Women's History Consortium Theme

Women's Clubs and Organizations

History of Woman's Clubs

Click to access Dr. Karen Blair's presentation on the History of Women's Clubs.
Dr. Karen Blair, noted authority on Women's Clubs nationally and in the Northwest gave a one hour presentation on the history of the development of women's clubs at the Washington State Capitol Museum in late March. The WHC has taken Dr. Blair's presentation and reproduced it in four segments.

Dr. Blair details how the Club Movement arose out the aftermath of the Civil War as women stepped out of their domestic spheres towards self improvement. She details the evolution of the club movement towards civic change and municipal housekeeping in the late 19th and early 20th century. She talks about the variety of clubs, the contrast between men's and women's clubs and finally about the causes for their decline in the 1920s. Dr. Blair enlivens her presentation with stories about Washington state clubs and the views of contemporary observers as well as novelists towards the movement. Dr. Blair concludes the presentation by answering audience questions.

Woman's Club of Olympia Clubhouse. Jeffers Studio photo from the Washington State Capital Museum, Washington State Historical Society.

Woman's Club of Olympia Clubhouse, pictured here, formed in 1883 and is arguably the oldest Woman's Club in the West. Jeffers Studio photo from the Washington State Capital Museum, Washington State Historical Society.

Dr. Karen Blair, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, author of this essay.

Why Women's Clubs

The study of the history of Washington State's women's organizations provides a useful vehicle for understanding women's contributions to our past. Women who settled in the Pacific Northwest were quick to establish voluntary associations for self-improvement, charitable work, and civic reform, especially from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s.

Read the entire essay >>

Dr. Karen Blair, professor and chairperson of the History Department at Central Washington University, authored this WHC Essay, Why Women's Clubs, as an introduction to the WHC Theme, Women's Clubs and Organizations in Washington State.

Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs

The First One Hundred Years:
A Condensed History of Washington State Federation
of Women's Clubs 1896-1996

This book was originally compiled and published in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs and distributed at the April 1996, WSFWC Convention in Tacoma. The WHC presents an online version on our web site with the permission of the WSFWC.

Utsalady Ladies Relief Club

Celebrating its 100th anniversary on March 8, 2008

The Utsalady Ladies Relief Club, a longtime Camano Island women's club, will celebrate its 100th anniversary on March 8, 2008. The Ladies Relief Club building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.