of contents
Title: Writers' Club of San Diego Records
Identifier/Call Number: MS 85
Contributing Institution:
San Diego History Center Document Collection
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1915-1965
Abstract: This collection on the Writers' Club of San Diego, established in 1915 to encourage and promote the work of local writers,
includes a variety of official and business documents, club and member correspondence, and works composed by club members.
creator:
Writers' Club of San Diego.
This collection is open for research.
The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number 641112.
Writers' Club of San Diego Records, MS 85, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.
Biographical / Historical Notes
The Writers’ Club of San Diego was inspired in the summer of 1915 by the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, and
was incorporated in December of that year. The group’s objectives were “to endeavor by mutual help and encouragement to maintain
high ideals of work,” “to strive to secure suitable marketing for such [manuscripts] as have passed the censorship of the
Club,” and “to offer the hospitality of the club to visitors of San Diego who have attained eminence in the intellectual world.”
The Club was originally comprised of women although men were allowed to become members in the 1930s. To qualify for active
membership, one had to have received remuneration for an original manuscript. Club officers were elected on an annual basis.
The Club held regular meetings semi-monthly; meetings involved administrative matters, readings and criticisms of members’
works, and sometimes an invited speaker. Club members published a variety of writings, including fiction, poetry, book reviews,
travel writing, educational articles, and children’s works.
The collection consists of a variety of documents detailing the establishment of the club, its members, and its business practices
and regular activities. Highlights include the Club’s Articles of Incorporation, Club constitution, a membership pledge signed
by charter members, meeting minutes, Board of Directors meeting minutes, yearbooks, scrapbooks, members’ writings of poetry
and non-fiction, and extensive newspaper clippings about the club’s meetings, activities, and events.
The items in this collection are arranged by subject.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Some meeting minutes are faded. (June 2, 2011)
Collection processed by Jennifer Ho on June 2, 2011.
Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous
funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Scrapbooks were previously separated from the collection and are located in SB 63. The scrapbooks include:
Five scrapbooks with dates ranging from 1939-1969 - four created by Mrs. May Chapman Starkey and one by Helen W. Dinsmore,
the Club's historian. Newspaper clippings concerning the Club and its members; poetic works by Club members; "year books"
created and distributed by the organization; documents from the Club such as the typed "Constitution and By-laws"; letters
to members; and some black and white photographs depicting members and Club activites.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Arsenault, Florence Crosby
Atwood, Lovina
Bothell, Elysabeth A. M.
Davidson, Winifred
Frazee, Mary
Gatrell, Fannie
Gray, Kate Joy
Gue, Belle Wiley
Jordan, Mabel Woolever
Lester, Hannah
Lorraine, Lilith, 1894-1967
Loucks, Effie Wells
McDowell, Belle Lane
McNeil, Elizabeth S.
Nida, Stella Humphrey
Penman, Satella Jacques
Stanford, Ida Ghent
Starkey, May Chapman
Strutton Elliot, Rebecca
Thorpe, Leona Edginton
Thorpe, Rose Hartwick
Trelease, Olive W.
Writers' Club of San Diego.
Yates, Maribel
Fiction -- Authorship -- Poetry
Fiction authorship
San Diego (Calif.)
Women -- Societies and clubs
Women writers