The Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs (KFWC) is a community and civic

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for women in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. It was founded in 1894 and is affiliated with the

General Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...

(GFWC). The KFWC helped bring about various reforms in Kentucky and expanded educational opportunities to citizens.

About

The Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs (KFWC) was created in July 1894, when several women met in Lexington to form the group. It was the fourth state federation of women's clubs to become affiliated with the

(GFWC). The club has held annual meetings since the first one in 1985 at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. By 1898, the KFWC had thirty clubs it represented throughout the state. In 1909, there were 85 different organizations in the KFWC. By 1921, there were 150 clubs and around 16,000 individual clubwomen. These women were white and were generally upper-class to middle class. KFWC has been headquartered in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

since 1954. Prior to the creation of the club building, important papers for the KFWC had traveled with the president of the organization. The group has recently changed its name to the General Federation of Women's Clubs Kentucky. The organization's current departments are education, art, conservation, home life, international affairs and public affairs.

Reform efforts

One of the first projects the KFWC was involved with was to work on education through libraries. The KFWC took over operations of the

traveling library A traveling library is a collection of books lent for stated periods by a central library to a branch library, club, or other organization or, in some instances, to an individual. The chief characteristics from which it derives its name are its temp ...

that had been started by the Louisville Monday Afternoon Club in 1887. In 1910, after the KFWC persuaded the state to create a public organization for libraries, the traveling and public libraries in Kentucky were turned over to the new Kentucky Library Commission. Later, the KFWC helped provide books for the pack horse libraries in the late 1930s. KFWC was involved in reforming the school system in Kentucky. In the early 1900s, there was no compulsory education in Kentucky and a high rate of

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

. The education committee of the KFWC created reports on the status of Kentucky's education system. These reports were shared with newspapers and used to influence citizens and politicians. In 1908, legislation was finally passed to support schools financially in Kentucky. By 1909, KFWC was urging citizens to vote for women to serve on school boards. KFWC was involved in conservation of natural land. KFWC was involved in preserving

Mammoth Caves Mammoth Cave National Park is an American national park in west-central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. Since the 1972 unification of Mammoth Cave with the even-longer system under ...

. Members on the conservation committee have spoken out against

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

in Kentucky. KFWC helped to establish the Kentucky Society for the Prevention of Blindness. They were also involved with backing the creation of the

Frontier Nursing Service The Frontier Nursing Service was founded in 1925 by Mary Breckinridge and provides healthcare services to rural, underserved populations and educates nurse-midwives. The Service maintains six rural healthcare clinics in eastern Kentucky, the Ma ...

. KFWC was also involved in the fight for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Women's clubs in the United States History of women in Kentucky