White Women’s Club Movement
Zach Croson and Emily Watkins
Overall Goal:
Technological advancements in the mid- to late 1800s helped free up time for many
women that used to be devoted to housework. Woman’s clubs began with the goal
of “self-improvement” and intellectual stimulation among women. Eventually they
came to focus on social welfare issues like health and childcare. The movement is
largely decentralized, with many local clubs aiding women of the area. The General
Federation of Women’s Clubs eventually became a governing body for clubs across
the country.
Key People:
Jane Croly (1829-1901)
 Anger at being refused a ticket to meet Charles Dickens with the New York
Press Club led to her founding of Sorosis.
 Aspiring journalist, contributed to The New York Tribune and The New York
Sunday Times
 Married David Croly – editor of New York Herald
 Referred to as the “Mother of Women’s Clubs”
Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
 Famous for contributions to the suffrage movement.
 Helped organize the New England Woman’s Club
 President of Massachussetts Federation of Women’s Clubs
 Author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Harriet Hanson Robinson (1825-1911)
 A co-founder of New England Woman’s Club
 Also organized National Woman Suffrage Association of Massachussetts
Caroline Severance (1820-1914)
 A co-founder of New England Woman’s Club
 Separated herself from radical suffragists (Anthony and Stanton) over whether
women’s suffrage should take precedence over that of black men’s
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
 First woman to win Nobel Peace Prize
 Leader in suffrage movement and other social advocacy programs
 Head of GFWC’s Child Labor Committee, helped spearhead law reforms
 Member of Chicago Woman’s Club
The Poppenheim Sisters (Mary and Louisa)
 Educated at Vassar College; education at a women’s college inspired activism
 Important players in the white women’s club movement in South Carolina
 Attended a conference of GFWC in 1900, worked against the appointment of an
African-American woman
Key Events:
1890: Jane Croly invites delegates from women’s clubs across United States to a
convention, form GFWC.
Key Organizations:
Sorosis (1868)
 First professional woman’s club in the United States. Eventually turned into
GFWC.
 Founded by Jane Croly
General Federation of Women’s Clubs (1890)
 “International women's organization dedicated to community improvement by
enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service.”
 In 1800s, worked towards reforms in child labor, juvenile court laws, other
social reforms
New England Woman’s Club (1868)
 Founded by Julia Ward Howe and Harriet Hanson Robinson
 Other notable members include Ednah Dow Cheney, Mary Livermore, Lucretia
Mott, Elizabeth and Lucretia Peabody, Caroline Severence, and Lucy Stone
 Lecturers in early days included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry James
United Daughters of the Confederacy (1894)
 Promoted by the Poppenheim sisters.
 Purpose: to preserve memory of those that served the Confederacy
References:
Everist, Robyn. “Women Stretching Outwards: Feminism and the Club Woman
Movement in the United States at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Lilith
Issue 2 (1985): 30-41.
Flexner, Eleanor and Ellen Fitzpatrick. Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights
Movement in the United States. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1996.
Haarsager, Sandra L. “From Study to Action: The Impact of a Half-Century of
Women’s Club Activism in the Northwest.” Journal of the West Vol. 42 Issue 3
(2003): 9-16
Johnson, J. (2002). Southern Women at Vassar: The Poppenheim family letters, 18821916. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Scott, Anne Firor. Natural Allies: Women’s Associations in American History. Urbana
and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993.