Washington Women's History Consortium

Women's Clubs and Organizations

Condensed History of WSFWC 1896-1996
Background of Book

This book was compiled 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.

During the administration of GFWC President Juanita Bryant, the GFWC Women's History and Resource Center came into being. Dorothy Coleman served as WSFWC President during this time - 1982-84. A WSFWC History and Resource committee was appointed, their work was to encourage the clubs and districts to have a desire to up-date their histories and build a collection at Suzzalo Library in Seattle.

At this time, there were two histories written about WSFWC based around the biography of the state president and the events which took place during each administration. One was written by Serna Mathews, who served as WSFWC president (1927-1929). The history covered the period from 1896 to 1949. The second one, written by Leona Burke McCulloch, WSFWC Historian, covered the period of 1896 to 1951.

The newly appointed WSFWC History and Resource Committee's goal was to complete the history of WSFWC up to the year 1996, the 100th year anniversary of the Washington State Federation. This was an on-going project until 1996.

Funds given to WSFWC when the WSFWC Juniors united with the General membership were used to defray some of the expenses of this book.