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By Sarah Osorio
Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Reports, minutes, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, ephemera, and other materials relating to the Business and Professional Women's Club of Norfolk, Virginia. Most of the materials date to the 1930s. A history of the club from 1918-1953 includes lists of members by year. There are two scrapbooks in the collection; one scrapbook consists of booklets from the 1931 national convention held in Richmond, Virginia, while the second scrapbook details notable events of the Norfolk chapter from 1939-1940.
Biographical Note
The Business and Professional Women's Club of Norfolk, Virginia organized on February 27, 1918 as the Twentieth Century Club, an auxiliary group of the American Red Cross. They initially held their meetings at the YWCA building on College Place and at the Camp Community Service's clubrooms on Brooke Avenue, later moving to clubrooms at the Chamber of Commerce. The organization made surgical dressings, participated in the war fund and liberty bond campaigns, and entertained enlisted men with musical and literary programs. The club also supported two French orphans for several years. Following World War I, the club renamed itself the Business and Professional Women's Club. The organization then focused on local charitable work and educational endeavors. The Business and Professional Women's Club established a scholarship fund, operated a summer clubhouse at Willoughby Beach, assisted in organizing Little Theatre, and sponsored other Tidewater chapters of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Sargeant Memorial Collection
Access Restrictions:
This collection is open to all researchers.
Use Restrictions:
The status of copyright for these materials is governed by Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.). Copyright restrictions may apply.
Acquisition Source:
Unknown
Preferred Citation:
Business and Professional Women's Club Records, MSS 0000-137, Sargeant Memorial Collection, Norfolk Public Library, Norfolk, Virginia.
Processing Information:
Processed August 3, 2021.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[
Box 1],
[
Box 2],
[All]
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Correspondence, Elizabeth B. Foster, circa 1921
- Includes two card photographs of young children and a letter from the Fatherless Children of France, Inc.
- Folder 2: Correspondence and Reports, 1922-1924
- Folder 3: Scrapbook Page, "de Witt Cottage", circa 1930s
- Front and back includes 14 family photographs at a beach. One side is labeled "de Witt Cottage" in black pen. One photograph depicts two young women and four young men standing in front of a house labeled "The Waverley Annex" with a banner across the second-floor rail balcony for "USS Oklahoma."
- Folder 4: Correspondence, Passion Play, 1930 September-November
- Folder 5: Correspondence and Reports, 1930-1931
- Folder 6: Program, The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., 1931 July 6-11
- Folder 7: Reports, 1932-1933
- Folder 8: Reports, 1933-1934
- Folder 9: Correspondence and Program, 1945, 1948
- Folder 10: Reports, 1947-1949
- Folder 11: History, Business and Professional Women's Club, 1918-1953, circa 1949-1953
- A history of the Business and Professional Women's Club from its inception as the Twentieth Century Club in 1918. The notebook was compiled by the Research Committee primarily in 1949 and contains a year-by-year listing of members and notable events. There is also an alphabetical listing of members that includes when the individual became a member, years in club, resignation, and other remarks. The notebook includes a list of charter members, honorary members, life members, outstanding citations, history, and state presidents and district chairmen from the local club.
- Folder 12: Correspondence and Records, Woman of Accomplishment 1962 Banquet, 1963
- Box 2
- Item 1: Scrapbook, Old Dominion Biennial Convention of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 1931
- Includes convention booklets and clippings. Photograph on scrapbook cover is Mrs. Geline MacDonald Bowman, President of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.
- Item 2: Scrapbook, Business & Professional Women's Club of Norfolk, 1939-1940
- Includes sections on News and Events. Scrapbook includes photographs. Some materials from scrapbook belonged to Emma G. Saunders, President.
