Madison civic leader Clara Liscomb Proudfit was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Although the date of her birth is uncertain it is known that she came to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1883 after her marriage to Andrew Ellis Proudfit, a prominent local businessman. Like her husband, Mrs. Proudfit was involved in many civic organizations. She was a charter member of the Madison Woman's Club; chairman and organizer of the Madison Orchestral Association; and a member of the Juvenile Protective Association, the Colonial Dames, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. During World War I she was chairman of the speaker's bureau and a member of the executive board of the Woman's Committee of the Dane County Council of Defense. Through its various working committees on health, recreation, and food conservation, the woman's committee sought to involve women in the community in the war efforts. When the woman's committee reorganized on May 22, 1919 as the Dane County community League in order to continue its wartime cooperative activities, Mrs. Proudfit served as a member of its executive board. In 1922 she was an organizer and subsequently the chairman of the Public Opinion Committee, an organization dedicated to betterment of the community. The majority of the work of the Public Opinion Committee was devoted to the problem of unregulated public dances. As a result of concern for the situation which surrounded these dances especially in rural areas, the Public Opinion Committee was partially responsible for the passage of the Ridgeway Law which permitted Wisconsin counties to regulate dance halls.
Clara Proudfit died in 1943.
