Philomathean Club Records, 1899-2002

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Summary

Title:
Philomathean Club records
Dates:
1899-2002
Creators:
Philomathean Club
Abstract:
The collection contains four principal elements: yearbooks, scrapbooks, minute books, and financial records.
Extent:
12 linear feet
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Philomathean Club records. MSS 295. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains four principal elements: yearbooks, scrapbooks, minute books, and financial records. There are also a number of miscellaneous items of interest, including: a list of gifts received by the club (1912-1982), some records of the Girls' Auxiliary (1965-1971), records of the Annual Card Party (1964-1996) and the Corresponding Secretary's lists of correspondents (1955-1964).

Biographical / historical:

The Philomathean Reading Club, a women's club of Stockton, California, was organized November 17, 1893. Its object was "the cultivation of literary taste and the promotion of study." When membership had grown to about 300, the Club established a Philomathean Building Association for the purpose of raising funds for a club building (1910). By the following year, the Club had raised enough money to acquire a lot at Hunter and Acacia streets and to hire W.E. Wood and Son to build a clubhouse on the site. The first meeting in the completed clubhouse took place on February 9, 1912. The two-story building contained an upstairs lecture hall/ballroom and downstairs kitchen and meeting rooms.

In 1982 the club voted to be excluded from the Magnolia Historical District so that the membership could continue to exercise control over their building. Subsequently, as a result of several break-ins, expensive building repairs, and a decline in membership, the Philomatheans relinquished their historic clubhouse to the City of Stockton (2001).

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Don Walker
Date Prepared:
© 2006
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Shan Sutton. Date of source: November 17, 2006.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

Philomathean Club records. MSS 295. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.

Location of this collection:
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University Library
Stockton, CA 95211, US
Contact:
(209) 946-2404
Website