Federation Of Women's Clubs, D.C. Leaders Of Delegation To White House, 1914: Mrs. Ellis Logan; Mrs. H.W. Wiley; Miss E. Shippen; Mrs. R.C. Darr; Miss M. McNeilanGeneral Federation of Women's Clubs pamphlet on roadside beautification and billboard restriction.
The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of approximately 2,300 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Community Service Projects (CSP) are organized by local clubs for the benefit of their communities or GFWC's Affiliate Organization (AO) partnerships. GFWC maintains nearly 60,000 members[1] throughout the United States and internationally. GFWC is one of the world's largest and oldest nonpartisan, nondenominational, women's volunteer service organizations.[2]The GFWC headquarters is located in Washington, D.C.
The GFWC was founded by Jane Cunningham Croly, a leading New York journalist. In 1868 she helped found the Sorosis club for professional women. It was the model for the nationwide GFWC in 1890.
In 1889, Croly organized a conference in New York that brought together delegates from 61 women's clubs. The women formed a permanent organization in 1890 with Charlotte Emerson Brown as its first president.[3] In 1901 it was granted a charter by Congress. Dietz proclaimed, "We look for unity, but unity in diversity" and that became the GFWC motto. Southern white women played a central role in the early years.[4]
Local women's clubs initially joined the General Federation directly but later came into membership through state federations that began forming in 1892. The GFWC also counts international clubs among its members.
In 1900, the GFWC met in Milwaukee, and Josephine Ruffin, a black journalist, tried to attend as a representative of three Boston organizations – the New Era Club, the New England Woman's Club and the New England Woman's Press Club. Southern women led by president Rebecca Douglas Lowe, a Georgia native, told Ruffin that she could be seated as an honorary representative of the two white clubs but would not seat a black club. She refused on principle and was excluded from the proceedings. These events became known as "The Ruffin Incident" and were widely covered in newspapers around the country, most of whom supported Ruffin.[5][6][7]
In a time when women's rights were limited, the state federation chapters held grassroots efforts to make sure the woman's voice was heard. Through monthly group meetings to annual charter meetings, women of influential status within their communities could have their feelings heard. They were able to meet with state officials in order to have a say in community events. Until the right to vote was granted, these women's clubs were the best outlet for women to be heard and taken seriously.
Women's clubs spread very rapidly after 1890, taking up some of the slack left by the decline of the WCTU and the temperance movement. Local clubs at first were mostly reading groups focused on literature, but increasingly became civic improvement organizations of middle-class women meeting in each other's homes weekly. The clubs avoided controversial issues that would divide the membership, especially religion and the prohibition issue. In the south and east, suffrage was also highly divisive, while there was little resistance to it among clubwomen in the west. In the midwest, clubwomen first avoided the suffrage issue out of caution, but after 1900 increasingly came to support it.[8]
GFWC clubwomen outside N Street headquarters, Washington DC, ca.1920s
Representative activities
Historian Paige Meltzer puts the GFWC in the context of the Progressive Movement, arguing that its policies:
built on Progressive-era strategies of municipal housekeeping. During the Progressive era, female activists used traditional constructions of womanhood, which imagined all women as mothers and homemakers, to justify their entrance into community affairs: as "municipal housekeepers," they would clean up politics, cities, and see after the health and wellbeing of their neighbors. Donning the mantle of motherhood, female activists methodically investigated their community's needs and used their "maternal" expertise to lobby, create, and secure a place for themselves in an emerging state welfare bureaucracy, best illustrated perhaps by clubwoman Julia Lathrop's leadership in the US Children's Bureau. As part of this tradition of maternal activism, the Progressive-era General Federation supported a range of causes from the pure food and drug administration to public health care for mothers and children to a ban on child labor, each of which looked to the state to help implement their vision of social justice.[9]
General Federation of Women's Clubs logo in 1902
Kansas was a representative state, as the women's clubs joined with local chapters of the WCTU and other organizations to deal with social issues. The clubs continued to feature discussions of current literature, culture, and civic events, but they also broadened to include public schools, local parks, sanitation, prostitution, and protection of children.[10]
Paula Watson has shown that across the country the clubs supported the local Carnegie public library, as well as traveling libraries for rural areas. They promoted state legislation to fund and support libraries, especially to form library extension programs. GFWC affiliates worked with the American Library Association, state library associations, and state library commissions and gave critical support to library education programs at the universities.[11]
Many clubs were especially concerned with uplifting the neglected status of American Indians. They brought John Collier into the forefront of the debate when they appointed him the research agent for the Indian Welfare Committee in 1922. The GFWC took a leadership role in opposing assimilation policies, supporting the return of Indian lands, and promoting more religious and economic independence.[12] For example, southwestern clubs help support the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) and became advocates and consumers for authentic Native American arts and crafts.[13] Even more important, in western states, GFWC affiliates cooperated with Collier when he served (1933–45) as the New Deal's Commissioner for Indian affairs in his campaign to reverse federal policies designed to assimilate Indians into the national culture.
In May 1925 Edith Brake West conducted a survey of county organizations which was recognized by the National Federation of Women's Clubs. For the first time in the history of federated clubs, the accomplishments and the organization of these bodies were set forth.[14]
The membership peaked at 850,000 in 16,000 clubs in 1955, and has declined to about 70,000 in the 21st century as middle-class women moved into the public mainstream. During the Cold War era, the GFWC promoted the theme that American women had a unique ability to preserve world peace while strengthening the nation internally through local, national, and international community activism.[15] The remaining 70,000 members are older now, and have less influence in national affairs.[16] The affiliated clubs in every state and more than a dozen countries work locally "to support the arts, preserve natural resources, advance education, promote healthy lifestyles, encourage civic involvement, and work toward world peace and understanding".[17]
In 2009, GFWC members raised over $39 million on behalf of more than 110,000 projects, and volunteered more than 4.1 million hours in the communities where they live and work.[18]
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), one of the oldest women's volunteer organizations, seeks to build global communities where people unite in diversity and dedicate their service to changing lives. GFWC celebrates the engagement of people of all backgrounds and believes in fostering an inclusive, equitable climate, and culture where community members can thrive. (Adopted on June 9, 2023)
Helen Bagg, for several years served as chairman of Literature for Illinois Fed. of Women's Clubs[19]
Mrs. L. Dow Balliett (1847–1929), helped select the organization's "little blue pin"
Alice Barnett, Southern District chairman, California Fed. of Women's Clubs, for Motion Pictures; local chairman of Motion Pictures; president of San Bernardino Women's Club[19]
Annie Little Barry, Served for many years as State Parliamentarian of the California Fed. of Women's Clubs[19]
Nellie T. Bush, member of State Legislative Commission, Federation of Women's Clubs[19]
Mary Ryerson Butin, district chairman of Public Welfare, for California Federation of Women's Clubs[19]
Grace Richardson Butterfield, President, City and County Fed. of Women's Clubs of San Francisco, State and District chairman of Junior membership, California Fed. of Women's Clubs[19]
Katherine Davis Cumberson, member of State Executive Board, California Fed. Women's Clubs, for 6 years chairman of its Committee of International Relations, founder and honorary president Lake County Fed. Women's Clubs[19]
Sophia Julia Coleman Douglas, founder and first president of the Federation of Women's Clubs for Oklahoma and Indian Territories (1898)[23]
Saidie Orr Dunbar, Oregon State and National Organization of Women's Clubs, elected President of the (National) General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) in 1938[19]
Oda Faulconer, State Chairman of American Citizenship of the California Federation of Women's Clubs[19]
Harrye R. P. Smith Forbes, For twelve years was State or District Chairman of California History and Landmarks Dept. for California Fed. of Women's Clubs[19]
Abigail Keasey Frankel, President of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. She was member of the Board of the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs and President of the 8th District of the Missouri Federation. She was the President of the Portland Woman's Club and the chairman of the finance of the Woman's Building association[19]
Fanny G. Hazlett, in 1932 was presented with a certificate by the General Federation of Women's Club for being the oldest American born mother in the state of Nevada[25]
Maude B. Helmond, For six years was Child Welfare Chairman for Federated Women's Clubs of Alameda District during which time she was instrumental in establishing Well Baby Clinics in the schools[19]
Ada Waite Hildreth, San Diego County and Southern District Chairman, Indian welfare, California Fed. of Women's Clubs, Second Vice-President, San Diego County Fed. of Women's Clubs[19]
Lotta Hetler James, chairman Child Welfare, San Joaquin Valley and State Fed. Women's Clubs, chairman, Resolution Committee, State Fed. Women's Clubs[19]
Hope Pyburn Johnson, for two terms District chairman, Public Health, California Fed. Women's Clubs[19]
Antoinette Kinney, founder and first president of the Utah Federation of Women's Clubs[26]
Edith O. Kitt, Tucson Woman's Club (president), Southern Arizona District Federation Women's Clubs (president), Arizona State Federation Women's Clubs (president)[19]
Nannie S. Brown Kramer, organizer, vice-president and chairman of the Oakland Women's City Club; this club had three thousand members and erected a new building which cost $600,000.00[19]
Ruth Karr McKee, Washington State Federarion of Women's Clubs and Director of the General Federation[19]
Jane Brunson Marks, served as Philanthropic Chairman of Woman's Club of Burbank and was the President of Woman's Club of Burbank from 1927 to 1928 and reelected from 1928 to 1929[19]
Helen Norton Stevens, editor of the official bulletin of the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs and chairman of Civic Department of the Seattle Woman's Club[19]
Edith Brake West, From 1911 to 1914, president of the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs, and from 1918 to 1920 she was director from Nevada of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She was vice-chairman of the Junior Memberships of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She was the life secretary of the Presidents of 1912 of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She compiled a collection of Nevada Poems for the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs[19]
Zitkála-Šá (1876–1938), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin.[35] A Yankton Dakota writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist, she joined the GFWC in 1921, was active in its women's rights efforts, and created the Indian Welfare Committee in 1924. She co-founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926.
Julia Clifford Lathrop was an American social reformer in the area of education, social policy, and children's welfare. As director of the United States Children's Bureau from 1912 to 1922, she was the first woman ever to head a United States federal bureau.
The Atlanta Woman’s Club is one of oldest non-profit woman’s organizations in Atlanta, organized November 11, 1895. It is a 501(c)3 non-profit philanthropic organization made up of professional women of all ages, races and religions.
Charlotte Emerson Brown was an American woman notable as the creator and first president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), a progressive women's movement in America beginning in the 1890s. During her presidency, membership expanded quickly from 50 cultural clubs to several hundred, and grew to representing tens of thousands of women. She was instrumental in the GFWC's formation of state-level organizations.
Czarina Conlan (1871-1958) was a Choctaw-Chickasaw archivist and museum curator. She worked at the Oklahoma Historical Society museum for 24 years. She founded the first woman's club in Indian Territory and served as the chair of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Committee of the Oklahoma State Federation of Women's Clubs for 12 years. She was the first woman elected to serve on a school board in the state. Although the Attorney General of Oklahoma ruled she could not serve, she defied the order and completed a two-year term on the Lindsay School Board.
The Charlotte Woman's Club (CWC) is the oldest civic organization in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte Woman's club was and still is very active in the community. They established the first kindergarten in the city. During both world wars, they staffed city buses and the Southern Railway station with volunteers. They were also involved with organizing the YWCA, PTA and Traveler's Aid in Charlotte. They also brought the first public health nurses to Charlotte and helped create the League of Women Voters. The CWC also supported the creation of the Mint Museum of Art and the Domestic Relations Court.
The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had existed earlier, it was not until the Progressive era (1896–1917) that they came to be considered a movement. The first wave of the club movement during the progressive era was started by white, middle-class, Protestant women, and a second phase was led by African-American women.
The Woman's Era Club was an African-American women's civic organization founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in between 1892 and 1894 by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. The club was the first black women's club in Boston. The organization was especially well known for the conflict caused when Ruffin attempted to desegregate the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) in 1900.
Elizabeth Bender Roe Cloud was an Ojibwe activist and educator. She graduated in 1907 with teaching credentials from the Hampton Institute, a government native American boarding school in Virginia, and part of the U.S. government's attempt to civilize American Indians. After graduating from Hampton, Elizabeth continued in the teacher training program there and became a teacher for the Indian Service in Browning, Montana in 1908 and taught nationwide until 1916. She then joined her husband, Henry Roe Cloud, and helped administer the American Indian Institute of Wichita, Kansas for twenty-five years. In the 1940s, she founded the Oregon Trails Women's Club with tribe members from the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She served as the National Chair of Indian Welfare for the General Federation of Women's Clubs for eight years, the first American Indian to hold the post. Roe Cloud received the National Mother of the Year award in 1950 and in 1952, she was honored as the "Outstanding Indian" of the year by the American Indian Exposition of Anadarko, Oklahoma. She is noted for having used her influence as an educated indigenous woman to advocate for Native American self-determination.
Una Richardson Winter was a Southern Californian club woman, women's suffrage leader, and director of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Committee of California.
The Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs (KFWC) is a community and civic umbrella organization for women in Kentucky. It was founded in 1894 and is affiliated with the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC). The KFWC helped bring about various reforms in Kentucky and expanded educational opportunities to citizens.
Edith Brake West was an American educator. She conducted a ground-breaking survey of county organizations which was recognized by the National Federation of Women's Clubs.
Jane Denio Smith Hutchinson was the president of the Tri County Federation of Women's Clubs.
Isabel "Bell" Harris Ellis was the president of the Riverside Woman's Club.
Edith Vosburgh Alvord (1875–1962) was an American suffragist and active Detroit clubwoman.
The California State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs Inc. (CSACWC), was a woman's club formed in 1906 with the mission of serving the needs of California's African-American women and children.
The Federation of Women's Clubs for Oklahoma and Indian Territories was formed in May, 1898. The motto selected for the organization was "Kindliness and Helpfulness". The first president was Sophia Julia Coleman Douglas.
Arcada Stark Balz was an American educator, clubwoman, and politician in the state of Indiana who became the first woman elected to the Indiana Senate, serving two consecutive four-year terms from 1943 to 1950 and representing Johnson and Marion Counties. Prior to entering politics, Balz was a teacher in the Indianapolis public schools and a leader in the woman's club movement in the state. Balz was the president of the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs from 1935 to 1937. In addition, she served as president of the New Harmony Memorial Commission from 1939 to 1947.
Antoinette Brown Kinney (1862–1945) was an American politician and community leader who served in the Utah State Senate.
Dorothea Dutcher Buck was an American clubwoman. She was a president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) from 1947 to 1950.
↑ Mary Jane Smith, "The Fight to Protect Race and Regional Identity within the General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1895–1902." Georgia Historical Quarterly (2010): 479–513 in JSTOR
↑ "Race Discrimination", Congregationalist 85:24, 1900 June 14.
↑ "Color-Line in Women's Clubs", Congregationalist 86:6, 1901 February 9
↑ Stephen M. Buechler, The Transformation of the Woman Suffrage Movement: The Case of Illinois, 1850–1920 (1986) pp 154–57
↑ Paige Meltzer, "The Pulse and Conscience of America" The General Federation and Women's Citizenship, 1945–1960," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (2009), Vol. 30 Issue 3, p52-76. online
↑ June O. Underwood, "Civilizing Kansas: Women's Organizations, 1880–1920," Kansas History (1984) 7#4 pp 291–306.
↑ Paula D. Watson, "Founding mothers: The contribution of women's organizations to public library development in the United States." Library Quarterly (1994) pp: 233–269 in JSTOR.
↑ Karin L. Huebner, "An Unexpected Alliance: Stella Atwood, the California Clubwomen, John Collier, and the Indians of the Southwest, 1917–1934," Pacific Historical Review (2009) 78#3 pp: 337–366 in JSTOR
↑ Jennifer McLerran, "Clubwomen, Curators and Traders," American Indian Art Magazine (2011) 36#4 pp 54–92
Houde, Mary Jean. Reaching Out: A Story of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (Washington, DC: General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1989). ISBN978-0-916371-08-1
Meltzer, Paige. "The Pulse and Conscience of America" The General Federation and Women's Citizenship, 1945–1960," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (2009), Vol. 30 Issue 3, p52-76. online
White, Kristin Kate, "Training a Nation: The General Federation of Women's Clubs' Rhetorical Education and American Citizenship, 1890–1930" (PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, 2010). DA3429649.
Epstein, Joel (2022). "The Women of America". Music for the Love of It: Episodes in Amateur Music-Making. Juwal Publications. ISBN978-9659278237.
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