The New England Women's Club (est. May 1868) of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, was one of the two earliest

women's clubs 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 always been a par ...

in the United States, having been founded a couple of months after

Sorosis Sorosis Club rules in 1869 Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. It was established in March 1868 in New York City. History The club was organized in New York City with 12 members in March 1868, by Jane Cunningham ...

in New York City.''The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge'', vol. 2, 1920, p. 466.Ella Giles Ruddy, ed
''The Mother of Clubs: Caroline M. Seymour Severance: An Estimate and an Appreciation''
Baumgardt Pub. Co., 1906 Enda Dow Cheney

History

Harriet Hanson Robinson Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson (February 8, 1825 – December 22, 1911) worked as a bobbin doffer in a Massachusetts cotton mill and was involved in a turnout, became a poet and author, and played an important role in the women's suffrage movement i ...

, founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association of Massachusetts, and suffragist

Caroline Severance Caroline Maria Seymour Severance (1820–1914) was an American abolitionist, suffragist, and founder of women's clubs. Early life and education Caroline Maria Seymour was born on January 12, 1820, in Canandaigua, New York, the daughter of a bank ...

worked with

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe (; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the " Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...

to organize the club. In 1868, "club rooms were first secured in ... the rear of the popular Tremont House. On May 30, 1868, the first meeting to introduce the New England Woman's Club to the public was held in Chickering Hall." The club incorporated in 1887; Sarah H. Bradford,

Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney (June 27, 1824 – November 19, 1904) was an American writer, reformer, and philanthropist. She was born on Beacon Hill, Boston, June 27, 1824; and was educated in private schools in Boston. Cheney served as secretary ...

, Lucy Goddard, Abby W. May, L. M. Peabody, Harriet M. Pittman, Harriet Winslow Sewall, and Kate Gannett Wells served as signatories. By 1893, some 340 members belonged to the club. Publisher and activist

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (August 31, 1842 – March 13, 1924) was an African-American publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist, and editor of the '' Woman's Era'', the first national newspaper published by and for African-Ameri ...

was the first African-American woman to join the organization, when she joined in the mid-1890s. Although the club was run by and for women, men were allowed to join. A few men had attended the initial meeting, including

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

James Freeman Clarke James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888) was an American minister, theologian and author. Biography Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on April 4, 1810, James Freeman Clarke was the son of Samuel Clarke and Rebecca Parker Hull, though h ...

Octavius Brooks Frothingham Octavius Brooks Frothingham (November 26, 1822 – November 27, 1895) was an American clergyman and author. Biography He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1793–1870), a prominent Unitarian preacher ...

Thomas Wentworth Higginson Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823May 9, 1911) was an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, politician, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with ...

, and

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...

. Of these, Emerson, Clarke, and Higginson all became members. At this time, in Boston, there existed a few other clubs for women, including "the Saturday Morning Club, the Brains Club and the Young Ladies Club, the members of which are in general high-toned persons, interested in intellectual and philanthropic matters." The goal of the New England Women's Club was to "provide a suitable place of meeting in Boston for the convenience of its members, and to promote social enjoyment and general improvement." Committees oversaw club activities with regard to "Art and Literature," "Discussions," "Education," and "Work." "Monday Teas" were held every week. In its first year, club members set about organizing a horticultural school. Lectures occurred frequently, given by both club members and invited speakers. Among the many lecturers in the club's first decades were:

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

, Amos Bronson Alcott, George Thorndike Angell, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Annie Adams Fields Annie Adams Fields (June 6, 1834 – January 5, 1915) was an American writer. Among her writings are collections of poetry and essays as well as several memoirs and biographies of her literary acquaintances. She was also interested in philanthrop ...

James T. Fields James Thomas Fields (December 31, 1817 – April 24, 1881) was an American publisher, editor, and poet. His business, Ticknor and Fields, was a notable publishing house in 19th century Boston. Biography Early life and family He was born in ...

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in '' Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...

, Thomas Wentworth Higginson,

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, and

Mary Tyler Peabody Mann Mary Tyler Mann ( Peabody; November 16, 1806 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts – February 11, 1887 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts) was a teacher, author, and mother. She was the wife of Horace Mann, American education reformer and politician. E ...

Buildings

1903 NewCenturyBuilding HuntingtonAve Boston

Around 1903, the club moved its headquarters from Park Street to the newly constructed New Century Building on

Huntington Avenue Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods. Huntington Avenue is signed as Route 9 ...

, designed by architect

Josephine Wright Chapman Josephine Wright Chapman (1867–1943) was a pioneering woman architect, one of fewer than 100 practicing nationally in the first half of the 20th century. She was also the first woman architect "in the history of American architecture to start an ...

. In 1909, the club moved into the newly constructed Chauncy Hall Building at 585 Boylston Street, and it was there as late as 1922.

Notable members

Adelaide Avery Claflin Adelaide Avery Claflin (July 28, 1846 – May 31, 1931) was an American woman suffragist and ordained minister. She became an ordained Unitarian minister at Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1897. She preached in Connecticut, Canada and the West. Sh ...

* Sarah Stoddard Eddy *

* Harriet Ann Jacobs * Rebecca Richardson Joslin *

Mary Livermore Mary Livermore (born Mary Ashton Rice; December 19, 1820May 23, 1905) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. Her printed volumes included: ''Thirty Years Too Late,'' first published in 1847 as a prize temperance ...

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...

Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...

* Harriet Winslow Sewall * Lucy Stone.Julia A. Sprague
''History of the New England Women's Club from 1868 to 1893''
Boston:

Lee & Shepard __NOTOC__ Lee & Shepard (1862-1905) was a publishing and bookselling firm in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century, established by William Lee (1826–1906) and Charles Augustus Billings Shepard (1829–1889) Authors published by the firm i ...

, 1894 Helen M. Winslow. "The Story of the Woman's Club Movement"
''New England Magazine''
July 1908.''Daily Inter Ocean'' (Chicago), April 20, 1889. * May Alden Ward *

Kate Gannett Wells Kate Gannett Wells (1838 – 1911) was an American writer and social reformer, and a prominent member of the anti-suffragist movement in the United States. Wells served on the Massachusetts Board of Education for twenty-four years beginning in 188 ...

References

External links

* Harvard Universit
New England Women's Club. Records, 1843-1970: A Finding Aid
* Boston Athenaeum
Dickens party at the New England Woman’s Club
1905; photo by

Elmer Chickering Elmer Chickering (1857–1915) was a photographer specializing in portraits in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He kept a studio on West Street, and photographed politicians, actors, athletes and other public figu ...

. "Group portrait taken at a party at which club members dressed in costume as characters from the novels of Charles Dickens. Handwritten key on verso identifies three of the members as Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, the hostess, who founded the club in 1868; Mrs. Daniel Lothrop dressed as Betsey Trotwood; and Mrs. Leo Hunter." Organizations based in Boston 1868 establishments in Massachusetts History of Boston 19th century in Boston Women's clubs in the United States History of women in Massachusetts Women in Boston {{Authority control

History

Buildings

Notable members

References

Further reading

External links