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Woman's Club of Downingtown records
Notifications
Held at: Downingtown Area Historical Society [Contact Us]PO Box 9, Downingtown, PA, 19335
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Downingtown Area Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Woman's Club of Downingtown (Chester County, Pennsylvania) was organized in 1914 by Mrs. George Fisher and Miss Jane Ringwalt with Miss Susan Hoopes. It had sixty-two charter members. The club was incorporated in 1922. Also in 1922, the club became federated in the General Federation of Women's Clubs; it separated from the Federation in 2001.
The Woman's Club of Downingtown is still active as of 2014 with a mission "To develop the educational, civic, and special interests of its members and to advance the welfare of the community." The primary activity of the club used to be educational programs for members; over time, the club began increasingly working with local charities and service organizations.
In 1933, the Junior Woman's Club of Downingtown was established "...to maintain an organized center for intellectual, moral and social development among the girls and young women of Downingtown, and to equip them for service in the community. It shall also aim to cooperate with the Senior Club [the Woman's Club of Downingtown] in all of its projects."
Bibliography:
Woman's Club of Downingtown. 2007-2008 Yearbook. Document viewed on-site.
Junior Woman's Club of Downingtown. Constitution and By-Laws. 1933. Document viewed on-site.
This collection consists of various administrative, financial, and other records of the Woman's Club of Downingtown from its founding in 1914 through the beginning of the 21st century. A detailed inventory of the collection is available on-site.
Meeting minutes are included from the Executive Committee (1915-1984) and regular club/monthly meetings (1914-2006). There are also copies of the club's by-laws, constitution, president's reports, and other key documents.
Financial records in the collection includes treasurer's reports (1928-2002) and banking records, as well as a large quantity of documents relating to the purchase, maintenance, and sale of the club house building.
A near complete run of printed yearbooks/calendars, summarizing club activities, members, and officers from the year, are available from 1922 to 2008. There are also programs from various events, especially club anniversaries. Club scrapbooks containing mostly clippings, with some photographs and ephemera, date from 1919 to 1980.
Some materials in the collection relate to various subgroups of the club. From the Junior Woman's Club, there are board minutes (1934-1982), club minutes (1933-1975), scrapbooks (1947-1957), constitutions and bylaws, handbooks, programs, and other items. From the Garden Class, there are directories (1933-1984), minutes (1932-1963), flower show programs (1962-1970), and scrapbooks (1953-1985). From the Literature Class, there are minutes (1950-2000), calendars, accounts, and donation lists.
Most of the collection was given by the Woman's Club of Downingtown, 2008. Some items were gathered from other sources at different times.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Downingtown Area Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Downingtown Area Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Downingtown Area Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.