USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 49
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The Woman's Reading club was one of the earliest literary organiza- tions in the city, dating back to 1890. Its primary object was self-culture and its first study was English history. It has taken up various other sub- jects during the eighteen years of its existence and is still in a flourishing condition. It has always come to the front in all cases of emergency, in matters pertaining to the betterment of the poor and in civic improvement. It was the club that first introduced federation in the city. Feeling that an interchange of ideas in regard to club work might prove beneficial, the presi- dent, Mrs. Julia M. Johnson, through her secretary, Mrs. E. L. Chambliss,
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sent invitations to every club in the city to send its president and two del- egates to a meeting to report upon the work, object, etc., of each club. Prob- ably ten clubs responded to this invitation and this was a gala day in the history of the Woman's Reading club. In a room in the New Ridge build- ing, this first federation of clubs was held.
This day also marked an era in Kansas City history. The Hon. Edward H. Allen had been asked to address the assembled clubs, and he chose for his subject something new for that period, "Municipal House- keeping." He is perhaps the first citizen to suggest that a city should be kept as a house is kept. This grand old man, who told the people how to aid in the improvement of the city, is held in sacred and loving memory. To-day the early suggestions of our honored citizen are being carried out and the seed sown on that day is the plant now flourishing and growing to wondrous proportions. The club women have been foremost in all that pertains to civic betterment. It was a grand work formulated by Mr. Allen who has left among his many good works the knowledge that he of all the citizens of Kansas City was the first to show the beauties of "Municipal Housekeeping." This meeting of clubs has grown from that date into a State federation of over four thousand women and a National federation of eight hundred thousand women. And what cannot eight hundred thousand women do when they make up their minds to do it. Club union has been productive of great good to both city and state and the future holds great promise for its further benefits.
The Kansas City Athenaeum. In the fall of 1893 Mrs. Laura Evering- ham Scammon, then the president of the Social Science club of Missouri and Kansas, which was to hold its last meeting in the spring, conceived the idea of a larger women's club in Kansas City to take the place of the Social Science club. She asked Miss Frances Logan, Dr. Martha C. Dibble, Mrs. Geo. Brinkman, Mrs. Mortimer Weil, Mrs. Fred Griffin and Mrs. E. R. Weeks to meet from time to time to read Plato and talk over ways and means for such organization. These meetings continued for several months until finally a constitution was drafted by Dr. Dibble which ultimately became the first constitution of the Athenaeum. While the Social Science club was holding its last meeting in May, 1894, in the Unitarian church, West Tenth street, Dr. Dibble suggested it would be a most opportune time to make a call for a new club during the session. Mrs. E. R. Weeks was asked to write and read it. At the first meeting fifty-eight signed a pledge to organize. Among the active workers at the present day we find a few names of charter members: Mrs. Henry N. Ess. Miss Sara Steele, Dr. Nannie Stephens, Mrs. Brundage, Dr. A. B. Peet, Mrs. Julia M. Johnson.
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In the call for the new club, Mrs. Weeks said: "To the Women of Kansas City: Thirteen years ago Kansas City women needed a literary club. They needed the stimulus of associated work, the discipline of more accurate study, of analytical thought, of sustained discussion. In these thirteen years numberless clubs have sprung into existence. How can we measure the good they have done? Their influence has been far reaching, their effects beyond compare. But have they not in the main accomplished their work ? Have they not for us lost their usefulness as developers and fallen into a most delightful literary dissipation. Has not the time gone by when we should work only in isolated groups. Has not the time come when Kansas City needs the women's clubs? When she needs the combined influence of the knowledge, the mental culture and the discipline that have come from these thirteen years of work in literary clubs? Has not the time come when it behooves us to stand shoulder to shoulder in the uplifting of the mental, moral and physical status of our city? Could we not as component parts of one organization, whether clubs or individuals, broaden and deepen our intellectual work and accomplish much, when individually we have been weak? Believing that your answer will be in the affirmative, we, the under- signed, agree to unite our efforts toward the establishment of such an organ- ization, confident that by your united influence in the scale of public opinion you may cause the Art Association to rise from the ashes and become what the future of our city demands, with a home and a museum befitting the work it has to do for our public, that you may as wives, mothers and citi- zens secure for our children a better developed and more cultured educational influence in our public schools, that you may relicve society from the present imputation of insincerity and ostentation, that you may help to secure for the little ones a city in which the fresh air spaces and the, beauties of nature shall form a component part, and that through your energies you may cause to rise a beautiful building adapted to the peculiar demands which the club work of women has developed in our midst, a place where sister clubs may find a home and which shall say to our brothers that while appreciating our first and highest duties as those of wife and mother, we must believe that these are best sustained by the accompanying services to ourselves and our sex."
It was not surprising that there was so great a response to this eloquent eall and that as a result the Kansas City Athenaeum of today has a member- ship of 400 active, energetic, cultured women striving still for these ends. The Constitution reads: The purpose of the club is to promote mutual sympathy and united effort for intellectual development, the improvement of social conditions and the higher civilization of humanity.
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The Athenaeum has eight working departments with a large enroll- ment in each. The Social Ethics, Practical works and Sunshine workers have made their influence felt in every line of civic improvement where woman's hand was needed. Through their visits and interest in the county home they have caused the old building to be abandoned and a beautiful new edifice is now in process of construction. In the current events they have studied the topics of today in an intensive and masterful way, and have brought lecturers of note and importance to advance their studies. Each department has a record of earnest and efficient work in the branches studied. The eight working departments are: Art, Current Events, Educa- tion, Literature, Music, Philosophy and Science, History and Travel and Social Ethics. The general meeting ground for all departments, with offi- cers and leaders selected from all the departments, is the Home department. Whatever the special line of study, it is the aim of the club to make the home, correct living, and the highest home-making the greatest work for all women.
The Athenaeum is the Women's University of Kansas City. A univer- sity in that fine mediaeval sense which typified a center, a forum for the assembly of sincere searchers for the truth, the devotees of culture and human progress. It stands among women's clubs in Kansas City like a great central spirit, radiating thought, and protecting, elevating and per- petually encouraging every other organization through which the women of Kansas City have been and are now seeking to make their influence felt in the world's work.
By its energy it has "whipped up" lagging movements for the public good; by its enterprise it has pointed out the way for those in authority to accomplish needed reforms; and by its dignity and poise, it has done much to silence the sneers which have always been leveled by cheap humanists at women's clubs, and to win the substantial respect and approval of the best citizens of the community. In fact its achievements along this line have been little less than marvelous. To enumerate: The Athenaeum was instru- mental in having a matron placed in the jail; the Athenaeum caused the separation of petty offenders from criminals; the Athenaeum was the first to establish the milk inspection law which ultimately led to the enforcement of the pure food law; the Athenaeum was the promoter of the kindergarten in our public schools. It was through the efforts of the Athenaeum that beautiful classic pictures were placed in many of our public school build- ings, principally the Central High school, for the purpose of cultivating the appreciation of art. The Athenaeum took an active part in creating a demand for Manual Training in our high schools. The Athenaeum was the first voice in our city to advocate children's play grounds and the. Vaca-
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tion School originated with the Athenaeumn and proved so successful that that Board of Education followed up the movement. The Athenaeum was the influence that brought the Juvenile court idea into Kansas City. All this has been accomplished because the Athenaeum has made no false as- sumptions, because it has undertaken every good work not with any radical ideas of what it deemed the peculiar prerogative or privilege of women, not with any fanatical purpose of establishing any peculiar propaganda for women only, but because it has taken a broader view of its field and has sought not only to inaugurate reforms but to co-operate with anybody else that the club found putting his shoulder to the wheel in a sincere effort to move it out of the ruts.
The social affairs of the club are always charming and enjoyable. The annual breakfast is one of the greatest social events of Kansas City, and is always a joyous assembly of wit, repartee, talent and artistic culture. The Athenaeum is today one of the most powerful and potent factors in, the welfare and progress of Kansas City. As songs without words are often sweetest, so deeds without praise may be the worthiest. The Athenaeum has gained this power through silent, earnest effort, and will sustain it by the same harmonious co-operative and gentle spirit. The Athenaeum is a member of the State and National Federation, with a strong representation in the Council of Clubs.
Central Study Club. In September, 1893, a few women met at the home of Mrs. George H. English for the purpose of reading and discussing the Congress of Religion. There was no president, and in fact no leader, but the ladies read alternately from the two large volumes. The charter mem- bers of the club were Mrs. G. H. English, Mrs. C. M. Brodkens, Mrs. Herbert Lee, Mrs. Henry Schultze, Mrs. Elizabeth Minckwitz, Mrs. J. S. Morgan, Mrs. E. D. Phillips, Mrs. Carrie Lewis, Mrs. Mary Denny, Mrs. B. Koken- doffer, Mrs. A. H. Cordian, Mrs. J. H. Stephens and Mrs. Shiler Pettet, the membership being limited to fifteen. This was not a formal club. The members all thought at once, talked at once and they called themselves the "Impromptu club." In 1899 they began to take themselves more seriously, and changed the name from Impromptu club to "Aspasian league."
The club studied American history and literature and had a year-book printed. Since that time the course of study has taken the members through Italy and they have stood on the different shores of the Mediterranean sea where once the four great empires of the world flourished. One year was spent with English authors, and German history from the earliest times has been thoroughly studied. The club members have taken up French history beginning with the time of the Gauls and Romans, and have given some attention to China, following the history of that country down to the
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war with Japan. The club is now (1908) entering its second year of study in Grecian history and literature. Out of the Impromptu club has evolved a serious, purposeful club, with all social features eliminated.
In 1896 the club joined the State Federation of clubs, being one of the charter members of that organization. The president, Mrs. Jacque L. Mor- gan, also is the president of the Federation of clubs for the second district in the Missouri Federation of clubs. Mrs. Morgan has always been the center and the magnet of this delightful coterie of women. Her unique character, scintillating wit and sense of humor makes her always the central figure of the Central Study club.
The New Century Club. Among the most prominent and influential of the literary clubs of Kansas City is the New Century club. It was organ- ized January 7th, 1895. It was incorporated December 12, 1895, and was one of the charter members of the Missouri State Federation of clubs when it was organized in 1896. The New Century united with the General Federa- tion of Women's clubs March, 1895.
The object of the New Century club is intellectual and ethical culture and the promotion of a sympathy that will broaden and elevate. Its motto is, "Slumber not in the tents of your fathers. The world is advancing. Advance with it."
The officers of this club are: President, Mrs. John C. Merine, who was first elected in 1895 and has been unanimously re-elected every year since; vice-president, Mrs. Edward H. Stiles, who has had the same experience of re-election and appreciation as the president; second vice-president, Miss Bertha Stiles; recording secretary, Miss Flora Turner; corresponding secre- tary, Miss Minnie Merine; treasurer, Mrs. A. R. Moss; and auditor, Mrs. J. M. Ridge, who has held that office for ten years.
The meetings of the club are held on the first and third Mondays of each month at 2 o'clock p. m., beginning in October and closing in May. For five years they were held in the Midland hotel; later at the Kupper, and now at the Densmore. The social reunions are held at the homes of its members, and they prove delightful affairs-a very "Feast of reason and flow of soul."
Within its membership are professional musicians, readers, writers and social leaders. For nine years the study was largely Shakesperean, with every fourth meeting given to current events and current literature. Then followed art and history and now the Bayview course is found to be very interesting and instructive, beside relieving the program committee of much arduous work.
The New Century is not a paper club. It retired the essay and intro- duced oral exercises, except upon rare occasions. Its theory is that club
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life should prepare for the larger life socially and otherwise. That culture is the attribute of those who speak spontaneously of what they have learned of their best intellectual and emotional inspiration; that erudition alone is not education. Culture and expression are synonymous terms. Humanity rises in the social scale in proportion to its powers of translating its mental processes into language, thereby enabling it to communicate its best thought to fellowman. Conversation is the art of arts.
The New Century Club has ever been generous in responding to appeals for aid to other and distant clubs and in entertaining chib conventions. A Dakota club once sought its aid for creating a library and $25.00 worth of new books were forwarded free of transportation to the Dakota club by the New Century. The club is interested in settlement work. Mrs. A. R. Moss, Miss Bertha Stiles and Mrs. Benton are on the board of the Franklin In- stitute.
The active membership is limited to twenty-five. More than two nega- tive votes prevent admission to membership. Reed's parliamentary rules are adopted. The president of this club was the first lady to awaken a sentiment here in favor of federated societies, doing this by her articles in the daily papers; and was the first and second president of a Federation of Philanthropie societies under the supervision of women, numbering twelve hundred members. Much good was accomplished during its existence.
The Clionian club was organized with twelve members, in 1894, by the late Mrs. Kate Ford, whose enthusiasm was the master spirit until her death. The object was to read and have a social time. In 1895, when state organ- ization was being advocated by Mrs. Seammon and others, this club adopted a constitution and its name, and in January, 1896, became a charter mem- ber of the State federation. A regular course of study in History and Litera- ture, beginning with American, then taking up English, French and others, was adopted and found both entertaining and profitable. Recently the con- stitution was revised and the membership increased to sixteen. Congeniality and good fellowship are the club's best assets.
The leading Jewish literary, philanthropic and social organization in Kansas City is the local branch of the Council of Jewish Women. Its incep- tion dates from January 2, 1895. The charter members were: Mrs. L. S. Lieberman, Mrs. W. J. Berkowitz, Mrs. F. V. Kander, Mrs. Sol Block, Mrs. Samuel Shulman, Mrs. C. D. Axman, Mrs. Theo. Griff, Mrs. O. Flersheim, Mrs. Eli Cahn, Mrs. A. S. Woolf, Mrs. A. Hyman, Mrs. J. Mengas, Mrs. G. Bergman, Mrs. A. Deichman, Mrs. J. Rothgiesser, Mrs. E. Meinrath. The council immediately rose into prominence and took charge of various existing institutions. The first institutions created by the council, with Dr. Shulman's assistance, were the Night school which met four nights a week in the Temple
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school rooms, and the Mission school for the children of non-members which assembled every Saturday afternoon in the vestry rooms of the Temple. The Night school was later moved to the Federation building on Fifteenth street when the B'nai Brith assumed charge of it.
The work of the Jewish council needs no comment; the course of study pursued and the line of work carried out are of the highest and most im- proved order. Those who helped to make it so are too numerous to be here enumerated. In the special local work in addition to that already mentioned can be cited the aid rendered the soldiers of Missouri during the Spanish- American war, and their efforts toward a Federated Board, which movement was successfully realized.
The Portia club held its first meeting in January, 1897. The real date of organization, however, was January 1, 1895, when it was known as the Century club. Mrs. John A. Hale of Kansas City, Kas., was the first presi- dent after reorganization. The topics outlined were from the life and plays of Shakespeare, except the four business meetings of the year which were devoted to miscellaneous subjects. In the last few years a gradual change has taken place, only eight meetings being given to Shakespeare and eight to other popular subjects. The year-book for 1908-9 shows a departure from the old way of assigning subjects and is more analytical in style. The club is limited to thirty members and meets on the first and third Mondays of the month from October to June, in the parlor of the Baltimore hotel. The motto is "To think is to live." The club is a charter member of the State federation and also a member of the General Federation of women's clubs. Mrs. Harry G. Kyle is president. Among the earliest members were Mrs. M. L. Spellman, Mrs. T. Pinkston, Miss Jean Adkinson, Miss Anna L. Chesney, Mrs. John A. Hale, Mrs. Lloyd Spellman, Mrs. W. O. Lunt, Mrs. E. C. Lewis, Mrs. Harry E. Colvin, Mrs. James McKinney, Mrs. George Medbury, Mrs. W. S. Madison, Mrs. James Frost and Mrs. Hartzell Fisher.
The History and Literature club was organized as a social club in 1898. At the second meeting, however, it was decided to take up a course of study, the president suggesting each week's work. Mrs. Charles Canon was presi- dent and the charter members were: Mrs. C. D. Sylvester, Mrs. Cyrus Slater, Mrs. Harry Slater, Mrs. Sturges, and Mrs. Albert Turney. During the second, third and fourth years American history was studied. Then fol- lowed two years of English history and two of French history. In 1907-08 Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar" were studied. and the course for 1908-09 includes "Richard III" and "Taming of the Shrew." In 1903 the club joined the Missouri State federation and in 1905 it became a member of the General federation, continuing membership until 1907, when it withdrew. It is still actively engaged in State and district club
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work and is also a member of the council of clubs. Mrs. C. A. Denny is president; Mrs. M. E. Whitehouse, vice-president; Mrs. G. W. Hillias, sec- retary, and Mrs. M. E. Robinson, treasurer. Mrs. C. D. Sylvester is the only member who has been in the club during its entire existence.
The Longan Study club was organized in 1900 and named in honor of Mrs. G. B. Longan, author of "Parliamentary Rules Made Easy," and who is a director of the club. The object of the club as outlined in its constitution is the "promotion of intellectual culture, mutual helpfulness and the study of parliamentary law." The club is pre-eminently a "study" club. Of the eight years since its organization, two have been devoted to United States history, two to the history of various countries and one to Egyptian history. While history has been the principal study, parlia- mentary law has been taught, studied and practiced. The club was incor- porated under the laws of the state of Missouri in 1902 and at present ranks third in membership among the women's clubs of Kansas City. Mrs. H. J. Bone is the president (1908), having served in that capacity for six years. Other officers of the club are Mrs. J. L. Hearn, first vice-president; Mrs. M. J. Lane, second vice-president; Mrs. Geo. D. Vaughn, recording secretary ; Mrs. Wm. H. White, treasurer, Mrs. Ida M. Parrott, critic, and Mrs. G. B. Longan, parliamentarian.
Women's Dining Club. In February, 1908, a group of women, each occupied with the demands of her own professional calling, met in a social way and in response to the expressed desire of one of their number, dis- covered a great need in Kansas City-that of an organization for women employed-an organization that might furnish recreation, instruction and mutual benefit. The men of Kansas City had found their need in a similar way answered fully by the Knife and Fork club. What could the women do in the same line?
By invitation eight or ten of the same women who had met so for- tunately on that February afternoon gathered on Sunday, March 1, in the study of the Rev. Mary E. Andrews, pastor of the Universalist church, and the foundation of the Women's Dining club was laid. Within a week thirty women, business and professional, had become members of a club that was to meet once a month, dine and listen to speakers provided for the occasion. The date of the first dinner was set for Monday, March 23, at the Coates House. No name was selected then and not for many weeks afterward. The officers chosen were: Miss Mary E. Andrews, president; Miss Floy Camp- bell, secretary; Miss Eleanor McGee, treasurer. The board of directors in- cluded the officers and Miss Clara Kellogg, Miss Beebe Thompson, Miss Geneve Lichtenwalter, Miss Alice Murphy, Miss Gertrude Greene, Dr. Gene- vieve Evans and Miss Ida Clarke. The officers and the board of directors
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and the following women included the charter members: Dr. Elinor Balfe, Mrs. May A. Bell, Miss Cordelia Brown, Miss Cora Campbell, Miss Kather- ine Baxter, Mrs. Cora Lyman, Miss Elenore Miller, Mrs. Agnes Odell, Miss Elizabeth Phillips, Dr. Carolyn Putnam, Miss E. Blanche Reineke, Mrs. O. M. Van Dorston and Miss Laura Walker. The first dinner was attended by fifty-eight members and "not a man was there." In the words of the press it held "all the good points of the masculine dinner, with more wit, a thousand times more beauty and none of the faults." Successive dinners followed on Mondays, April 27, May 26 and June 29, each with some at- tractive feature of amusement or instruction. Monday evening May 26, was the occasion of the first "state" dinner when Mrs. Caroline Bartlett Crane of Kalamazoo gave an address on "The folly of minding one's own business."
On September 1, the elub had a membership of seventy-seven residents and two non-residents,-seventy-seven women drawn together for mutual benefit and pleasure and organized for a monthly evening to dine, to hear a bit of talk, to give and take a bit of cheer and to know one another for something more than the occupant of one small corner of the world. A look down the membership list is interesting. The majority are in the whirl of the day's work-doctors, teachers, writers, musicians, artists, newspaper women, accountants, and secretaries in nearly every business-it is a record of womanly achievement in Kansas City.
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