The Woman's Club has a long history

By: | Times-Dispatch
Published: April 26, 2009

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• Women's groups provide support, sense of community

• The Woman's Club has a long history

Women's clubs across the nation grew from the enthusiasm surrounding the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. For the first time, a Woman's Building showcased women's accomplishments. States contributed everything from needlework to information on women's activities outside the home.

"If you were going to make a grand vacation that year, that's where you went. People came home realizing there are women elsewhere doing all sorts of neat things," said Sandra Treadway, head of the Library of Virginia. She wrote a history of The Woman's Club called "Women of Mark" in 1995 for the Richmond club's centennial.

Jane Crawford Looney Lewis, who gathered 13 friends at her house in 1894 to discuss forming a women's literary and cultural association in Richmond, also was inspired by her sister in Memphis, who had been part of a club there. She wanted the same opportunities here.

"So many of the women's organizations in Richmond, when this one was founded, were founded with some sort of philanthropic, societal or civic purpose," Treadway said. "This one was founded exclusively for the benefit of its members. Even with that, there were some husbands who were suspicious. When women came together, what did it mean? Was this going to be an organization for women's rights? That had to be overcome in some cases."

The heyday of women's clubs generally is considered to be from the 1920s through the late 1940s, Treadway said.

"That's when women's clubs, particularly when they banded together in state and national federations, had a lot of clout. They could lobby politicians on issues they were interested in. Since they had the right to vote, they could make a difference in what mattered to them."

After World War II, women retreated into more traditional roles for a time. Treadway calls the 1950s a transitional period before women's advances in the 1960s into higher education and careers. "You see the dynamics of family changing with more mothers in the workplace, major social changes."

Those changes had an impact on participation in traditional clubs.

"The more opportunities you have for education and self-fulfillment, this doesn't become your only outlet any more," Treadway said. "The more you're juggling, the less time you have for something like this." - Katherine Calos