Title: United Women's Club Records
Inclusive Dates: 1916-1946

Creator:

• United Women's Club (Madison, Wis.)

Call Number: Mss 242

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of a Madison, Wisconsin women's club, founded in 1917, which heavily supported the war efforts of World Wars I and II but served a more purely social function in the interval between the wars. The records date primarily from 1924 to 1946, and include five letters, original and revised versions of the constitution and by-laws, minutes, and a membership book.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00242

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The United Women's Club was organized in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 26, 1917, although the charter members had held a preliminary meeting in October 1916. The purpose of the club was to study currently relevant political questions and to support laws for the welfare of humanity. Membership was open to any woman who was a U.S. citizen or who had declared her intent to be naturalized. Annually the membership elected a president, vice president, recording secretary, corresponding secretary, and treasurer to handle the business of the organization. In this, they were assisted by five standing committees: Program, Social, Membership, Press, and Friendship. There were two meetings a month from mid-September to July 1.

The collection includes no information about the club after 1946.

The records of the United Women's Club, 1916-1946, include 5 letters; several revisions of the original 1917 constitution and bylaws; 4 hand-written minute books, 1924-1945; typed minutes for the period 1937-1946; and a membership book. Although fragmentary, these records, especially the minutes, indicate how the club swung from high moral commitments during the first and second world wars to almost exclusively social pursuits in the years between the wars. During the wars, the club participated in war bond drives, supported rationing and conserving fats, and worked to combat such diseases as tuberculosis and cancer.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Miss Agness Melentine, Madison, Wisconsin, July 1959.

Processing Information

Processed by Eleanor Niermann, October 6, 1972.

Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1917, Sept 6-1946, Jan 15
	Constitution and Bylaws
Box   1 Folder   2	Original, 1916-1917
Box   1 Folder   2	Revised, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	Revised, 1940, Sept 9
	Minute Books
Box   1 Folder   3	1917, Jan 26-1920, Sept 23
Box   1 Folder   4	1925, midsummer-1932, Nov 9
Box   1 Folder   5	1936, Sept 2-Dec 2
Box   1 Folder   6	1943, April 14-1945, Nov 14
	Minutes (Typed)
Box   1 Folder   7	1937, Jan 6-1942, Dec 9
Box   1 Folder   8	1943, Jan 13-1946, Jan
Box   1 Folder   9	Membership Book, 1924-1935