USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 48
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The Kansas City Star has also generously given a large and interesting collection secured by the Thirty-second Infantry U. S. Volunteers while in the Philippine country.
The K. W. Aldrich collection contains many beautiful objects from China and Japan.
The John Morley and the Herbert J. Snodgrass collections contain a large variety of rare and interesting eggs, from all parts of the country, while O. C. Sheley confines his collection to the eggs of Jackson county, except a set of Golden eagle eggs from New Mexico.
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The museum is indebted to Dr. A. H. Cordier for several beautiful specimens of mounted elk, caribou and moose heads.
Mrs. Chester A. Snider has also given a very desirable collection of mounted animal heads and birds.
The Kansas City Stock Yards Company presented a mounted buffalo, one of the largest and finest specimens.
The museum is indebted to so large a number of people that it will be impossible in this connection to give all credit by personal mention.
Here are found clews to lost ages, relies of unknown races, specimens from the Mound builders, strange tablets, hieroglyphics, phehistoric pottery, garments, clothing, blankets, skins, war bonnets, moccasins, bows and ar- rows, war clubs, boats, hunting and fishing implements, pipes, ancient utensils, presenting the primitive beginning of man and of races long since forgotten. Persons interested in the early history of America find here an opportunity to examine a great mass of valuable material; suffi- cient for a liberal education if they will but successfully master the objects before them.
The student finds many examples of the rude arts and customs and traces the development from aboriginal life in a low state of barbarism to a primitive and semi-civilized people. Although in some cases all efforts . of the scientist to solve the use to which certain objects were put, has been in vain.
Several enthusiastic experts and collectors of note, who have visited this museum pronounce it for size and varicty one of the best to illustrate the object for which museums are maintained.
A museum is designed as a record of the progress of the ages; and to show the people who live, what and who were their predecessors. No prob- lem connected with one's education is of deeper interest and as commu- nities recognize this fact, public museums are established.
The Daniel B. Dyer Museum needs a new and more commodious hab- itation ; there is not space to. properly display the objects now in the build- ing, to say nothing of the future growth of the institution.
The museum is under the control of the Board of Education, with Mrs. Amelia Jacobs, as curator.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
WOMEN'S CLUBS.
The first clubs were women's clubs,-so the sociologists tell us. Away back there in the "dim, red dawn of man"
MRS. J. C. HORTON.
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* when the Prehistorie spring
Made the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and shove;
And the troll and gnome and dwerg, and the Gods of Cliff and Berg Were about me and beneath me and above,"
the women folks first foregathered into what the sociologists call "groups," the original nuclei of social order and control. It fell to their lot to do this because the men were too busy fighting with one another. Here in these prehistoric "groups" were crudely germinated Sympathy, Sociability and 'Justice-the three fundamentals of social order; and the first work of the first woman's club, or group, was to win over to their cause the more peace- ful and home loving men, not necessarily, we may suppose, the "mollycoddles," but the sensible ones who the soonest found out that there was more in life than fighting.
Times have changed since the Neolithic age, but human nature is the same old human nature, and while splendid sky-scraping clubhouses have displaced the caves, and while the primitive elements of Sympathy, Sociability and Justice, have expanded into the beautiful domains of Art and Ethics and Government, women's clubs are still doing the work of their earlier sis- ters, -- projecting their group-forces into the struggle for existence and seek- ing by their influences to make the men do less fighting for that existence and to work in harmony with the ideals of the "good, the true, and the beau- tiful." This may sound a little fanciful and fairy-story-like, but in its just analysis it will be found to be a fact, just the same.
Kansas City, in its marvelous development as a social center, owes much to its women and to the work of her organizations. A history of Kansas City would indeed be a barren chronicle without an account of the splendid spirit with which its women have, from the earliest period of its development, taken up their share in the establishment and expansion of its social and govern- mental activities.
The municipal household is the true unit in the solution of the prob- lem of municipal government which in the last decade has received such a wonderful impulse of thought and action, and great things are to-day being accomplished in the art of city building. The house beautiful and the city. beautiful, the house cleanly and the city cleanly go hand in hand in their development. The credit for the unceasing and intelligent effort that has made Kansas City world-famous as a commercial center belongs primarily to the progressive business men who have wrought with splendid spirit for this result. But side by side with its commercial development, not lagging a pace, the ethical, the philanthropic, the artistic functioning of the municipal development of Kansas City has moved to results no less wonderful than
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those achieved in the commercial line, and in this work the women of Kan- sas City, through their various organizations, have been pre-eminent factors.
The first woman's club, so far as the public records disclose, organized by Kansas City women, was the Women's Christian Association. This was in the year 1870. Of course, long before and continuing up to that time, there were many literary and social groupings which, no doubt, made an im- press upon the social life of their day, but which have left no records by which their history and purposes may be traced. Their seed, however, we may be sure, was not lost in air, but found lodgment and flower and fruit- age in the hearts of the mothers of early days-some of them still remaining, the grandmothers of to-day-sweetening their lives and the lives of others through associations that must make the tenderest pictures memory weaves for then.
The organization of this first Women's Christian Association was pri- marily the result of the efforts of two devout Quaker women who came over the line from Kansas and interested Mrs. J. W. L. Slavens in the philanthropic questions of the day. A meeting was called at the Christian church and Mrs. Mary Branham becoming greatly interested talked the matter over earnestly with her friends and decided to form a society for the good work. In January, 1870, the organization was perfected, Mrs. E. E. Branham was elected presi- dent; Mrs. St. Clair, treasurer; Mrs. Kersey Coates, secretary ; Mrs. John Dog- gett, corresponding secretary. The charter states that the purpose of the or- ganization was purely philanthropic.
At an early date the association rented the building at the corner of Elev- enth and McGee streets and opened a home for unfortunate women and young children. Quoting from the journal of Mrs. Coates: "Relying upon faith in the virtue of our cause and believing that those who trust in the Lord and invoke His aid in every good word and work will be sustained, we went forth with bold hearts and willing hands to carry out our ideas of prac- tical Christianity. Our home became the recipient of all classes of distressed humanity, especially did unfortunate children pour in upon us." It was thus that the Children's Home came into existence.
The work was carried on for ten years in rented quarters, when it became evident that a permanent home might be effected, the association then agitated the needs of this home. Mrs. Coates was made chairman of a purchasing committee, who finally settled upon a site at 1115 Charlotte street. The home was opened in April, 1883. It was the aim and ambition of the asso- ciation to make it, indeed, a home for orphan children, many of these noble workers have passed on but the fruits of their labors still remain, a greater monument than chiseled marble.
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The real foundation of the women's club work in Kansas and Missouri was the Social Science Club of Kansas and Western Missouri; this was be- fore the days of women's clubs and federations and was the first great stimulus that aroused the activity in literary research and various lines of culture- that might be termed the Renaissance of the West. It was really a federation of clubs which met semi-annually, calling together a large number of repre- sentative women from the leading towns of the Missouri valley; these women carried the inspiration of the new movement into their homes where many smaller circles and classes were formed, thus establishing a high intellectual standard for women's organizations that has been maintained to the present day in the numerous, prosperous literary and culture clubs of our city. Quot- ing from Mrs. Homer Reed's memorial to her mother, Mrs. Kersey Coates: "Like its early promoters, the Social Science Club has been remarkable for a progressive spirit, yet it has ever sought to conserve the best elements of the past; its methods have been refined and refining, yet never exclusive or super critical; its aims have been elevated and elevating, yet it dealt simply and with the common everyday affairs of life; exacting the severest practical good sense in every detail of its organization, yet encouraging literary excel- lence and even delighting in the flights of fancy. It has found a home in the wealthiest and most polished circles, yet has adhered to strict democratic principles. Keenly interested in the great public questions of the day, yet never following them into doubtful associations or sacrificing for them the pleasures of a peaceful hearthstone; it has maintained a certain dignity and propriety which offered no attraction to the aggressive type of the new woman and which disarms adverse criticism from whatever source. Such was ac- cording to the chronicles the early Social Science Club and such its offspring remains to-day, for such were the great characters who made it what it was. Mrs. Cushing, of Leavenworth, Kansas, was president for several years, a woman of great force and capability and one of the greatest philanthropists in the West. At the fifteenth annual meeting held in Leavenworth in May, 1895, the great federation decided to separate by a state line into two parts, the Social Science Club of Kansas and Western Missouri became the Kansas Social Science Federation, and that same year was established the Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs. The first annual meeting of the Missouri Fed- eration was held in Kansas City in January, 1897; Mrs. John Allen, of St. Louis, was first president; the meeting was held in Lyceum Hall on West Ninth street.
Prominent among the early organizations was the Friends in Council, the pioneer woman's club of Kansas City. The first club of this series was organized in 1869 at Quincy, Ill., by twenty-two ladies, for mutual improve- ment. This club was formed at the suggestion of Bronson Alcott and his
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daughter, Louisa M. Alcott, who came to Quincy to lecture and inaugurate a literary club. Some members of this early association moved to Lawrence and here organized what might be termed another chapter-another Friends in Council. Miss Leonard, a teacher in the University, took up the good work and kept the intellectual lamp burning.
Some years later several of the Lawrence women moved to Kansas City, among them Mrs. J. C. Horton, who organized, in the fall of 1880, another chapter in Missouri, or the first Friends in Council club in Kansas City, it being the seventh club of the same character and bearing the same name thus formed in the United States. The club was composed principally of Kansas City women and the Lawrence founders. The charter members were: Mrs. J. C. Horton, Mrs. P. D. Ridenour, Mrs. Harlow Baker, Mrs. S. M. Simpson, Mrs. M. B. Wright, and Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford. The object of the club was purely for literary culture. The course of study which is continued to the present day was the history of early civilizations, their literature, philan- thropy, and art. The membership was and still is limited to twenty-five. A record of their meetings reveals some interesting and instructive papers upon the subjects studied, showing a character of research and study which is highly creditable to the members. Among the oldest members who are still active workers we find the names of Mrs. M. B. Wright, Mrs. M. H. Ford, Mrs. J. V. C. Karnes, and Mrs. E. H. Allen.
There are some ten or twelve of these organizations in as many states of the Union, and all possess the same reputation for progressive and extensive study and culture
The '81 Club .- The Kansas City club movement came west with the "star of empire." The Friends in Council organized in 1880, being the west- ern link of a chain of clubs that had spanned half a continent. The western woman saw in this an opportunity to supply a much felt need. Far removed from public libraries, lecture bureaus, and the many advantages enjoyed in older states, the inspiration supplied by a woman's club was heartily wel- comed. The pioneer woman, like her husband, was not lacking in energy. Young wives, mothers and housekeepers,-many heroic women had joined the army of empire builders and had come, with their husbands to carve out for themselves and their children a home in the unbroken forest and wide prairies of the west. And what builders they were, our city today at- tests. Who cannot say that those years when first they started into life's long race, still hold with unfailing sway life's sweetest memories. For to the hope- ful, busy heart, "life is luxury and friendship, truth."
The Friends in Council were followed the next year by a similar organ- ization. Two admirable women with rare intellectual attainments and gra- cious personality, fitted out this little craft and started it on a journey that has
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given pleasure and profit to many. Twelve ladies met at the home of Mrs. E. H. Allen in October, 1881,-Mrs. Kersey Coates, to whose energy and abil- ity was due the formation of the club, was chosen president, with Mrs. Allen, director. For the want of a better name the club was called the Tuesday After- noon Class, but later, as it grew in age and importance, the year of organiza- tion was commemorated by calling it the "'81 Club." In twenty-seven years there has not been one failure to meet, or to prepare a paper or topic. The club meets every Tuesday afternoon from October to May and the program for each year is arranged by two ladies, the subject being selected by the whole class. The president and other officers are chosen each year alphabetically, thus giving each member an opportunity to become familiar with parlia- mentary rules. While the club has not tried to scale any dizzy heights in literature, it has done much good work in a quiet, unostentatious, thorough and harmonious manner. By study, the members have traveled through most of the countries where the foot of white man has left its print. The scope of study has been wide and varied. Each year one country is selected for the work and its people, laws, literature, art, architecture and schools are reviewed. The next year another takes its place. Thus the twenty-seven years of the club have been replete with many riches from the world's history and the lives of its members have been broadened and developed. Current topics taken up have kept the members in touch with the minor incidents of every day life and the very greatest benefit reaped is that the mothers have been led to become asistants and co-workers with their own children in their edu- cation. And what could be a more delightful task for a mother.
Today only four of the original members are active in the club. They are Madame Chapman, Mrs. Ermine Case, Mrs. Mary Morgan and Mrs. J. K. Cravens. Some have removed to other cities or dropped out for various reasons. Some have been crowned with immortality, among these the be- loved first president, Mrs. Kersey Coates, whose cultivated mind and dignity of character were an inspiration. Such women as Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Coates are a benediction to anyone fortunate enough to have known them and they leave an impress of the highest type of womanhood on this city. The club has never affiliated with any other organization, but the members meet in their own homes. In looking back over a quarter of a century of work, it can be felt that the club has broadened lives and given its members rare opportunity for intellectual growth, leading them through wider fields of knowledge. The friendships formed in these years of companionship have built an "equal yoke of love," in bearing which the members count them- selves "in nothing else more happy."
History Club of 1882 .- One of the most prominent and efficient workers in the early days of women's clubs was Mrs. Kersey Coates, a woman of rare
-
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culture and refinement, splendid force of character and a kind and lovable nature that made her a vigilant worker in many philanthropies. In the midst of her charitable efforts, she often spoke of missing and longing for the advantages of her early home in Pennsylvania. The formation of the Friends in Council seemed to offer the necessary inspiration.
Soon after this in the winter of 1882, Mrs. Kersey Coates invited sev- eral chosen friends to luncheon to consider the formation of a study class. After a discussion of the subject, it was decided "to associate themselves to- gether for the purpose of mental improvement and the pursuit of a systema- tized course of study." Green's History of the English People was the first subject agreed upon for study. Mrs. Judge Black, Dr. Dibble, Mrs. Nelson Cobb, Miss Sarah Steele and Mrs. D. H. Porter were among the charter mem- bers. Very few of the original members are now in Kansas City though the club is still vigorous. Mrs. Susan B. Cobb, who was one of the earliest mem- bers, is still active as well as honorary and a continual inspiration to the younger members. A long list of honorary members is found in the Year book,-names of ladies who have been active in literary circles at different times in this and other cities.
Tuesday Morning Study Class .- The first Chautauqua circle in Kansas City was organized in 1883 by Mrs. Laura Waterman, who had moved to Kansas City from Chicago. The club followed the Chautauqua course of study faithfully for a few years and then became a Greek and Roman His- tory class, later a Shakespeare class and finally the Tuesday Morning Study class. Among the charter members we find the names of Mrs. Enda Ander- son, Mrs. Henry N. Ess, Mrs. Virginia Lee, Mrs. E. L. Scarritt, Mrs. Dr. Matthews, Miss Minnie Matthews, Mrs. Laura Eberle, Mrs. Roland Winch, Mrs. M. S. Burr and Mrs. Julia Simpson. It is one of the prosperous clubs of the present day and has twenty members.
The "Alternate Tuesday club" was organized in 1884 by Mrs. Robert Mitchell and composed chiefly of neighbors and friends living in the vicinity of Jefferson and Ninth streets. Mrs. Mitchell was the leader. The first year, American authors and their works were studied; the next, the administrations of our Presidents with events occurring during their terms. Later, English, German and Italian literature were taken up in turn. Two years were spent in studying Shakespeare; then, "Cities," "Woman," "Men and Events," 'Liv- ing Issues," "Russia," "The Netherlands," "India," "Arts and Crafts," "Egypt," "China and Japan," and this coming year "Mexico." Three of the charter members are still connected with the club. The meetings have always been held at homes of members.
The spirit which promoted the organization of the Every Other Week club was imported from across the line. Mrs. L. S. Raymond, formerly of
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Atchison, Kas., and an active club worker there, invited a few friends to meet at her home, 1636 Wyandotte street in October, 1887. Led by Mrs. Raymond, they decided upon the formation of a club for mutual aid in study and upon the completion of the organization, elected Miss Ida Tew presi- dent. The charter members were Mrs. L. S. Raymond, Miss Ida Tew, Mrs. Fred Comstock, Mrs. Isaac d'Isay, Miss Laura d'Isay, Mrs. T. Lee Adams, Mrs. G. C. Medbury, Miss Julia Sutermeister, and Mrs. J. N. Russell. The name, Every Other Week club, was suggested by the late Mrs. S. A. Morse, the mother of Mrs. d'Isay, and for many years a resident of this city.
This has been and still is simply a study club with a range of subjects that include history, literature, travel and art, with a constantly increasing interest in current events. For some years the Every Other Week club was affiliated with the Kansas City Council of clubs, taking especial interest in the work of establishing children's play grounds. Its members were among the many club women who sewed day after day for the flood sufferers of 1903 in the rooms of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Manufacturers' and Mer- chants' association. The by-laws limit the membership. The twelve who constitute the club at present share in the work of the state federation of which the Every Other Week club is a charter member.
The Bancroft club of Kansas City had its beginning at a social gathering on April 8, 1888, when four mutual friends talked of starting a Reading club. Others were called in and the idea began to take shape at once. They decided to meet the next week at the home of Mrs. T. B. Kinney, and at this primary meeting there were present twelve ladies, each one of the four having invited two friends to be present. They were Mrs. T. B. Kinney, Mrs. L. Traber, Mrs. Victor Bagley, Mrs. Nathan Webster, Mrs. Gould, Mrs. Elizabeth Borland, Mrs. D. K. Smith, Mrs. C. F. Hutchings, Mrs. F. E. Nettleton, Mrs. Geo. Bolen, Mrs. Downing and Mrs. L. B. Sutliff. A constitution and by- laws were drawn up and action taken upon them. They were duly signed by each of these twelve ladies and at this first meeting an election of officers was held, resulting in the election of Mrs. C. F. Hutchings, president; Mrs. J. B. Sutliff, vice president; and Mrs. De Crisap, secretary and treasurer.
The organization was named "The Bancroft Literary club" in honor of the great American historian, George Bancroft. Later on the word "literary" was dropped and the name became simply "The Bancroft club," an outburst of two decades ago, the purpose and object being to develop and enhance woman's interest in the world of history, literature, science and art and to keep in touch with the generation closely following in its path. The club movement born in the last half of the nineteenth century has strengthened and broadened woman's influence and environments until a true woman's club stands for social and civic reform as well as for self improvement, and
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is interested in every phase of public good. The "Anti-cigarette," "Child labor" and "Pure food" laws have been the direct result of the agitation of women's clubs. Twenty years ago, when the Bancroft was organized, this movement was in its infancy although there was a club called "Sorosis" in New York City and a chain of "Friends in Council" clubs. Some of these date back over forty-five years ago and it is also known that a Miss Hannah Adams of Medfield, Mass., founded a reading club as much as a century ago.
In 1892 the printed program was adopted, with the work laid out in it for the ensuing year. At this time the club demanded a method of work assuring the best results and the little booklet with its many mottoes directing the mind to the central thought of each lesson became an important factor. The program has ever since been a great help as the line of study has been along many different avenues of research, discovery, travel, history, art, lit- erature, science and invention. The studies are pursued and outlined thus: English history and English literature; American history and literature; Art centers of Europe and America; Egypt and current events; Modern Fiction ; Shakespeare and current events; the World of To-day; a journey around the World. The progress of the Bancroft club has been earnest and useful, studious and pleasant.
The two past decades may be called the "conversational era." The encyclopedic essay has given way to the conversational discussion, improv- ing the art of talking, for a fact stated will sink deeper than a fact written. The Bancroft was never more prosperous; twenty years of good, substantial study and kindly friendships with many pleasant entertainments, lectures, receptions, afternoons, dinners and teas, twenty years of meeting each other in their own homes except when the club was invited to meet at the Midland during three of its earliest years. The membership has always been twenty- five The Bancroft is a member of the State Federation of Woman's clubs, also of the National Federation of Woman's clubs, and has always sent del- egates to the "National Biennials." The club has five active charter mem- bers who are: Mrs. Traber, Mrs. Hutchings, Mrs. Kinney, Mrs. Nettleton and Mrs. Sutliff; and one honorary charter member, Mrs. Elizabeth Borland.
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